Hybrid high street charity shop
The research addresses the decline of UK high street retail by providing a methodology for the multi-objective optimisation of existing retail stores to generate the most efficient layout for a new hybrid community-use model. The work involves a live test case in Wigan, converted into a series of diverse hybridised community spaces. A unique Grasshopper and Rhino definition tested fitness values including cost, shelf space and efficiency of retail area in parallel with optimised conversion layouts for a diverse range of community uses in the same space including as a cooking school, baby room and art gallery. The work goes on to evaluate the success of different community use cases and demonstrates the viability of the method through the testing of a unique 1:1 multi-adaptable modular furniture system.
Keywords: optimisation, retail, high street, grasshopper, rhino, automated, algorithm, community
The increasing dominance of direct-to-customer online retail companies including Amazon, AliExpress and eBay has prompted the decline of traditional high street shopping (Carmona, 2015). There is now a concerted effort through the UK Government High Street Fund [1] to revitalise and reinvigorate the UK’s high streets by subsidising innovation to supress the demise of physical retail space. In response to the decline of the traditional high street, Graham (2017 p1) argues that “High streets should seek to be distinctive rather than differentiated: a rich mix of different offers will draw more consumers, and most, according to our evidence, are likely become shoppers”. Kim (2001) suggests that physical retail stores must also recognise the importance of user experience when designing layouts. Customer experience is a defining factor for contemporary retail design, by “trying to make the place distinctive as a means of attracting customers” (Warnaby, 2009, p. 288). An innovative space can also play a role in reducing social isolation and loneliness (Rosenberg, 2015). Interactive design and layouts that can be reconfigured to change purpose and back again on a daily basis, should be considered while designing store environments given its positive effect on customer experience, and impact on competitiveness (Varadarajan et al., 2010).
Using the Grasshopper programme within Rhino, we then developed a definition (Figure 4) that took as inputs: a) the established parameters of retail area; b) the community use layouts; and c) the multi-adaptable furniture system. These would provide the parameters around which optimised layouts could be tested for the interchangeable use cases.
The Grasshopper definition worked by 1) identifying fixed areas of walls or existing retail provision; 2) generating a polyline defining the ‘flexible space’ within which the furniture can operate; 3) optimising layouts within this area against fitness criteria in the plug-in Wallacei: consisting of number of furniture units, orientation and shortest path between unit positions between layouts; 4) visualising through parallel coordinate plots for client/designer selection of preferred iterations (Figure 5). In practice, this constituted careful rule definition of furniture layouts for each of the six community spaces (e.g. book club – chairs clustered around circles; cooking club – linear grid of individual tables; arts and crafts – grouped tables and chairs).
The successful application of generative computing models often relies on the selection of appropriate iterations by the client, designer or user. Selection was facilitated through the visual optioning of multi-criteria objectives through Wallacei. Fixed plans and elevations were then developed into layouts for construction. A branding exercise, colour and lighting schemes responded to the modular and flexible nature of the store, by mimicking the natural and warm tones of the birch plywood and maple hardwood of the furniture system. Elevations and plans provided reference for the retail shell construction fit out but also for staff for the conversion from retail to community use. A series of layout conversion manuals were provided to give to staff, alongside an estimation of total time taken to convert the layout from retail.