As retail continues to rapidly transform, we’re looking beyond the immediate industry, to environments and concepts inspiring the retail of tomorrow in our latest Fluid Retail series. Today’s consumers engage with brands in a fluid manner. The traditional sectors of the retail, restaurant, hospitality, and entertainment have blurred as the consumer-desired experience has become a mosaic of expectations, influenced heavily by engagement, access, and authenticity. Embracing these new expectations presents brands with a greater opportunity to differentiate, cross-sell and expand the breadth of their brand experience. 

This segment will focus on entertainment concepts—from brand name skate parks, to experiential beauty studios, that have adapted to new consumer behaviors, paving the way for new experiences of the future (and while you’re here, check out other our other segments: Hospitality & Wellness and Food + Beverage):

RazerStore

Global gaming brands Razer has unveiled its first European flagship,  a 3,700-square-foot space dedicated to interactive experiences. The distinctly dark two-floor space features a shop floor, play-test area where consumers can try out any combination of Razer’s gear, and lower ground floor gaming zone, complete with an enclosed streaming booth, connected consoles and ten battle stations. There will also be weekly tournaments, workshops, and boot camps in the future.

RazerStore, London, UK

Vans Skate Space

Vans Skate Space 198 was designed to offer a unique skate experience both beginner and experience boarders. As consumers flock to brand sponsored spaces, Vans hopes that the space will host competitions, art exhibits and music events in the future. 

Vans Skate Space, Brooklyn, NYC

CAMP Flagship

Built to engage and inspire young families CAMP’s newest flagship location in Hudson Yards NYC has a canteen, an interactive space for play and shopping, and a theater for activities and programming for kids. Different from other CAMP stores that operate with rotating themes, this signature store features the brand’s BaseCAMP theme, bringing families the nostalgia of New England summer camps no matter the time of year.

CAMP, Hudson Yards NYC

Zalando 

European fashion e-retailer Zalando opened a Berlin Beauty Station to act as a multi-use store that doubles as an interactive art gallery, salon, or photography studio. Showcasing IRL tutorials and producing educational content for in-store tablets or online streaming, the store offers fans beauty focused entertainment experiences. 

Zalando Beauty Studio, Berlin, Germany

Off-White Miami Flagship

Fashion designer and streetwear icon Virgil Abloh has redesigned Off-White brand’s Miami flagship to flex into a multipurpose event and fulfilment center when not in regular retail mode. The space’s new design navigates the challenges of reimaging the physical brand space as the popularity of e-commerce, accelerated by the pandemic, grows.

Off-White Flagship, Miami, FL

Times change, and brands need to evolve—but that doesn’t mean you need to start from scratch.

Developing strong brand assets can provide restaurants with a flexible foundation in which to successfully scale your experience. Leveraging this kit-of-parts approach allows brands to evolve and better address region-specific sites or changing consumer behaviors.

Now is the time for brands to reimagine their holistic portfolio of experiences – from prototype to new concept – to better address shifting guest needs. Innovation done right accelerates growth, captures consumer’s attention, and puts pressure on competitors to keep pace.

Partnering with long-standing client KFC, NELSON has helped the iconic brand grow their portfolio while scaling their experience. From airport kiosks to historic locations, consistent brand assets are leveraged to create a distinct destination, no matter the square footage.

Store of the Future: KFC Nex Gen

In 2020, KFC unveiled its “Next Generation Prototype” concept that prioritizes a digital-forward experience to leverage the restaurant’s skyrocketing drive-thru sales. Our team partnered with the brand to design a destination that would streamline the process for drivers, will improving the speed of service, limiting contact, and preventing bottlenecks in the lobby as aggregators wait for orders to come out. The new concept includes dedicated parking spots for off-premise orders, a drive thru lane designed for mobile orders, and a designated pickup entry for online orders. The company plans to debut the next-generation restaurant later this year.
 

Brand Home: Harland Sanders Café & Museum

The Harland Sanders Cafe is a historic restaurant and museum recognized as the birthplace of KFC. Operated by Colonel Harland Sanders in the 1940s, the site rose to prominence for the conception of the famous KFC secret recipe and has since been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Tasked with curating a guest experience spread across the entirety of the Colonel’s original campus, our team delivered a unique “Return to Roadside” design approach. To elevate the Sanders Cafe museum and exhibit experience, the design team integrated an engaging, low tech display with interactive overlays that enhance the KFC storyline. As guests make their way through the museum, artifacts have been arranged to celebrate the brand evolution and overall story.

Flagship: The Big Chicken

When KFC was looking to renovate their iconic “Big Chicken” flagship store, they turned to us to provide a much-needed update. Located in the heart of Marietta, Georgia, the site offered us an ideal scenario to riff off the momentum of the brand’s current advertising campaign and dial up their irreverent, tongue-in-cheek feistiness of the Colonel to optimize their roadside beacon, which boasts an iconic 56-foot-tall chicken sculpture as its main architectural expression. Inside the store, new graphics brought the brand to life, while updated seating and fresh finishes gave the space an elevated new look, while celebrating the KFC legacy and honoring its Southern hospitality roots.  

New Concept: Drive-Thru Only (International)

With a growing number of consumers ordering through online channels, the goal of the drive-thru only concept was to develop a more efficient operating model that celebrated this change in consumer behavior.  Located in Newcastle, Australia, the drive-thru has multiple lanes that allow customers to order and pay for a meal through the brand’s smartphone app or website, including designated lanes for more traditional, on-the-spot orders. With traditional restaurants, the building is the experience, but with this new concept it became a fixture – one element supporting the overall experience. Every touchpoint from the landscaping, signage, and architecture of the drive-thru portal comes together to create an elevated experience for guests.

Small Footprint: Urban Prototype

The goal of the brand’s first-ever urban prototype, located in The Bronx, was to reflect the borough’s bold, fast-paced eclecticism with a little more spunk than the traditional KFC restaurant.  Upon arrival, guests are greeted by a larger than life Colonel Sanders wood focal wall and lively signage featuring the brand’s iconic “it’s finger-lickin’ good” expression. A brick accent wall brings in a piece of the Bronx’s grit and serves as a backdrop for the brand’s traditional bold red stripes. Seating arrangements and ordering options complement the on-the-go mentality of New Yorkers, offering bar seating for solo diners and a designated pick-up area for mobile and to-go orders. Blending warm wood accents and exposed brick and balancing crisp kitchen tile with metal trim and exposed welds contribute to the overall aesthetic.

Prototype: American Showman

When KFC celebrated its 75th anniversary, our team developed a cost-effective retrofit program to refresh the brand environment and create a modern design that celebrated the legacy of Colonel Sanders while also bringing his down-home values and showmanship to life. The new design is a return to the brand’s roots. The honest, crafted finishes combined with bold graphics serve as an allusion to the Colonel’s hard-working background and celebrate his infamous entrepreneurial spark. Paint, finishes, and cladding transform the interior space to reflect an updated brand positioning while creating focal points throughout the dining experience. The exterior is designed with bold color, shutters, and architectural elements to communicate the dramatic transformation from the outside, in.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — April 7, 2022—Award-winning architecture, design, and strategy firm NELSON Worldwide has merged operations with Daroff Design Inc + DDI Architects, PC (DDI), an award-winning, internationally recognized interior design and architecture firm headquartered in Center City, Philadelphia. With almost 50 years of history as a certified Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), DDI joins the NELSON team with shared values. The firms come together to solidify their commitment to creative design solutions that thoughtfully respond to client objectives and transform the human experience. 

“We are extremely excited that Karen Daroff and her team will be joining NELSON,” notes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at NELSON Worldwide, John “Ozzie” Nelson Jr. “Since launching Daroff Design almost five decades ago, she has led the firm to national and international prominence and has received many accolades along the way. I am looking forward to her having the opportunity to continue her legacy alongside our team.” 

NELSON has been one of the industry’s most aggressive integrators in the AEC industry. It has previously acquired well-known Philadelphia-based companies such as H2L2, Space Design, Cope Linder, and Brinjac Engineering and is continuing to scale. As part of a long-term strategic growth plan for NELSON, the merger will combine the firm’s strengths to address its clients’ challenges with ingenuity to provide unexpected design solutions and unparalleled client service. DDI’s creative team, grounded in innovative thinking, combined with NELSON’s industry knowledge and geographic reach, will allow the firm to expand and strengthen its ability to deliver exciting and emotionally connected experiences within the built environment. 

Founded in Philadelphia in 1977, NELSON offers a breadth of services that transform and touch all dimensions of the human experience, including architecture, interior design, graphic design, and brand strategy. The firm creates and delivers brand experiences, compelling environments, and smart solutions across the spaces we interact with daily—where we work, shop, dine, stay, serve, live, play, and thrive. DDI joins NELSON with an expansive project portfolio across the workplace, hospitality, multi-family, and public sector. The firm specializes in facility programming, master planning, and the design of innovative, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable spaces. Some of DDI’s most notable clients include Comcast, NBC Universal, The Durst Organization, Vanguard, Disney, JetBlue, Loews Hotels, St. Regis, Ritz Carlton, PIDC, Sheetz, MGM Resorts, Parx Casino, and Harrah’s, among many others.

“I am excited and proud to have our DDI team join forces with NELSON, a company I’ve long admired. NELSON and DDI share many of the same values and are aligned both in spirit and our strong commitment to hands-on client service and design excellence,” comments Karen Daroff, IIDA, President + Design Principal at DDI. “When approaching this merger, it was important to identify a company with a large and dynamic national presence to better serve our clients. I am also personally thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with team members nationally and service our clients with a national footprint.

This is an amazing opportunity to integrate our teams, bring together our shared visions and to have a strengthened presence in our merged Philadelphia Headquarters.”

NELSON will welcome 25 employees from the DDI team alongside Karen Daroff. She will provide hands-on leadership for NELSON’s hospitality practice and become a senior leader within the firm’s Philadelphia interior design team. Both firms are committed to managing a seamless transition for employees and clients. 

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About NELSON Worldwide

NELSON Worldwide is an award-winning firm, transforming all dimensions of the human experience through architecture, interior design, graphic design, and brand strategy services. With more than 800 teammates spread across 20 offices, the firm’s collective network provides strategic and creative solutions that positively impact where people work, serve, play, and thrive. The team combines industry knowledge, service expertise, and geographic reach to deliver projects across the country and around the world. Client partnerships across the NELSON network include: Hilton, Macy’s, Comcast, Simon Property Group, Prologis, Yum! Brands, Boston Consulting Group, T-Mobile, Emory Healthcare, SAP Fieldglass, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Kroger, Hyatt, Bayer, Target, and many more. 

Visit www.nelsonworldwide.com to learn more.

About Daroff Design Inc. 

Daroff Design Inc + DDI Architects, PC (DDI), is an award-winning, internationally recognized interior design and architecture firm. The team specializes in the facility programming, master planning, and design of innovative, efficient, cost effective, and environmentally sustainable facilities for their workplace, hospitality, multi-family, and public sector clients. Working in diverse design vocabularies, their creative team, licensed to practice throughout the US, is widely recognized for their integrated design process and for creating emotionally connected experiences.

Now celebrating nearly 50 years in business as a certified Woman Business Enterprise (WBE), DDI provides its clients with a wealth of creative, and technically skilled design and project management services. They have been consistently recognized as a leading, innovative design firm both by the US and world design press, including regular inclusion in Interior Design’s Top Hospitality Giants and Contract Magazine’s Top Workplace Design Firms.

Minneapolis, MN — February 20, 2020 — Award-winning architecture, design and strategy firm NELSON Worldwide announced today the appointment of Jim Nevada as Chief Financial Officer. As a current NELSON Worldwide board member with more than two decades leading world-class, rapidly-growing companies, Nevada joins the firm with a strategic and operational mindset to maximize the firm’s annual growth and profits.

“Jim offers the rare opportunity to add an executive that, like our organization, does not fit neatly into a box. While he has the very best of financial acumen, he is a broadly skilled executive who will advance the strategic aspects of our enterprise while still keeping the focus on the people that make our business successful,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NELSON Worldwide John “Ozzie” Nelson Jr. “Jim will most definitely be a key strategic advisor to me and our board as we continue to achieve our ambitious future objectives.”

Jim Nevada joins NELSON Worldwide from WSP Global, an $8 billion international AEC firm where he successfully led the environment sector. During his tenure, Nevada grew its division at an annual rate of 32 percent while improving EBITDA margins from less than 15 percent to 23 percent. Throughout his nearly 20-year career in architecture, engineering, and construction, the executive has built a reputation for aligning business and financial metrics to support business strategy and high growth.

“I am thrilled to join NELSON Worldwide as Chief Financial Officer and work toward a more seamless organization that benefits our teammates as much as our clients,” says Nevada. “In my new role, I hope to adopt a more people-centric approach to finance, allowing creativity to remain the cornerstone of the NELSON brand, while still driving our business forward.”

NELSON Worldwide was the #2 “Hot Firm” in 2019 recognized by Zweig Group, honoring the fastest growing firms in the AEC industry.

About NELSON Worldwide

NELSON Worldwide is an award-winning firm delivering architecture, interior design, graphic design, and brand strategy services that transform all dimensions of the human experience, providing our clients with strategic and creative solutions that positively impact their lives and the environments where they work, serve, play, and thrive. Our collective network includes more than 1,100 teammates in 25 offices, combining industry experience, service expertise, and geographic reach to deliver projects across the country and around the world. Client partnerships across the NELSON network include: Saks Fifth Avenue, Comcast, Hershey’s, Kroger, Simon Property Group, Macy’s, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, SAP Fieldglass, Hilton, Target, T-Mobile, Dick’s Sporting Goods, American Girl, YUM! Brands, and many more. Visit www.nelsonworldwide.com to learn more.

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Caroline Saba
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – January 24, 2023 — Award-winning architecture, design, and strategy firm NELSON Worldwide is excited to announce the addition of Katie Pass-Brinker as Design Leader, Hospitality. Katie will work closely with the interior design team to create and implement high-level design for the hospitality sector, providing direction and mentorship from concept through construction.

“Katie has more than 16 years of experience in the world of hospitality, working on a range of projects from large-scale operations to independent brands,” notes chairman and Chief Executive Officer at NELSON Worldwide John “Ozzie” Nelson Jr. “Her unique ability to elevate interior spaces that reflect a fresh interpretation of the client’s vision while championing a collaborative process will be paramount as we continue to grow the hospitality practice at NELSON.”

Passionate about the creative process and turning ideas into reality, Katie develops design concepts that allow guests to become fully immersed in their environment, where every detail is carefully thought out from arrival to departure. Katie never misses an opportunity to be inspired by her surroundings, whether through nature, art, fashion, culture, architecture, or food, and readily infuses these ideas throughout her projects using colors, patterns, and textures.

“I am looking forward to being a part of NELSON and working alongside an all-star team to elevate hospitality spaces and deliver a thoughtful design that’s on time and on budget,” remarks Katie. “I thrive when working on multiple projects and with varying team members, and I am excited for all that’s to come from our practice.”

Having led and managed design teams for over a decade, including as Design Director and Principal at Daroff Design, Katie is highly organized and well-versed in the design process, from client management and creative planning to furniture selection and specifications. In coordinating directly with architecture teams, she is able to ensure the design vision stays true through documentation to construction phases. Katie has helped develop restaurants, hotels, resorts, nightclubs, and more throughout her career, including Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort in Orlando. Florida. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from Philadelphia University and received her NCIDQ certification in 2012.

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About NELSON Worldwide

NELSON Worldwide is an award-winning firm, boldly transforming all dimensions of the human experience through architecture, interior design, graphic design, and brand strategy. With more than 700 teammates across 20 offices, the firm’s collective network provides strategic and creative solutions that positively impact where people work, serve, play, and thrive. The team combines industry knowledge, service expertise, and geographic reach to deliver projects across the country and around the world. Client partnerships across the NELSON network include Hilton, Macy’s, Comcast, Simon Property Group, Prologis, Yum! Brands, Boston Consulting Group, T-Mobile, Emory Healthcare, SAP Fieldglass, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Kroger, Hyatt, Bayer, Target, and many more. Visit www.nelsonworldwide.com to learn more.

With its ability to transform to meet a variety of needs, modular seating has become a great solution for hotels seeking a stylish and economical way to accommodate evolving guest needs. Read more here.

NELSON Worldwide’s Holly Williamson shares insight with Mann Report on how open offices are crucial for mentorship in the workplace.

“What will bring employees back to the office?” is one of the most common questions we as architects and designers are asked on a daily basis. While there is no one-size-fits-all secret recipe when it comes to designing the best back-to-office experience, there is one thing that definitely won’t have employees crawling back to the workplace…

During a meeting with a client about the importance of listening to employees, the value of acknowledging their concerns, and involving them in deciding when to make changes, I was shocked when the CEO commented, “I don’t get it, no one came to the office today, and we ordered cake.”

The response sparked a greater question and conversation: What’s the magic “thing” that will bring life back into our office spaces? What will convince people to commute two hours, pay for childcare and wait until Sunday to do the laundry? That CEO isn’t alone in their thinking: When employees were in the office five days a week, having free food was considered a perk. They were already there and only had to get up and walk to the café to grab a slice of cake, pizza, etc. It was a nice break in your day, a chance to chat with your colleagues. However, things have changed, and we need to adjust our expectations on what the true draw is. Hint: It’s not cake.

We’ve known the answer for years: the only thing your office space has, that nowhere else does, is your people. When employees were surveyed in the wake of the pandemic, the number one thing they all said they missed about the office was the people. Even science tells us we need in-person interaction. Studies have shown that in-person interaction helps drop blood pressure and reduce anxiety. The elderly live longer and more fulfilled lives when they have regular interactions with others. Blue Zone studies, which explore regions of the world where people live significantly longer and healthier lives, are showing us how important a connection to our community is to our longevity. So, if we know that we miss each other and that being around others will improve our lives, why isn’t that enough to get people together in offices?

It’s going to take work both from employers and employees to implement the changes required. Let’s dive into what we can do to promote and support in-office work by focusing on three necessary steps to build and sustain in-office culture in a flexible work environment:

The First Step: Listen
This seems simple but it’s more nuanced than you may think. You need to have a deep understanding of not just the organization, but the specific office culture and local teammates. Engaging the end users to understand, when they do come in, what it is that is bringing them in. What tasks and activities are they completing? This understanding helps your team identify the tasks that bring them in, ensuring you support them in both policy and physical space. In turn, this approach demonstrates that you’re listening and encourages continued engagement.

The Second Step: Create Rituals
Rituals have been proven to help build social networks, psychological safety, performance and purpose by giving people a sense of ownership and empowerment. Humans find comfort in predictability. Take a common ritual like going to the gym as an example: Once it becomes embedded in your routine, it becomes something you count on, you look forward to it, you see and interact with the same people, you build personal relationships, you feel part of something bigger than you and you miss it when you don’t go.

Rituals don’t need to be complicated. They can be as simple as a 15-minute stand up discussion to talk about your weekend plans. They can be as involved as an all office outing. The key is they need to happen regularly and at a consistent day and time that people can begin to count on.

The Third Step: Build Place Attachment
If you build reliability through listening and creating rituals, you will inevitably begin to foster place attachment. Place attachment is the emotional link formed by an individual to a setting that has been given meaning through interaction. Building workplace attachment has been shown to improve job satisfaction, performance, organizational commitment, employee retention, and office culture. Things that any company would be interested in.

There is no slice of cake or magic pill that is going to solve all our workplace woes. It’s going to take effort, patience and determination by both employers and employees. Some companies find it easiest to begin deploying these ideas at the same time as an office renovation, when teammates are already primed for change. However, these are all things that can be implemented at any time in any company for little to no capital.

The Oracle Industry Lab in Chicago, which provides customers in multiple industries the opportunity to test new technologies, recently opened. It is the first such facility for the IT giant that plans to add labs in England and Australia later this year. Read more with Building Design + Construction here.