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May 18, 2021

Future100: Students Put Forward Immersive, Multisensory Retail Concepts

Young retail designers emphasize the ability of experiential design to stimulate emotional responses.

By: Jaxson Stone

01 Retail Entrance Rendering
Drawing on the psychology of color, Victoria Vatne renders a retail environment that uses various hues to encourage a sense of peace. Vatne designed The Crystal Palace with soft-edged forms, diamond-shaped lighting fixtures, and arched display cases. Courtesy Victoria Vatne

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, brick-and-mortar retail has become less about selling products and more about providing experiences. These retail concepts interpret that critical shift in a way that emphasizes the ability of beautifully designed spaces to stimulate emotional responses. The best retail concepts range from an informational kiosk investigating interior design’s influence on mood to surreal, neon-lit clothing stores. Others use color, ambient lighting, and technology to engage the senses and activate space.

Violette Metropolis 4 Retail
Unwind is a loungewear boutique designed to “encourage mental decompression” by engaging the senses with color, scent, sound, and light. Violette Chartock creates a sensory experience using sheepskin upholstery, cove lighting, and undulating walls, which represent the “unwinding” of thread. Courtesy Violette Chartock

 

Visit metropolismag.com/future100 to see more groundbreaking student work.

KAILEY CARTER

Florida State University

Graduate Interior Architecture and Design

NOMINATOR: Marlo Randsell, Associate Professor, Studio D: Design and Fabrication Lab Director

Carter’s design for ALL THAT! Gourmet Grocer is inspired by nostalgia for 1990s pop culture. Informed by the decade’s digital revolution, her project playfully embeds technologies such as take-home meal kits dispensed via vending machines.

VIOLETTE CHARTOCK

New York School of Interior Design

Graduate Interior Design

NOMINATOR: Ellen Fisher, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean

Chartock represents her retail designs by way of detailed 3D visualizations that illustrate an attention to materials. With her design for an Australian skin care store, she notes the importance of regional suppliers and ethical production standards.

MICHAELA COOK

University of Wisconsin–Stout

Undergraduate Interior Design

NOMINATOR: Shelley Pecha, Interior Design Program Director, Professor

As the events chair for the Student Interior Design Organization at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, Cook aims to create emotional experiences through commercial design. Her surrealist retail project Extraño goteo is sure to leave an impression.

IELYZAVETA IGNATYEVA

Fashion Institute of Technology

Undergraduate Interior Design

NOMINATOR: Mark Bradin, Adjunct Assistant Professor

Be it a concept for a conference center or a design for a luxury hotel suite, Ignatyeva’s work is driven by the end user. By focusing on the journey throughout each project, she designs moments for unique, individual experiences.

VICTORIA VATNE

Mount Royal University

Undergraduate Interior Design

NOMINATOR: Helen Warren, Interior Design Program Director, Professor

With a keen desire to create ambient atmosphere, Vatne’s portfolio showcases fluency in a wide range of projects including retail, hospitality, entertainment, and workplace design.

Immersive Pop Up Shop Exterior Rendering2
In this proposal for a pop-up shop for SketchUp, Ielyzaveta Ignatyeva creates an immersive experience that incorporates augmented, mixed, and virtual reality technologies. Locating the concept in a shipping container is “symbolic of the movement and ease” of the software interface. Courtesy Ielyzaveta Ignatyeva

You may also enjoy “Future100: Students Investigate Sacred Space”
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