MARIAM Y. AL'SAIGH - New Retail presents a number of the most innovative retail stores from around the world which were designed by renowned international architects and some firms such as Frank O. Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano, Herzog & de Meuron. The book examines the recent retail projects from flagship stores of luxury brands to eclectic boutiques, shopping centers and supermarkets, mentioning of them, Carlos Miele store in New York, Louis Vitton stores in New York and Tokyo, Prada Epicenter in Tokyo and others. From site plans show cases the architectural and interior spaces to lightings and even experimental materials that created those ultimate retail spaces have been shown.

History of the book:
The debate of raising the retail as one of the cultural features becomes more common for the architectural critics as well as the non architectural. In fact the need for well designed environment has become increasingly important as the retail shopping now is synonymous with entertainment and a key player in establishing brand identity. Today as the architecture tries to respond to shopping idea and it's new demands as a phenomenon of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Century culture, Barreneche in the New Retail, which has been recently produced, intended to bring the most innovative projects which reveal that retail has become a platform for the top design talent all over the world. Those projects dialogues between the seemingly diverse environment of architectural design and commerce.
«Shopping is arguably the last remaining form of public activity… ».
In his New Retail Barreneche shows through a selection of the most innovative design thinking of retail projects, how the architecture today is varied, intelligent and often provocative investigation into the making of form, storefronts and interiors. In this recent presentation obviously one may distinguish the contemporary retail through new materials, new design process, the manipulation of irregular geometries and new metaphors of form which provides it the advance of technology. Barreneche in his introduction noted to some recent critic debates such as the debate in how «the collaboration spring up between fashion designers and architects often bring together two interesting artistic visions such as Frank Gehry and Issey Miyake joining forces to design the avant-garde Japanese designer's New York flagship». He also posed a critic question in distinguishing between the global trends and local style in how stores in radically different contexts should be designed specially to the most successful fashion labels which have stores around the world. In fact those vital issues and some others that the author has been noted to, unfortunately didn’t constitute the main issue of the argument while Barreneche's intention was exclusive on presenting those projects with some practical detail like the new ideas and new technical materials that have been used in certain project. In fact he focuses on those works as they reflex visual ideas more than as architectural thinking or the client's demands. Thus retail for him is a temporary issue, it is about creating environment of current trend, movement or aesthetic direction. The author is also noted in his introduction to another important issue which is in those days certain architects did not often design to design fashion boutiques when they could make museums, skyscrapers or university buildings. This is also pushes the reader to rise another question which is: who is now the first responsible of the contemporary aspects of retails? The architect, the fashion designers or the client? It might be assumed that such question is what makes the author selecting specifically those projects which are belongs to a very well known international architects and to the brand retails which located in important cities like New York, Tokyo, London and Paris from one hand. In the other hand and from the presented projects the critic or the reader can notes how those event-grads architects or firms now interning an international race in who will present the newest design, newest discovered materials, in which remarkable luxury brands and in which city.
In fact the collective projects which don’t exceed the twenty four projects are also a good reference for distinguishing those works from other recent commercial practices nowadays that have a trend towards the creation of theme environments through images weather painted in ages, built up in relief or projected in screen.
Raul A. Barreneche, a New York-based editor and critic, has been writing about architecture and design for more than ten years. A former executive editor at Architecture, he writes regularly for the New York Times. He is currently a contributing editor to Metropolitan Home, Travel + Leisure and Architectural Record and has written for Dwell, House Beautiful, ID, ELLE Décor, Interior Design, Wallpaper and other publication.