McKenzie and Willis, Christchurch

February, 2012

McKenzie and Willis in Christchurch moved into a warehouse on Blenheim Road after the earthquake of February 2011. My challenge was to create an inviting ambience to the warehouse that had to feel like a retail space.

The secret was using the right colour temperatures in each department to show its products off in the best light possible. Every department had different needs. For example, the colour temperature needed for the fabrics section was different from that required to light soft furnishings.

While these were different, the changes were so subtle that customers would not be able to consciously notice it. They would realise something had changed when they enter the new department, but they would not know what.

This subtleness is so important with lighting design because without getting it 100 percent right, customers could be turned off a particular department, or a product they were looking at buying. See the image above.

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