In late 2024, KANAL-Centre Pompidou opened a call for submission for the design of their future shop. A famous Brussels architectural firm contacted me, as a retail design expert, to join efforts with a team of other specialists (scenographers, furniture designers, contractors) to submit a note of intent together.

Our team was one of five out of more than twenty to be shortlisted. Along with the others we were invited to a site visit and group briefing session. We also received a document comprising the project’s key practical details: timeline, budget, submission details. With this combined information each team was invited to submit a unique store concept proposal within a timeframe of 3 months.

Through the briefing elements mentioned above, it became apparent that the shop would not benefit from its own brand, but rather would adopt the identity and overall ambitions of the KANAL-Centre Pompidou as a whole. These ambitions are best described on their website:

“Driven by the Brussels-Capital Region, this ambitious project seeks to provide Brussels with a cultural hub favourable to the aura of the capital of Europe. In the context of a ten-year partnership with the Centre Pompidou, the future KANAL-Centre Pompidou will not only house a museum of modern and contemporary art, but also the rich collections of architecture and urbanism of the CIVA Foundation. It will also accommodate many public spaces with a range of functions, including several stages for the performing arts.”

The specific vision for the shop was to fit seamlessly within the more “functional” public spaces of this offer.

My role within the team was to provide retail design strategic advice, or in other terms, the “groundwork” from which the scenographers, architects and furniture designers could base their creative ideas.

To support them in this endeavour, I conducted an in-depth analysis, the results of which I compiled in a comprehensive report.

It included:

1. A summary of key points from the brief received
2. An analysis of the KANAL brand – using (what little) information had been shared, seeking further and suggesting a (missing) brand story
3. A projection of the future shop’s target customers
4. A reflection on its potential offer and service
5. An audit of the physical location’s opportunities and challenges
6. A projection of what the shop’s “unexpected factor” could be (based on the results of my PhD research)
7. An initial conceptual idea making links to all the above through visual inspirations