Mercedes’ Shop Front

A research project by Hanna Benihoud, School for Architecture, Planning & Landscape at Newcastle University

“With the evolution of internet shopping, the high street is beginning to change. The act of purchasing goods is being removed from the physical environment, but what else does the high street provide? Autonomous agents are being developed to aid the shopping experience, primarily focused on making it easier for us to consume. Although consumption is not the only function that the high street provides us. The high street creates a platform for us to perform, a place for us to aspire to be better, a place where we feel envy and jealousy and among many more, a place where we have to confront realities. If shopping is removed completely, is there a way an autonomous agent could be created that provoked these emotions that the high street does so well?

This research is where ‘Mercedes’ Shop Front’ came from, looking into what the high street maybe in the future. The character Mercedes try’s to challenge a shopper in the same way as the high street. I created an animation and took it onto OnSite where I projected it on the shop window, where later it addressed personally my unsuspecting shopper. ”