DKO Architecture’s new director on the reshaping of retail

DKO Architecture has announced the appointment of Frank Alvarez as its new retail and mixed-use director.

Alvarez was previously a director at Ignite Architects and global retail leader at Woods Bagot. Before that, he was part of the design leadership teams at Westfield (Scentre Group), where he gained much of his experience. Alvarez says he is passionate about cross-sector experiences, the effects of consumer behaviour, and how to exert an irresistible pull on consumers and visitors not duplicated online. One thing that should be avoided is building too much retail.

“We need to update our notion of ‘activating’ spaces only with retail and dining,” he said. “Instead, we should be shaping the next normal by exploring new workable typologies with the aim to decentralise stand-alone retail assets and shopping only precincts and reimagine these hubs as fresh and compelling community lifestyle destinations. This is especially important as the Gen Y and Z population matures and relocates out of urban settings, yet still desires the experiences they enjoyed as urbanites.”

“The majority of shopping centre-based retail is on large parcels of particularly zoned land and in many cases, are surrounded by vast amounts of carparking. Given today’s issues about relevant retail and the survival of particular brands, a ‘retail rewrite’ is in order to create opportunities to reinvent these sites into becoming thriving micro-communities. The critical factor will be ensuring this development process is designed from the inside out, with community daily stories as the narrative. The redevelopment and precise integration of peripheral parts of these sites may become places to live, work, learn, heal, supply and holiday at – creating not just a sense of place, but also of purpose.”

Alvarez believes that seismic shifts are being driven by the consumer and their prevailing need for convenience and on-demand lifestyles.

“The consumer is the new ‘point-of-sale’ as they control everything from anywhere. As architects and designers, we need to help them get Life done in great places with purpose.”

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