Paper or Plastic: Reinventing Shelf Life in the Supermarket Landscape

Harvard GSD

We tend to assume that supermarkets are static, neutral spaces where little of significance ever happens. In reality, the supermarket is a highly volatile, hyper-competitive spatial landscape. Its shelves operate as an occupiable three-dimensional bar graph, revealing patterns of economics, culture, consumer behavior, and competition. Material, lighting, sound, circulation, display systems, refrigeration, and architecture all influence how people move through this interior environment and…