Located in Palm Desert, The Gardens on El Paseo creates an elevated shopping experience within the Coachella Valley, elevated by unique eateries, art galleries, showrooms, and hotels. Complimented by plant life and the California sun, the open-air shopping mall combines urban and retail design to form a complete district.
Driven by the goal to boost local economy with an uprising of tourists, The Gardens on El Paseo’s 6-acre footprint at the heart of Palm Desert created a biophilic shopping experience to highlight both local plant life and artists, businesses, and restaurants. With year-round usage and pedestrian access, the garden was cultivated by local horticulture students to showcase and protect rare desert flora while connecting the built environment to its natural origins. Sustainability drove the heart of the project, with water-efficient landscapes to reduce water usage and natural shading for cooling from native palm trees. Furthermore, using local materials like concrete and stone pavers reduced transplanted materials not only adding to locality but reducing carbon consumption.
Completed in the early 2000s, a renovation in 2014 by Neumann/Smith Architecture aimed to elevate a cohesive aesthetic, increase pedestrian accessibility and third spaces as well as complement the garden with irrigation updates, accent lighting, and fresh furnishings. With lighting setting the tone for retail experiences, the outdoor ambiance had to emulate the interior to further elevate the shopping experience. Building layers of ambient light within retail environments is vital not only for product visibility but creating an inviting ambience and drawing visual interest. Furthermore, color temperature helps define the atmosphere of each retailer’s experience and color rendering for products on the floor and in the dressing rooms.
Carrying the same principles to the outdoor experience, the renovation added accent lighting to create layers for maximum directional and storefront visibility including KLIK LEDpods in handrails. Complimenting the landscape lighting, contrast between directional and accent lighting draw visual interest to both the garden-scapes and circulation paths from store to store. The LEDpods were fixed with a neutral color temperature to provide a touch of sun-like warmth while still providing greatest visibility to a variety of foliage hues and storefront design.
The Gardens on El Paseo exhibits another project typology in which LEDpod creates an impact with subtle profiles as part of a larger retail system. As festival season is approaching, KLIK USA is excited to be part of such a unique retail experience driven by tourism and biophilia.