Why the Right Retail Design is Important for Motor Showrooms
When vehicles undergo constant design upgrades and enhancements to make them more appealing and efficient, it stands to reason that the spaces that market them should do so too. Inspired by new ideas of efficiency and aesthetics that guide the designs of cars and other vehicles, the showroom environment can aspire to the same principles, powered by branding and relevant retail design drawings. In fact, the right retail store layouts can almost immediately and directly impact sales and productivity.
As the corporate branding world is trending in the direction of specific fixtures, fittings, furniture and other collaterals that showcase and reinforce corporate identities in car stores, the role of comprehensive retail store plans in transforming showrooms into bespoke retail spaces cannot be underestimated. This is where 3D architectural modelling and BIM modelling services become invaluable.
To further branding goals, the structure and circulation of the retail space is critical. Once this is decided, ambience can be developed through lighting, sound, materials and branded touchpoints. Brand graphics and their positioning build the confidence of potential customers. Motor showrooms display their products in vast open spaces. Exact positions of each vehicle at the showroom layout is dimensionally represented by accurate retail drawing sets. While preparing the layout plan, the length and breadth of any display systems or racks are shown.
Within the branding purview of structure and circulation, consistency is important. Exterior branding, structural features and signage should follow inside and entice, interest and fortify the product. To ensure this consistency, a dedicated team is essential. Each client employs individual corporate branding, communication, style guidelines and standards. A dedicated team assigned to a client can be trained to deliver each client requirement. These can include:
- Space planning design
- Interior design
- Elevations – exterior and interior
- Store refurbishment drawings
- Updating existing designs
- Detailing of store features, such as signage, mannequin locations and light fixtures
Typically, a project manager is identified, who then undergoes training with a client representative. This training is passed on to a dedicated team of engineers and architects, who study design guidelines and deliver high quality drawings to the client and receive regular feedback. Communication is accurate and issues are resolved quickly.
Motor Retail Design Elements
Standards for each aspect of the showroom experience are planned and designed, from internal and external spaces to entrances to circulation systems. Retail space must allow for both permanent and non-permanent features, such as features that may change when new models arrive. Structural constraints affect overall design; columns, stairways, ceiling height, windows and emergency exists are all factors. In motor showrooms, all available space must be utilised. Floor plans guide circulation, which then inclines the consumer to travel to important displays and, ultimately, to the sales associate. Car showrooms can be quite grand, displaying double-height glazing, bright lights and expensive stone/ceramic floors, but customers require clear routes to the service area/workshop. Also, showrooms must be large enough for the number of cars that need to be displayed. Even service bays in the body shop and the number of technicians must be considered. The use of detailed retail design drawings and BIM technology ensure that the required parameters for all these features are adhered to.
Vehicular display is prime, but there is also a high standard for building services that must be maintained. Effective cooling in customer areas must counteract heat absorbed in highly glazed areas. Sustainable properties could lead to lower energy bills, lowering overheads. With effective MEP coordination, the features to alleviate loads, energy use and carbon emissions that could be planned are:
- Extended eaves, brise-soleil and canopies, which reduce solar gain, especially on the main façade
- Roof lights to provide basic lighting needs
- Enhanced insulation for cladding and roofs
- Motion-detecting lighting for bathrooms and other areas not always in use
- Double-glazed glass insulated compact sectional access doors that allow maximum natural light, while being useful for vehicular movement. They conserve air conditioning and insulate the building.
A soothing yet impressive ambience adds extra edge to the showroom experience, and this is a zone where MEP drawings, models and coordination play a major role. Primarily, this is achieved by lighting and materials, but sound and audio also play a key role, providing it appeals to the target market. But to get back to lighting, the right lighting may perhaps cause the greatest dramatic effect in a motor showroom. Functionality and the ability to showcase display vehicles are vital. This involves layered lighting, with a choice of intensities and fixtures. The lighting of the ceiling and roof should cover structural features and direct customers to key areas.
With valuable display vehicles, security is important. Ideally, motor showrooms have access control, alarms and sophisticated internal and external CCTV, with movement tracking and links to remote monitoring centres, yet another feature to benefit from relevant MEP coordination.
Perspective
In the end, a well-executed retail space must be viewed from the consumer’s perspective. Retail design should control the customer’s view of the retail space. All of these crucial factors would be difficult to plan without the necessary elevations and walk-throughs provided by advanced architectural designs, specifically retail store CAD drawings and 3D models by Revit.
Retail Design Drawings for Motor Showrooms
Effective planning for motor showrooms call for exceptional design models and drawings. Preferred drafting stages and services for retail spaces include:
- Store Concept
- Floor Design & Fixtures
- Electrical and Lighting
- Customized Colour and Material Matching
Designers and drafting service personnel with relevant inter-domain expertise can utilise their experience to coordinate business and retail for a brand. Services on offer are:
- Zoning, layout design
- Interior design, graphics and visual branding
- POS displays and locations
- Design detailing and seasonal roll-outs
These can be customized with integrated 2D retail drafting for specific client requirements. With BIM modelling solutions, these can also be turned into detailed 3D space rendering, where the entire retail space plan can be visualised by the client. Textures of walls, colour schemes and other details can be viewed in realistic conditions with the use of 3D space renders. This allows modifications before the design is approved for production drawings. A major advantage is that scale modelling costs can be saved.
Seamless project execution can occur using AutoCAD and Revit software. This means project steps can be monitored in real time, projects can be completed and moved to the quality check stage, which can be performed thoroughly based on project scope. The retail drawing sets can be reviewed in its final form by the client and valuable feedback can be implemented. In the final design stages, a final quality check can be conducted. Skilled drafting services by retail space planners are updated with global retail trends, some still in a process of evolution. These services can greatly contribute to maximising potential in a motor showroom and provide customers with the best planned retail environment.
Since retail design drafting services are inevitable in the process, it seems logical to consider how cost-effective and quality-efficient they can be. Global trends lean toward the growing popularity of outsourcing these tasks. The reasons are compelling.
Advantages of Outsourcing Retail Design
Less Costly – Outsourced retail design drawings are competitively priced compared to the same quality and quantity of work executed locally, and since many outsourced firms employ work shifts, drawings or 3D architectural models are delivered faster.
Global Exposure – Outsourcing firms are exposed to retail establishments across the globe. Thus, the technical personnel are well qualified, well trained and well acquainted with international building codes and brand guidelines.
Flexibility – Outsourced firms can generally operate either as a small dedicated team or as a large team of 40 draftsmen or more to execute projects of larger volume or those with quick turnaround times, so work can be scaled to perfectly meet requirements.
Updated Expertise – Outsourced firms employ technical personnel who excel at BIM and are generally well updated on other software, including AutoCAD, Revit, etc.
Extensive Experience – Trusted outsourced firms have been designing and drafting retail spaces for years for clients in Europe and the UK.
Quality outsourcing services provided for retail design include:
Production Drawings Sets
Besides providing complete construction drawing sets from Autodesk (Revit or AutoCAD) to the retail industry, SolidWorks has been used to create engineering drawings. All key drawings, including floor plans, internal elevations, external elevations, construction plans, setting-out drawings, composite plans, finishing plans, lighting and ceiling plans, comprehensive equipment schedules and material and component take-off data are included.
Retail Design
Retail design, documentation, and project management, concept design and layouts are provided.
3D/4D Models
Using Revit Architecture and Revit MEP tools, 3D models and scan-to-BIM services, using point cloud data, are provided, with 4D scheduling added for new site construction.
Retail BIM Data
BIM services provide automated schedules to ensure, accuracy, speed of design output, rendering and visualisation tools to create realistic views.
Manufacturing/Assembly Drawings
Manufacturing and assembly drawings for bespoke retail furniture, fixtures and fittings, using AutoCAD detailing software is provided.
Floor Plans
Colour-coded floor plans and 3D plans.
Computer Generated Images
Computer-generated images for external and internal views are generated, showing images with artistic and watercolour effects.
In conclusion, for the detailed demands of retail design in motor showrooms, the ideal option seems to be the way of outsourced firms, as they offer one-stop shops for creating initial 2D drawings from rough sketches and photos to delivering 3D models for space design and final production drawings. They offer services tailor-made for specific business needs that are easy to execute and flexible to modifications. They employ highly qualified staff with experience, knowhow and talent for retail design drawings and the expertise to use the latest software in the retail design industry. Most importantly, this ultimately helps save time and cost.
