The rise and decline of much development along many commercial corridors throughout the United States has produced localized built environments that epitomize a national culture of excessive consumption and instability. Upon failure, the most obvious indicator comes in the form of visual blight. It is this aesthetic lack of energy that desensitizes many citizens, which lessens the incentive to contextually respond with progressive interference. Much like the manner in which commerce has capitalized from the exploitation of foreign resources, commercial development has prematurely exploited the community transect by transforming it into a homogeneous environment, lined with large retailers and oversized parking lots. When business along the strip has been faced with competing against more enticing commercial environments, they often pick up their bags to relocate, leaving extensive grey landscapes and empty big-box stores behind.



This thesis proposes an economic prototype for commercial strip development. The response shall integrate industry with the retail experience – based on a program that shall localize the refurbishment of materials by treating them as domestic resources.