Why We Buy - Part I

When I first read the syllabus and saw the title of the book for this weeks reading, I thought to myself, how in the world does this relate to Architecture? A few days later I had it in my possession and I read over the back of it, still thinking to myself, I really don’t get why we are going to read this for our Architecture theory class.

I started the book yesterday and after completing the first two sections, I am finally beginning to realize the answer to that question. As I have found in the other two readings thus far, this book is really bringing up some issues I have never really thought about. Do many of us think about the art of shopping? I know I just go to a store and do my thing and then leave. I don’t really think about the design of it or the advertising, etc that goes on behind the scenes. I for one am probably one of the people they talk about in the store that doesn’t read the signs. I may every once in awhile but most of the time when I am shopping I have two kids in tow and am way to busy or distracted to take the estimated 4 seconds they refer to people taking to reading a sign. The best statements in the book that I have come across so far are “It’s a three dimensional TV commercial. It’s a walk-in container for words and thoughts and messages and ideas,” and “A great big three-dimensional walk-in TV commercial. And just as if scripting and directing a TV commercial, the job is to figure out what to say and when and how to say it.”

I for one have never designed a store. The company I work for does mostly residential and the commercial projects we have worked on have been institutional or just the shell for the building to then be broken into separate retail spaces. The only concept I have had to think about in this context is the structure and making sure that a column isn’t coming down right in the middle of a prime retail area. I haven’t dealt with a layout, so I am very excited about the studio project.

I now understand why this book. To start with, so far I do see exactly how it is going to tie into studio. Second, I understand the impact that we as Architects can have on the success or failure of a store. I look forward to completing the second half of the book and learning how to study others in order to design a better building for the consumer.