The Local Hub : En fysisk framtid för varumärken. En designstrategi för förortscentrum för att hålla dem levande, relevanta och utan tomma lokaler

Sammanfattning: In this thesis project I investigate how to approach ”the retail apocalypse” as an interior architect. My aim is to show how commercial spaces and physical stores will still be important in the future, despite internet shopping and the climate crisis, as places we will visit to experience things, socialize and where businesses meet with their costumers physically.    Today we are constantly approached by brands and their brand aesthetics while walking through commercial areas. Logos, graphic material and specifik interior for just that brand. In their aim to reach brand recognition from their costumers the brand looks almost the same in all their physical stores. In this thesis project I present a strategy where I don’t see the goal for brands to be brand recognition. Instead I’m working with the idea that brands (small or big) could benefit from adapting their brand to the specifik locality they are situated in. In order to try this out I have done a case study on one commercial area affected by closing stores and too few visitors, a suburban center in the southern part of Stockholm- Hökarängen’s centre.     It is a strategy with a design program that strengthens both the brands and the identity of the place and sees our suburban center not as doomed but as a part of the future. It brings hope for a future where retail is an adaption to the locality, as a vivid part of the local community.