Your brick and mortar business needs a location that is the perfect setting for the story you want to tell and easily reachable by your intended audience. 

 

We work with you to develop a program — a narrative describing your customers’ journey and your business’s operations — that will determine the right size and configuration of the space that your business needs.

 

We also do some preliminary research based on your program and your budget to identify other characteristics your ideal location would possess. 

 

Once you connect with a real estate agent, we review layouts of potential spaces, join you on site visits, and conduct research to identify any potential red flags that could make the project difficult or cost prohibitive to build out. 

 

Finally, when you’re fully decided on a space, we can conduct a full interior survey of the space to make sure we’re designing to the most accurate dimensions possible.

 

Architects refer to this as the site evaluation or feasibility phase, but we like to think of it as setting the scene.

We want to tell your story in a way that fosters connection with your clients and your community, so we aim to tap into the deeper meaning behind your vision for your business.

 

We’ll ask you about your inspiration, your goals, your hopes and dreams, your favorite books and favorite bands, and we’ll ask the same questions about your customers. We’ll get to the essence of what you want their experience to be like in your space — what you want them to feel. 

 

From there, we’ll pull together images, materials, and other articles of inspiration that capture and evoke those feelings, and we’ll craft a concept design around these ideas.

 

Architects call this concept design, but to us, it’s crafting your thematic statement.

We already have a protagonist – you – and a strong supporting cast – your customers. We at Prose Architecture will fill our own supporting roles to make sure your business is set up for success in its new space. 

 

We have a large network of engineers, contractors, fixture manufacturers, artists, and vendors who we can either bring onto our team or introduce you to in order to make sure your new space aligns with both your program and your theme.

 

Every great story (and every great brick and mortar business) is built with great characters.

Now that you have a setting, a theme, and a cast of characters, we’re ready to move your story along. This involves taking your ideas and shaping them into a more complete package of interrelated complexity and sequence. 

 

We flesh out all the details, applying your theme and your voice to architectural elements, materials, lighting, fixtures, and furniture. 

 

We also develop the setting further, along with the unseen characters (think HVAC, electrical wiring, and all the systems that work behind the scenes) to make sure that the place you are in supports the journey you want for your clients, the environment you want for your employees, and comfort and equal access for everyone who enters your space.

 

The plot devices we use to move through this phase are sketches, drawings, and sometimes 3D modeling and renderings, and the product of this phase is a full set of construction documents.

 

Like a manuscript to a book, the construction drawings are the instruments through which your story will be built.

Every story has some conflict – the protagonist faced with some seemingly insurmountable challenge or impossible decision.

 

During our projects, conflict typically arises in one of three areas, and generally pops up around the elements of the project over which we have the least amount of control – permitting, bidding, and hidden conditions. 

 

Permitting can be tedious and technical, and if you’ve never been through the process before, it can feel overwhelming and burdensome.

 

High bids can be alarming at first, but there are usually tweaks we can make to the design to bring costs back in line with your expectations. 

 

Hidden conditions in the building can feel like the end of the world, but there is almost always a solution.

 

Protagonists rarely get through turbulence alone – Sal Paradise had Dean Moriarty; Harry Potter had Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; Shrek had Donkey. 

 

You’ve got us.

You’ve climbed the mountain! Won the match! Made it to the finish line! 

 

And we’re happy to have been here for it all!

 

We want to make sure that all i’s are dotted and all t’s are crossed. At the end of the project, we’ll conduct a punch list walk through and help you get things closed out with your contractor and vendors. 

We’d also love to meet with you in your space 60-90 days after opening to do a post-occupancy walk through.

 

This helps us learn and and grow with each project, making sure that we can continue to provide a high level of service and tell great stories.