The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated several pre-existing trends, including the rate of retail purchases. According to “visual capitalist” Nick Routley of the World Economic Forum, the current “big consumer shake-up” consists of two related innovations: streamlining the purchase of physical goods and “making e-commerce as nimble as possible.” Before the pandemic, e-commerce penetration was projected to increase by 22% by 2030. Since COVID-19, however, the forecast has been revised to 34%. There has been a rapid decrease in the “click-to-door times” for online orders, and a greater proportion of goods have been purchased online versus in physical stores. The New York Times estimates package deliveries approached 3 billion during the holiday season—800 million more than last year. This surge became a challenge for many facilities not equipped to receive such a volume or frequency of physical shipments.
Mackenzie, an integrated design firm based in Portland, Ore., anticipates measurable changes to building designs as a result of this trend. The firm encourages clients designing multifamily residential and commercial projects to incorporate upgraded delivery centers, and to include larger spaces solely dedicated to the processing of incoming and outgoing deliveries. This expansion will likely influence interior traffic patterns and require access by multiple tenants, meaning that traditional approaches to lobbies, mailrooms, and loading zones must be reconsidered.
According to the National Multifamily Housing Council, the average apartment community received approximately 150 packages per week in 2018. At that time, over three-quarters of buildings surveyed included a dedicated parcel storage area, with lockers being the preferred option for secure storage. Irvine, Calif.-based Parcel Pending is a package logistics firm that outfits residential, commercial, and other properties with smart lockers that shipment recipients may access via smartphone or one-time access codes. Initially a property management business, the company recognized that facilities management staff spent more time processing packages than fulfilling other duties—and sought to expedite the process. Today, Parcel Pending fulfills over 2 million shipments per month in the U.S. and Canada. COVID’s accelerating effect suggests the need for ever-more dedicated space for smart lockers. (I rented an apartment in a new, Parcel Pending-outfitted building in downtown Charlotte last year. Even with two dedicated locker rooms, the lobby is overwhelmed with packages, prompting constant retrieval reminders by the concierge staff.)
Parcel Pending lockers
Package fulfillment innovations are also occurring in other building types. Retail stores are being redesigned as customer-oriented delivery hubs, for example. Walmart is augmenting dozens of stores with automated micro-fulfillment centers managed by companies like Alert Innovation and Fabric. Many such tech providers offer robotic services for product storage and retrieval. “Products are not put on shelves, but instead are warehoused and robotically fulfilled for customer pick-up or delivery,” explains Terry Krause, AIA, the retail business unit leader at Mackenzie. Walmart is also automating the drive-through experience to facilitate contactless, smartphone-enabled order collection. Target’s strategy is to consider all of their stores as last-mile fulfillment centers. Krause anticipates that many big-box retailers will also insert micro-fulfillment stations into existing store warehouse spaces.
Retrofitting existing buildings to meet new e-commerce demands is not without its challenges. The definitions of “retail” and “warehouse” are converging, which could be problematic for building owners because the uses are interpreted differently by zoning codes. The larger the fulfillment center, the greater the likelihood of increased structural and service demands, potentially requiring upgraded floor slabs, increased space for forklift traffic, and new loading docks. Required site enhancements may include improved grading, storm drainage, site circulation, and access. “All told,” says Krause, “these challenges in the grand scheme of things are not that difficult to overcome and are not so costly that it would preclude retailers pursuing them. The return on investment is huge, and the cost of not doing them is likely more costly and will pose more difficulty for retailers in the long run.”
It’s clear that buildings will need to include more room for shipping, storing, and receiving deliveries for the foreseeable future. The coronavirus’s accelerating effect on the consumer economy is evident—one need look no further than the piles of Amazon boxes cluttering building foyers and doorways. As retail stores and apartment lobbies are transformed into quasi-warehouses powered by robots and smart sensors, it is worth asking: Is our eagerness for convenience overshadowing the broader aspirations of what architecture could be in a post-COVID world?
Pandemic safety is of course a paramount concern, and reduced “click-to-door times” have enabled us to obtain goods from our homes with unprecedented speed. Reduced-contact approaches in retail, office, and other environments are also welcome from a public health perspective. But prioritizing the movement of ever-increasing volumes of goods via mechanized, smart systems—as impressive as the result may be—ignores the environmental footprint of such material consumption. And it suggests that buildings are merely through-put systems for mountains of cardboard rather than spaces to inspire and delight. After the threat of COVID-19 has passed, will this newfound convenience tempt us to privilege the package over the place?
