BEST Products Company Buildings BEST Products Company, Inc. - 1975

In 1972 SITE was commissioned by BEST Products Company to design a series of nine ‘big box’ shopping centers. Since these retail structures are ubiquitous in the public domain, people’s reflex acceptance of their archetypal imagery has been used in each case to invert and change the meaning. Instead of approaching the BEST buildings as conventionally ‘designed’ architecture, they are treated as a ‘subject matter for art’ and a source of visual commentary on the American commercial strip.

BEST Indeterminate Façade – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Houston, TX – USA – Façade brick pile1975 - Main façade view from parking lot

BEST Indeterminate Façade – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Houston, TX – USA – 1975 – Façade brick pile

BEST Indeterminate Façade – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Houston, TX – USA – 1875 - Parapet edge of the facade

BEST Tilt Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Towson, MD – USA – 1976 – Main view of facade

BEST Tilt Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Towson, MD – USA – 1976 – Main view of façade from the highway

BEST Tilt Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Towson, MD – USA –1976 – Lifted doorway

BEST Parking Lot Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Designed for locations in Houston, TX and Los Angeles, CA – USA – 1976 - Overview of the project model showing, a fusion of the asphalt parking lot with the retail building

BEST Parking Lot Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store - Designed for locations in Houston, TX and Los Angeles, CA – USA – 1976 – Detail of the project model, showing a fusion of the asphalt parking lot with the retail building

BEST Forest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Richmond, VA – USA – 1980 – Cutaway façade section, allowing the existing forest to penetrate the building as an ‘inside-outside’ experience

BEST Forest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Richmond, VA – USA – 1980 - Existing forest incorporated as an intrinsic part of the building

BEST Forest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Richmond, VA – USA – 1980 - Existing forest as an intrinsic part of the building

BEST Forest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Houston, TX – USA – Section of the façade with glass terrarium walls, revealing sections of the area’s geological strata

BEST Rainforest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Hialeah, FL – USA – 1979 – Water wall façade at dusk

BEST Rainforest Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Hialeah, FL – USA – 1979 – Detail of the water wall and section of tropical vegetation

BEST Notch Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Miami, FL - USA – 1979 – Extracted segment of the façade, showing the ‘wandering wall’ in its open position

BEST Notch Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Miami, FL – USA - 1979 - Mechanized façade section in the process of opening the entrance to the building

BEST Inside/outside Building - BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Miami, FL – USA –1994 – Cut-away section of the façade to reveal the layers of normally enclosed technology and merchandise

BEST Inside/outside Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Milwaukee, WI – USA – 1984 – Inside/outside display of store merchandise, showing the transition from real objects on the interior to ghosted counterparts as they pass through the glass wall

BEST Inside/outside Building – BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Milwaukee, WI – USA – 1984 - Inside/outside display of store merchandise, showing the transition from real objects to ghosted counterparts as they pass through the glass wall

BEST Inside/outside Building– BEST Products Company, Inc. – Retail Store – Milwaukee, WI – USA – 1984 - General view of the façade, showing cut-away sections and inside/outside merchandise display