Aedas, the world’s fifth architecture and design firm, organised a forum ‘Future Retail Design and Trend’ in coordination with Taiwan Council of Shopping Centers on 2 September 2015 at Taipei International Convention Center. In addition to the professional analysis by Aedas’ Directors, Jeff Tsai (Chairman of Taroko Development Corporation), Victor Liu (General Manager of RD International Ltd) and Tony Chao (Managing Director of Jones Lang LaSalle, Taiwan) were also invited to share their experiences and thoughts at the forum. The forum attracted over a hundred industry professionals to participate in the discussion on retail design, trend and development so as to cope with the five key challenges of retail: attraction, retention, ease of use, integration and revenue.

Aedas Global Board Director Andy Wen kicked off the event with his presentation ‘Starting from Scratch’. He pointed out that in the fact of the rapid urbanisation, architects share a common challenge of a lack of distinctive characters of the surrounding environment. He believes that architects should explore rich historical, social and cultural threads from the seemingly empty context and hence create culture-driven design strategies, which could guide their designs in the market-oriented urban developments and the retail-oriented mixed-use complexes.

In response to the trend of online shopping, Aedas Executive Directors Christine Lam and David Clayton explained the change of shopping centres in the future through a presentation of various works. Christine said: “The rising of online retail has put high pressure on traditional shopping centres. However, if we can fulfill people’s needs and expectations nowadays and adopt a well planned architectural and spatial design, I believe shopping centres definitely have their advantages.”

David further explained: “The design for shopping centres in the future will become interactive. Besides traditional retail shops, a large variety of dining and recreational facilities as well as flexible activity venues will help provide a social, cultural and lifestyle destination throughout the day.”

The forum also included a panel discussion moderated by Victor Liu, where Andy Wen, Christine Lam, David Clayton, Jeff Tsai and Tony Chao had an in-depth discussion on design trends and planning strategies of shopping centre. The forum sparked off new and inspiring ideas for creating commercial retail spaces that well integrate with Taiwan’s unique culture.

The prominence of retail has changed dramatically in the past two decades as both a social and urban integrator. Retail destinations are the core of mixed-use developments and their designs have also moved on from outdated concepts of shop fronts and large closed boxes to become major defining elements of our urban environments. Aedas possesses extensive international experience to provide creative and comprehensive solutions to retail design, in response to the five key challenges of retail: attraction, retention, ease of use, integration and revenue. Aedas has designed various award-winning retail projects including The Star in Singapore, Centres of Central in Hong Kong, Center 66 in Wuxi, Starlight Place in Chongqing and North Star Mixed-use Development in Beijing, China.