Image Credit : Ian Carlson Photography
Project Overview
“Pets Carnival” is a retail store that celebrates the joy and playfulness that comes with being a pet owner. The concept is to initiate a new way of viewing the traditional shopping experience. By personalizing the built environment, we can instigate a movement of thought, where animals are more than just pets but an integral part of the family. This idea has formed the fundamental basis for the design and is expressed in the prominent features and finer details throughout the space.
Challenging the widely accepted pet stores established around Melbourne, Pets Carnival serves as an alternative option that appeals to the masses. Located within the newly restored Centro Box Hill shopping center, the store has employed a variety of methods to create a decorative and tactile finish that coincides with the concept and develops a physical interaction with the store. Scale and space have been manipulated to create a diverse and engaging setting that generates interest in the shoppers and transports them to another dimension. All facets of the shop have been treated in various ways, encapsulating the frivolity and fun-loving nature of the carnival concept, whilst honoring the intent of the store.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Rachel Moon
Project Brief
The design brief of Pets Carnival was to develop a visually attractive and distinctive style that was easily identifiable and assisted in way-finding within the shopping center. This shopping center had previously closed down in the year 2000. The plaza later reopened in 2003 having undergone major rebranding and refurbishment. Centro Box Hill now aims to house retailers that produce high quality fit-outs and offer customers an exceptional shopping experience. For this reason, Pets Carnival is situated within the heart of the centre.
The design and colors used are bold and intense, complimenting the context of the store. Engaging customers and passer bys was the main criteria and imperative to generate a successful business. Taking advantage of the carnival concept, a striking color palette was appointed to draw the eye toward the store from a distance. Self-illuminated signage and neon acrylic tubes fitted with up-lights and down lights produce a tinted luminosity at the entrance. This allows the presence of the shop to extend beyond the lease line, capturing the attention of patrons passing by and increasing profitability to the store.
Project Need
Pets Carnival demonstrates an exceptional level of innovation in design by generating a new dimension of space within the store. A unique spatial experience is undertaken when customers venture into the shop and into the kennel like structures. This juxtaposition between the large scale structures and the ¬¬kennels housed within, invites shoppers to experience a difference in perspective.
An educated use of color allows the merchandise to be displayed at its full potential. The color application endeavors to offset the segmented nature of the small products predominantly sold in the shop. By streaking three wedges of color starting at the floor, moving along the partitions and onto the ceiling, the color acts as a gelling agent to form a cohesive space, countering the clutter that small items can produce. By limiting the color palette to high chroma colors, such as red, yellow and blue, a defined contrast is created between the neutral tones of the construction materials.
Humble materials are utilized throughout the store to establish a parallel between the rustic, rural characteristics of animals. The natural properties of the construction materials were exploited to attain a textural finish without the use of decorative applications.
Design Challenge
Pet grooming services are offered at Pets Carnival. However, it’s location adjacent to the shopping center food court, triggered issues with the Health Department at the local Council. An agreement was arranged, with all pets to arrive in crates from the car park into the shop.
Individual members of timber have been haphazardly arranged and layered over a substrate to create a disorderly effect for the kennels and at the shop front. The layers promote a sense of depth and fission, consolidating a new dimension. The intent of this form is to represent the random, care free nature of pets. Each piece of timber is fixed onto the layer below. A minimal gap between the timber is required to prevent vermin and rubbish collecting within the small spaces. Due to the density of the timber, the process for these features is tedious and time consuming, putting stress on the time frame of the project. A collective effort from the client, builder and design firm ensured the panels were completed in due time.
Sustainability
The choice of materials was with strict consideration to durability, sustainability, recyclable properties and environmental friendliness. It was ensured that the materials the shop fitter sourced from each company had the environmental policies implemented wherever possible. The materials purchased are from sustainable resources that are from well managed forests which provide significant and measureable ecological and economic benefits to communities.
Melamine particleboard is extensively used for all cabinets and carcasses. It has been tested extensively to the Australian and European Union Standards. The material has the safety data sheet outlining all safety and handling information. Stainless steel was also used and requires little maintenance, meaning fewer chemicals being deposited down the drain. This has made this product an eco-friendly product and is 100% recyclable. It has a long life span and thus, it has a low total life cost.
Given the large proportion of timber in the store, it was ensured that all adhesives used throughout the construction of Pets Carnival emit low volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). The paints used on the floor, walls and ceiling are low in VOC’s to improve the air quality and working environment within the store.
Interior Design - Retail
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes and aesthetic presentation. Consideration given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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