Piazza Carmel Del Mar, CA

This 135,000 sq.ft. shopping center comes to life as an old town main street with well-detailed buildings and a staggered, meandering configuration creating public spaces. A 49,000-square-foot supermarket anchors the project. The store entrance is set back, reducing the bulk of the market and improving the pedestrian quality by animating this usually long dimension with additional boutiques. Five public plazas break down its scale and are distinguished by patterned, buff-colored concrete. In an attempt to encourage pedestrian traffic, the buildings were given ample foreground with no head-in parking.