This holiday coincides with the equally exciting development that Air now has an official Chinese office! Based in Shanghai, it will join those in London and Moscow with staff working on the ground to look after local accounts. Our own Director David Kemp will be heading up operations in the region; developing our design team and client base there. Here he is in the very shiny new office…

We’ll keep you posted on progress, but in the meantime, wishing all of you a very happy Chinese new year!

To celebrate after a year of hard work, Air had its hotly anticipated Christmas party at a posh pad in Dorset last week. ‘To the Manor Born’ was the theme this time around, so there was tweed, flat caps and pearls aplenty (as well as caviar and gravadlax darling). Jolly good!

So all that’s left to be said is a very merry Christmas to all of our lovely staff, suppliers and clients, and here’s to a great 2012!

With 18,500 sq m of additional space, Air was brought in to develop a wayfinding and signage system that brought the old and new parts of the centre together. Looking at the mall, car park and environmental graphics, we used zoning techniques to break up the space and make it more intuitive for visitors.

See below for pics of Seán and Michelle’s recent trip to centre, complete with car park bunny and Paris Hilton star (she opened the centre nonetheless).

What do you do when you have one of the most successful malls in Europe and it needs a redesign? Well, top of the list is to absolutely not break it! With the third highest footfall in the Ségécé portfolio our brief for the famous Nový Shmícov in Prague was to not alienate the loyal customer base, but create a place that was even more welcoming, comfortable, modern and easy to use.

Superstar mall architect Pierre ‘The Corian’ Godin of PG Developments was project management lead on the ground and what a smashing job he did – Air providing interior design, creative support, navigation and interactive digital design. Hats off to Albert, Rodolphe, Phillipe, Yossi and the rest of the crew that helped to put it all together. Top job!

Our brand story focused on delivering zones within the centre that when combined made places for everyone to feel comfortable in. OK, so we’ve gone a bit nuts with the Corian, even using it to clad the walls, but the effect is great. The proof, as ever, is in the pudding and all the areas are being used to the max. The mall is much more comfortable and the feedback is already super positive.

If you’re lucky enough to be in the beautiful city of Prague – check it out.

Elena Rozanova, an ex-client who has worked for leading real estate agencies Jones Lang LaSalle, DTZ and Donaldsons, has joined the Air team as General Director. She’ll be based in Moscow to manage projects and look after existing clients in the country, as well as develop Air’s presence in Russia by getting new business and increasing our coverage in the industry press.

A native Russian speaker and fluent in English, Elena is a valuable asset to the team as she is able to liaise between clients and the London design team to ensure the smooth running of a project, giving clients peace of mind that they have someone locally to call upon should the need arise. Thanks to her marketing background, she is also more than aware of what a client wants and expects at different points during a design project. All sounds good eh?

Elena is coming to visit the London studio this week to meet the team and have a crash course in all things Air, from brand strategy to interiors and business development to PR. It’s gonna be hectic. We’ll let you know how she gets on!

Why were we there? – well it looks like we might be setting up a local operation in Shanghai to complement our London and Moscow offices. We met with loads of people during our short 5 day trip, which included a 24 hour whistle stop tour of Wuhan, a provincial city with the same population as Central London! Thanks to everyone for your hospitality and advice. We learned a huge amount, least of all how determined, hard working and ambitious the Chinese people are.

The speed at which they can put major infrastructure projects together made me want to cry – particularly when in the UK we’ve been debating Crossrail for decades – in Shanghai, they’d just knock it out in a couple of years. A lot of that has to do with the decision making process at the governmental level which the Chinese system allows to happen much faster. And of course the money is there for the capital investment.

10 years ago there were no malls in Shanghai. Now there are many and with the trend now towards mixed use developments, the competition between destinations will be stepping up. We think there’s a strong market where we could really make a difference.

Oh yes and we wouldn’t be British without a nicely understated comment about the local weather. QUITE WARM with a touch of HUMIDITY!

Alan

Now at Air we know that our clients strive for quality and want to develop ground-breaking destinations, which is exactly why we want to work with them. An understanding for how design can improve a shopping centre (or any other venue for that matter), makes all the difference in the creation of a space that people want to visit and spend time in. Still, that doesn’t mean that we weren’t chuffed to learn that two of the centres we’ve worked on over the last couple of years have been recognised as shining examples in the industry.

The first is Médiacité in Liège, where Air were responsible for developing the brand, communications, signage and touchscreen systems. The Ron Arad designed centre is a striking example of how architecture can improve a landscape, with this scheme transforming 6.5 ha of brownfield land into a retail and soon-to-be production centre. It was the first shopping centre to be assessed for BREEAM Retail and will soon be connected to the new Calatrava TGV train station. As well as being incredibly successful since its opening, Médiacité has now won the Global RLI Shopping Centre Renovation of the Year Award and an ICSC European Shopping Centre Award in the Refurbishment and Extensions category! Phew! Congratulations to Wilhelm & Co and everyone involved in this regeneration project, it was clearly worth the effort!

As well as that, and a little closer to home, is the news that SouthGate Bath has received a Commendation in the New Large Developments category of ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards! We were commissioned to design the wayfinding and signage for this unusual city centre scheme which consists of buildings set out as pedestrian streets. Designed in a neo-classical style and using locally sourced stone befitting of the surrounding architecture, SouthGate Bath has remained true to the history and aesthetic of the city. Linked to local public transport hubs and with its own parking facilities, the centre is perfectly located and accessible to residents and tourists of the city. Congratulations to Multi Development, Aviva Investors and everyone else involved in this scheme, once again, the hard work really has paid off!

Arriving under the pretense of a quiet drink in the studio, Ian was quickly whisked to the Magic Circle venue in Euston, where an assortment of family, friends and ex-colleagues were assembled ready to surprise him. Once a drink was firmly in hand, we went up to the theatre for some magic (well, that’s what Ian thought). In fact, we had prepared a ‘This Is Your Life’ style presentation, with input from childhood and college friends, family and colleagues (all complimented by some wonderful old photos – thanks Glenda!). Embarrassment over, we presented him with his own personal This Is Your Life red hardback book before sitting back to watch some magic and eat and drink the night away.

Thank you to everybody who came, the Wright family, the Magic Circle and those at Air for their efforts in the run up to the party. You all made it a great night. Now it just leaves us to say good luck to Ian; we wish you all the best for your retirement, it’s been a pleasure working with you and you’ll be greatly missed!