This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire series features the cutting-edge and futuristic flagship showroom dubbed ‘The Wave’ for Toyota in Abu Dhabi. Al-Futtaim Motors is the exclusive distributor of Toyota in the UAE. Following its acquisition of ‘The Wave’ building, design consultancy Greenspace, was commissioned to create a contemporary and unique flagship and redefine the standards for retail and brand experience for Toyota.
The Wave is set over five floors of 14,000 m2 of retail and service space. The challenge for Greenspace was to plan the circulation throughout the buildings and differentiate sales, display, hospitality and interaction zones.
The interior design vision from the outset was to provide a modern and minimal aesthetic achieved by using undulating fins with inset premium lighting above smooth, white and grey ceramic flooring slabs.
Greenspace also included a family zone, complete with racetrack and drivable electric cars, travelator tunnel to join the buildings and a digital design studio area.
SBID had the opportunity to speak with Adrian Caddy, CEO & Founder at Greenspace.
Company: Greenspace Ltd
Project: AFM Toyota ‘The Wave’
Project Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
What was the client’s brief?
Al-Futtaim Motors’ brief was to create a ‘unique retail concept’ to drive the complete interior and exterior fit out and the total customer experience for the ‘Wave’ facility, including:
Brief objectives
What inspired the design of the project?
Based on Toyota and Al-Futtaim Motors’ shared brand vision, ‘Passion for Better’ was the creative inspiration for all the architectural and interiors, lighting, digital and experiential design development undertaken by Greenspace.
“We wanted the entire space to feel as if has been constructed from light waves, drawing the intensity of the exterior light through the building via the horizontal light contours on every floor.” — Adrian Caddy.
The signature style of the entire interior space uses simple, mathematical lines and radiuses. The curved lines of the Wave exterior are echoed along the length of each floor by suspended white fins that are contoured from the front to the back of each floor.
What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?
Planning, designing and installing a completely new circulation system to enable high numbers of visitors, as well as the cars themselves, to move easily around a 9,500m2 retail space was the biggest challenge Greenspace faced.
“The needs of all types of customers were considered in great detail through the customer journey planning workshops and the outputs fully informed the interior architecture and experience design process and their subsequent implementation” — Adrian Caddy.
Greenspace designed the architectural interiors following rigorous circulation and customer journey planning, the results of which led to the construction of 2 new escalator cores, a vehicle elevator, and a 50m covered bridge incorporating moving walkways that spans the retail showroom and the service centre workshops. The new escalators, moving walkways and lifts enable customers to explore the giant flagship with ease.
What was your team’s highlight of the project?
Probably the greatest achievement of the project is that fact that the Wave retail flagship experience is augmented by digital screens on each floor, providing customers with information and interactivity through multiple touch points.
“We decided very early on to eliminate displays of printed brochures and other forms of traditional point of sale, in favour of a seamless digital experience guided by hosts in the service of customers.” — Adrian Caddy.
The entire customer experience was designed to be paperless, and instead, utilising digital technology to engage and inform visitors seamlessly.
Why did you enter the SBID International Design Awards?
We were attracted to the SBID International Design Awards because of the recognition they provide to design excellence across diverse sectors and because they have the ability to attract international attention.
“As a London-based company with a specialist reputation, we were delighted to create the new Toyota retail flagship experience in Abu Dhabi. This is a unique project with real ambition that will create a powerful legacy for all involved. To win an SBID International Design Award would be a great honour to all involved.” — Adrian Caddy.
Questions answered by Adrian Caddy, CEO & Founder at Greenspace
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Greenspace | SBID International Design Awards 2017
With UAE in burn-out mode a saving horizon for the UK economy has taken a shocked step aback.
But its not new news, its not even a shock to those connected with work in the Middle East, many saw this coming for well over a year. It is not a secret that ‘the family’ have long since supported each other and taking in to account the pride of the nation, the family name, the culture of the middle east and the wealth of the family I would be surprised to see Dubai fall totally to its knees.
In my opinion, Dubai was always going to be the Emperors’ new clothes. Built without an infrastructure, how could it survive for more than a decade? It has architecture like no other, was the response to those in business who doubted its longevity. Yes, but it’s built on ego and sand, that’s the first ingredient of the recipe for a fall.
To build a business or a concrete structure requires the same basic rules. Firstly identify the need, and then identify the market: research, and research again. Then factor in the worse possible scenarios such as government changes, financial downturn, competition and consumer needs, and finally address those factors one by one. If it still looks good, then plan, plan and plan again. Be flexible and nimble enough to adapt with your planning as market forces change.
Dubai was developed to demonstrate power, as a built environment. However major infrastructure was delivered only as an afterthought. For example, Dubai did not think to build a transport system until it discovered that it took hours to reach some of the islands. Secondly, Dubai planners did not create a core reason to travel there, such as Singapore’s efforts and success in creating a global shopping destination. Dubai was initially planned to be an alternative gateway to Singapore and cut down on long haul travel for those in the west, thus making the retail facilities, services and choice available in Dubai a major attraction, or not, for customers. As a business consultant I therefore identify two key risks for Dubai: shopping and airlines.
Airlines The next step should have been to identify the airlines needs and the shopping demographic. There are two major airlines for Dubai, Emirate Airlines and Etihad, the latter being the newest airline which launched, identified its market, identified the lifestyle and needs of its customer and then designed an airline to fit that need. It also identified its competitor’s services and found its core market was long-haul so Eithad provided short-haul flights. Emirate airlines do not want the short-haul flights blocking their routes; their strategy was to price-out the short trips as they did not want vacant seats for the second leg on their long-haul flights. In doing so, they provided an opportunity for Etihad. Emirates drove their customer-base to a new supplier, with new planes, who provided luxury as a differential. It worked. Etihad is the world’s best airline according to the latest airline awards and having flown on Etihad myself it is absolutely the most luxurious airline (in fact the hotels around the world might learn something from the services and customer-care provided by Etihad!)
Shopping Shopping in Dubai is not different to any other international city, in fact I understand it is less interesting, collections are limited as religious beliefs prevent some items from import, so the mix is limited, the price is the same, so why would you carry it across the world when you could buy the same product locally for the same price? It was founded on luxury and therefore the shopping needed to reflect that but ultimately it must have a full mix to fit. Which leaves the destination itself, what does it have to offer? It’s on the sea, has fantastic weather, it’s a safe destination for families and the hotels are super-luxury and super-designed. Dubai pushed the boundaries for design and architecture to its limit, and then more. However, this is good only for a standard 2.4 day stay. As a business destination, it suits the business traveller – however not for anything other than host or attend conferences. This is a doomed formula. Vegas, also known for its conferences and events, has gambling, shows, playgrounds and conferences to sustain it. Dubai for cultural reasons can not replicate this.
So, the lesson learned, is that in a strong market, everyone works, everything makes money and everyone is happy, but when the finance dries up, when jobs are scarce and when push comes to shove, all the gloating and squawking means nothing. To survive you must build a business or destination on a strong foundation to fit the needs of the end user.
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