CREJ - Building Dialogue - September 2015
From the inviting front entryway at Roth Living’s new appliance showroom in Kansas City’s historic Country Club Plaza shopping district, a series of luminous, wavelike edges and layered - linear planes draw you in. The state-of-the-art atmosphere is not what most expect from an appliance showroom and that is exactly what Roth Living had hoped for. Appliance technologies and the kitchen’s place in the home have changed significantly since our firm started designing residences more than 20 years ago. We’ve noticed that kitchens have expanded in size, becoming the focal point of most homes we design. And these spaces are often required to do double – or even triple – duty for entertaining, dining and home office functions, along with the sophisticated (or elemental) task of meal preparation. In 2010, Arch11 received awards in two categories for the design of the Boulder foothills Syncline Residence kitchen at the international awards ceremony for the Sub-Zero and Wolf Kitchen Design Competition. These awards have a reputation for offering insight into the latest design thinking. So when Denver-based Roth Living – official supplier of Sub-Zero, Wolf, Asko and Best Hoods brands in 14 states – was ready to rollout a new “next generation” showroom, they turned to Arch11 to help create the new architecturally driven, consumer-centric shopping experience they envisioned. “Our showroom space is an important element in sparking our customers’ imagination,” remarked Denise Manu, vice president of marketing for Roth Distributing. “Our goal for the showroom was to create an environment that integrated upscale modern kitchens that would speak to different personas,” she continues. “We also wanted to establish a common design language that would enhance the overall flow and provide a clear layout to guide consumers in their journey through the showroom.” Combining our firm’s deep portfolio of residential kitchens and such restaurant designs as OAK at Fourteenth, Humboldt and Ignite! with our experience in repurposing buildings, we were able to reconfigure Roth’s 1930s all-concrete, 5,750-square-foot showroom space into a lively, loft-like environment. To better communicate the company’s vast product line and showcase different lifestyle approaches without overwhelming consumers, we designed a series of kitchen vignettes with varying scale and appliance applications. With names like Urban Living, Home Chef and Active Family, the vignettes were designed to target specific demographics of Roth consumers, allowing them to identify with elements within the kitchen configurations to make their kitchen design and appliance selection experience easier. Throughout the showroom, we used variables of room size, lighting, cabinet and counter configurations, along with contemporary finishes to create a neutral yet enticing backdrop for the showroom’s primary focus, the appliances. In addition to the kitchen vignettes and a side-by-side appliance display that allows for direct comparisons, we designed a wine bar, coffee bar and interactive gourmet demonstration kitchen that features a 21-foot-long, solid-surface island. The space can seat up to 45 people and can expand and contract with a retractable glass panel wall that provides clear views into the space while separating the demo kitchen from the adjacent showroom and glass-enclosed conference space. In a notable extension to traditional design services, and to enhance the showroom’s interactive and collaborative atmosphere, Arch11 also helped Roth launch digital technology into the showroom. “The new digital strategy called Muse Studio allows consumers to come in and look at every variation of an appliance on an iPad or mobile phone,” explained Manu. Arch11 helped Roth customize the web-based program to interface with designers and then integrated the digital experience into the space. Upon entering the showroom, customers can start creating their project at the Muse Studio table and then visualize their ideas – full size – on a 16-foot-by-9-foot video wall. The experience is undeniably high-tech, but feels balanced with the tactile experience of seeing and touching the appliances within the kitchen vignettes. Through a highly collaborative design process between owner and architect, Roth Living’s new Kansas City showroom optimizes customer experience while allowing product displays to take center stage for a refreshing – and appropriately consumer-oriented – departure from a typical appliance showroom. Roth Living plans to rollout its next full-service Arch11-designed showroom in Salt Lake City with Denver to follow.