SHOWROOMS

Today’s showrooms enhance the shopping experience like never before. As an increasing number of goods are purchased on-line, on-site retailers are struggling to make the act of buying as aesthetically pleasing as it is satisfying. As a result, there is stiff competition in the field of showroom design, providing a fertile arena for architects and designers to push the creative envelope. Showrooms displays fifty outstanding international examples from the 1990s designed by such illustrious architects and designers as Stanton Williams, Foster and Partners and Morphosis. More than three hundred color photos clearly illustrate the virtually symbiotic relationship between a store’s atmosphere and the wares displayed. Anyone interested in current trends in architecture or retailing will find this vibrant, color-packed book both inspiring and absorbing.

Laura Andreini established Studio Archea in Florence. Nicola Flora teaches at the University of Naples. Paolo Giardiello is a visiting professor at the University of Montevideo. And Gennaro Postiglione does research at the polytechnic in Milan.