The question many want to know is what will be lasting impacts of the COVID-crisis for our public realm and design of ground floor spaces? How can the line between storefront and street be designed for both porosity and protection? And how will this be reconciled with the inevitable changes inside and around the building, with the public realm and streetscape?
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Landlords will continue to seek out breweries for their projects, but like restaurants, the paradigm as it relates to the transactional nature of these deals, may be forever changed.
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Most of the news is dominated by extreme – and likely effective – measures in East Asia, but I’m not optimistic that the US will embrace similar strategies given American attitudes, behavior, infrastructure, city design, and political will. That said, Boston’s sensibilities and design are more reminiscent of places overseas than in other parts of the US.
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Any “reopening” of our gathering spaces and retail establishments will be only a partial return to what things looked like pre-coronavirus. But despite this, our spirits are high here at Graffito, because it does feel that we are collectively entering a new phase in responding to this crisis: shifting from panic and shock to problem solving and opportunity assessment.
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In this post I’m going to outline just a few key factors, based on tons of reading and several conversations with restaurateurs, colleagues and friends in the restaurant business, why some owners are thinking twice about opening their dining rooms.
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Big and small brands all over the world are doing what they can to make a splash in the press. Ok, you could argue, if you were less cynical than me, that these companies are just doing their best to help during the coronavirus outbreak by sending a positive message, or by making us laugh, both of which are equally important right now.
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But here’s the question I’ve been wondering: How are today’s graduates going to spend the next few years and what will be their collective appetite (literally)? What does fast, cheap, and delicious comfort food look like in the post-COVID era? And maybe it’s worthwhile to take a moment to consider the past before rushing to make prophecies about the future…
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As painstaking as it may be, landlords and tenants must keep open lines of communication and view any landlord-tenant relationship as a true partnership. Ultimately, these partnerships are the ones that will survive this pandemic and thrive in the new normal that will result.
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It will be interesting as time goes on to see how these areas of interior design get applied to new residential developments in particular, but also thinking of how they can be applied towards the design/construction of restaurants, retail, and office spaces.
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Restaurants. No category other than live entertainment has been hit as hard by the COVID-19 fallout. And no category in the retail sector employs as many people nor is as important to the culture of our urban neighborhoods.
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