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So, here we are. There’s the chat, the stronger-thannormal-coffee, and most have ordered an omelet with the inevitable comparison between French and Spanish recipes. But there’s technology on the table and the conversation turns to client appointments and strategy. This is a pre-Mapic breakfast. Then: A last-minute panic fumbling with ID badges and we are in. You can feel the energy, with a lot of new players from places such as Tunisia, Egypt, and Iran alongside more seasoned representations. We are planting the theleisureway (TLW) flag this year with our first, well-positioned stand. We see it as a beacon for clients looking towards the future and seeing TLW as partners.

Togetherness

Around Mapic, it’s clear that the industry is active and hungry for new solutions based on customers’ needs. Perhaps the need is for a new togetherness with the client and other stakeholders. The emotional value we have been preaching is shaping real projects.

Back at the stand, we’re exchanging cards and ideas when one European developer picks out an image of our stained-glass tower. Of course she’s attracted to the sculptural quality, the “wow” effect, and the feeling that it’s all fun and games for kids inside. Our Viennese project “The Tree of life,” which is an indoor piece, is also of interest. It’s a 12-meter tower with a climbing activity and a fantastic slide. This project, apart from being a talking point, forms a nexus to the upper galleries of the mall—a great success with families and retailers. This developer is a professional who observes and adapts. We now engage in a pragmatic discussion of how TLW can offer this type of vertical leisure solution for her project, which demands a limited footprint. It’s very representative of the type of dialogue we have to get results. We will be seeing her again.

I also speak to several clients with projects at the master planning stage. Here, we can develop our options for visitors. This is why TLW works with our clients on the master plan. Our Algarve project became a magnetic pole for both the local public and the tourist sector. The implementation in an area with so much competition and with such an attraction for tourists obliged us to offer a proposal that took into account the need to design a singular space perfectly integrated into the touristic culture of the region, its ecosystem, and its landscape. The importance of the natural setting gave us a base upon which to construct a powerful, robust concept coherent with the local culture. But we shouldn’t forget shopping culture. The pleasure of leisure integrated into the activity of shopping was indispensable for our ideas. In this way, we could focus on the different areas of intervention with specific objectives, from the local public centered on shopping for essentials, to the outer zone oriented to iconic tourism and the discovery of enjoyable leisure. The Algarve project is above all a project destined to build a new category, in which the leisure ecosystem is based on important elements of attraction— a perfectly designed landscape with innumerable points of interest. It is a corner of high popular interest that will surely become a new tourist destination. The project was a clear example of how to integrate a leisure solution into the general strategy of the center and of how effective master planning and strategic focus can increase value, capture the pubphilosophy of togetherness and the TLW team of architects, designers, and technical experts can get to work on a bespoke, holistic solution following the three essential phases that TLW has developed. Starting with phase 1, strategy, the creative process, and the preliminary concept; moving on to phase 2, concept development and engineering; and finally on to construction, installation, and certification. We are together with you all the way, from A-Z

Sustainability

Sustainability is a key factor, investing in an analysis of the shopping center at the master-planning stage will, of course, help to avoid later changes that may prove costly. The proper study, which considers future development, comes from a professional team effort and having experience in bringing projects to fruition.

We should also take into account the added value of more singular projects, such as the plane TLW designed and installed in the “Espacio Torrelodones” shopping center in Madrid. This project has been a great success, creating an interactive icon for the center. It caught the eye of several visitors at our Mapic stand. The design is so thought-through. Our “creatives” produced a symbolic, timeless icon of a plane with the image we have in our minds. These factors guarantee sustainability

Master Planning

theleisureway envisions each shopping center as a unique ecosystem, a destination in which the various elements must interact actively. In this sense, leisure is a key catalyst for the customer’s journey, a nuclear element that will impact on the perception of the overall result. Our way of seeing is always unique—as are our results. Each theleisureway project responds to the singular needs of the space and its habitants. This holistic approach to shopping centers and their shared areas should provide a real and genuine environment and a range of attractive options for visitors. This is why TLW works with our clients on the master plan.

Our Algarve project became a magnetic pole for both the local public and the tourist sector. The implementation in an area with so much competition and with such an attraction for tourists obliged us to offer a proposal that took into account the need to design a singular space perfectly integrated into the touristic culture of the region, its ecosystem, and its landscape. The importance of the natural setting gave us a base upon which to construct a powerful, robust concept coherent with the local culture. But we shouldn’t forget shopping culture. The pleasure of leisure integrated into the activity of shopping was indispensable for our ideas. In this way, we could focus on the different areas of intervention with specific objectives, from the local public centered on shopping for essentials, to the outer zone oriented to iconic tourism and the discovery of enjoyable leisure.

The Algarve project is above all a project destined to build a new category, in which the leisure ecosystem is based on important elements of attraction— a perfectly designed landscape with innumerable points of interest. It is a corner of high popular interest that will surely become a new tourist destination. The project was a clear example of how to integrate a leisure solution into the general strategy of the center and of how effective master planning and strategic focus can increase value, capture the pub lic interest, and modify the essence of the visit.

It was key to understand the leisure experience within a unique, personalized approach, coherent with the general concepts active in the commercial aspects of the projects.

Branding

Our response to a mall’s brand is not to add on leisure solutions that may weaken the image as a whole. New projects are third places. Architecture is morphing around the routes customers take as they follow their emotional journey through the center. It’s strangely comforting that the hypermodern, multi-billion-dollar shopping industry is now looking to get back to the human scale. People meeting, relaxing, trading, and making it an experience that humanity has enjoyed since our origins. It’s in our DNA. Again, TLW works on the mall’s master planning to inject leisure DNA as part of the story assuring an organic and holistic leisure offer.

The Catalonian Coast now winds below our plane. We are nearly home and my thoughts drift to Cannes and the charm of the Mediterranean—how I felt, strolling around, the air, the architecture, the cafes, the shops, and the “wow” effect of the port. This human scale, a city built around people’s needs over the centuries and shaped by emotional values. I want that. TLW does that: Bringing emotional value, so that visitors to your malls take home more than they bought.