The Retail Design specialisation is a newly re-imagined and devised programme component that offers students a unique 30% concentration in contemporary retail design from a ‘design-research’ perspective in a boarder interior architecture framework.
The global retail landscape is facing unprecedented social and economic shifts. The Internet coupled with the recent global recession has generated unimagined and radical cultural changes to the traditional ways people once shopped. Retailers are having to look for new sustainable forms, as a result, putting into question the basic role and necessity of the physical retail space. What then, is the future of the retail experience? What new typologies will emerge that serve our changing societal needs?
The specialisation is focused on “the future of the retail experience” from the perspective of the individual and the social-collective experience, relationship and use of a product(s), its identity and space.
Our aim is to provide students a critical platform to research, experiment and craft ‘spaces, experiences and novel modes’ that expand beyond the normative parameters of today’s trade industry to offer innovative and uncharted economies.
Structure:
The structure is organised as a series of industry inspired modules and thematic design projects that are integrated throughout the two-year masters structure. Our tutors are highly regarded retail specialists at the top of their field offering students intensive training, skills and real-world industry knowledge and experience. Our modules and workshops cover relevant subjects such as: Crafting Space & Experience / Identity, Concept & Strategy / Consumer & Product / Communication & Visualisation / History & Theories.
Trimester 2
- Module: 2 ECTS
- Seminar: Histories, Theories and Contemporary Strategies
Trimester 3:
- Modules: 20 ECTS
- Thematic Design Project
- Research Seminar & Methods
- Visualisation & Communication
- Workshop
Trimester 4
- Module: 3 ECTS
- Workshop
Trimester 5 & 6
- Graduation Project: 40 ECTS
During the last two trimesters, students work on their final self-directed graduation project. Each student selects his or her research subject, area of specialisation and individual project advisor