From the beginning, all those involved were in agreement about the overall design objective -- to give the appearance of the Mediterranean throughout the interior and exterior of the retail outlet. According to Sanjiv Bhandari, AIA, principal of BKBC Architects Inc. in San Francisco, CA, initial thoughts about the project surfaced more than 10 years ago. "We were working on this way back," he said. "Then we started to get serious about it. We spent some time visiting West Palm Beach, and then we took a trip to Italy."
The architect explained that his firm has had a working relationship with the developer, The Taubman Co. of Bloomfield Hills, MI, for many years. "They are in high-end retail projects all over the country," said Bhandari. "We have been working with them for the last 20 years."