Information on commercial design for business, including offices, restaurants, retail stores and other spaces.

Building Design for Health & Wellness

Building design can have a signficant impact on your health. According to the landmark National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS), conducted between 1992 and 1994, people spend an average of 87 percent of their lives in enclosed buildings, where pollutants like tobacco smoke, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), asbestos, pesticides and carbon monoxide can prolilferate and,

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How a Commercial Architect Can Help You Differentiate Your Business

According to the U.S. Small Business Association, branding “is about the sum total of the experiences customers have with your business.” Your brand's image is the result of everything you do, from your product and how you interact with customers/clients to the design decisions you make about your office. A commercial architect can help you

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Transforming Workspaces: Redesigning a Pre-COVID Office for the Post-COVID World

It isn’t a stretch to say that the pandemic radically altered our concept of the modern office post-COVID. Once-thriving hubs of activity, like the financial district in San Francisco, have yet to recover from the shifts that took place. In an earlier post, we highlighted the challenges facing architects and designers when attempting to transform

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Navigating the California Building Code Changes Taking Effect in 2024

A Look at Commercial Space Changes through the Eyes of an Architect Every three years in California, the California Building Standards Code undergoes a comprehensive update. This cycle reflects the state’s commitment to enhancing safety, sustainability and innovation in construction. The latest code changes, most of which were announced in 2022, were implemented recently, one

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How to Use Human-Centered Design in Your Retail Store

Human-centered design is a process that focuses on human needs and problem-solving. In the architecture field, it is a collaborative undertaking, a partnership between architect, client, and the client’s end-users that takes into account multiple perspectives to create spaces that are functional and inspiring. Benefits of Human-Centered Design A central goal of human-centered design is

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Get Through Your Commercial Building Project Without Losing Your Mind

A commercial building project is complex. It often involves a large team of people with different skills, time pressures and communication styles. When you add the worries any entrepreneur has when building a new business or revamping an old one – local competition, market changes, permitting issues and environmental requirements, to name just a few

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Accessible Design for Your Retail Space

Accessible design should be near the top of your list of things to consider when you’re remodeling or designing a new retail space. Given that the 2010 census found that 19 percent of the U.S. population lives with some form of disability, creating retail environments that are accessbile, safe and welcoming for all isn’t only

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Adaptive Reuse: TWA Flight Center – Jet-Age Icon Preserved

Adaptive reuse has helped New York reclaim and transform one of its iconic buildings. Trans World Airlines (TWA) may be no more, but part of the terminal that superstar architect Eero Saarinen designed for the company remains a travel hub, now as a hotel. When the TWA Flight Center at New York’s John F. Kennedy

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Adaptive Reuse: Wonder Bread Factory – Renaissance in Washington, D.C.

The Wonder Bread Factory building in Washington, D.C., where the eponymous sliced white bread and the parent company's sweet Hostess cake treats were made, is emblematic of how adaptive reuse can be an important part of revitalizing a neighborhood. The four-story building, with its brick-and-steel façade, is part of a group of buildings in northwest

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Adaptive Reuse: Transforming Old Churches for New Uses

In the past weeks, I’ve written about the environmental, economic, and social benefits of repurposing buildings – also known as adaptive reuse – and about some of the most popular types of buildings currently being adapted. Over the next few posts, I’d like to take a look at some of the other kinds of structures

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