Can Versatility Help Us Shape a Better Urban Future?
The high street has changed and, post-pandemic, there's a glut of vacant office space. Can architectural versatility help us shape a better urban future?
by Tom Morris
The London interior designer Andrew Martin founded his own commercial interior design firm, AMD, in 1999. For 20 years he's worked closely with an array of retail clients that have historically relied on having a significant presence on the high street: Aquascutum, Anthropologie, Jigsaw, the White Stuff. But, over time, he's noticed their businesses changing, and in 2016 he realised that companies with similar, high street-reliant strategies had begun to struggle. "Before, brands would sometimes spend up to £2 million on one store and it would still be profitable," Andrew told me recently. "But I could see the sums weren't adding up anymore. And I knew things would have to change."
London Design Festival 2019: The Greenhouse installation for LSA & Friends
Just over 80% of us now shop online, marked up from 53% a decade ago. In 2020, 30% of all shopping was done online, up from 20% the previous year, in an unprecedented leap. With statistics that show that a fifth of 25 to 34-year-olds do all of their shopping online – avoiding the high street altogether – Andrew realised that brands that sustained bricks-and-mortar premises were going to have to alter their approach to physical retail in order to continue to be successful.
The past 18 months have given many of us the time to rethink what our city centres could look like, and experts are generally agreeing on a vision of a high street that cuts flexibility front and centre. In 2020, Andrew set up Residency to meet this need. The company specialises in digitally re-brandable pop-up stores: neutral blank spaces that established brands as well as start-ups can take over for a short-term period. They range between 100 and 1,500 sq ft in size and include hanging rails that can turn into shelving, tables that can be folded away or removed altogether, a kitchenette, a toilet and a heating system. Importantly, there is a surfeit of digital screens, on which brands can display their logo or play moving image. This means no waste in posters or hoarding. Brands don't have to transport fixtures and fittings in, either, which means there's nothing to throw away afterwards.
The Greenhouse concept sketch by AMD Interior Architecture
Andrew's vision is simple. Not only does this model help landlords create buzz – there will always be something new to bring shoppers back again and again – but it also means smaller brands can test out how they might do if they took over a physical retail space. "It basically means e-commerce retailers can try real shops without long term commitment," Andrew told me. "It's affordable and sustainable."
By Residency in Islington Square – bringing a new dimension to retailing
The temporary nature of Residency is key and spells out how our high street could look in decades to come. Largely, fashion retailers do best in September and October and during April and March, when the new seasons begin. The leisure industry does most of its business on 2nd January. "Looking at all these scenarios, spaces can work so much more efficiently when a business is only in a space when it needs to be there," Andrew said.
LSA and by Residency in Islington Square
Artorius Faber by Residency – Islington Square
The changing high street isn't the only challenge facing our cities; post-pandemic, our inner urban centres are also suffering from a glut of empty office spaces. Vacancies in the City of London alone have risen around 70 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic, with 12 million square feet of space currently up for grabs, according to Savills PLC.
Before Covid, workers spent on average 4.2 days a week in the office; a recent survey of London office goers showed that they would like to spend on average 2.7 days back in. Good design, according to Andrew, is crucial. "People have been in their homes making their environments better and, as they go back to work, they will be expecting more. Companies will need to offer an office experience that is far and beyond what would have been expected 20 years ago," he said.
Adapt or die, or so the saying goes. Taking this literally will offer another opportunity for our cities: applications for retail-to-residential conversions are up approximately 10% year on year. The idea that people will start to live in our inner cities again will help drive traffic back, which could keep a whole new generation of retailers and offices in gear. These green sprouts are collectively beginning to show what a newer, better high street could look like in years to come.
Tom Morris is a design writer and the former design editor at Monocle magazine.
