Design Research (abbreviated and trademarked as D/R) was a retail store founded in 1953 by Ben Thompson in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, and which introduced the concept of

lifestyle store A lifestyle store is a retail store selling a wide variety of product categories under a single brand. It is designed to associate a brand with one or another aspirational lifestyle. Lifestyle stores may include clothing, housewares, furniture, ...

. In the 1970s under subsequent ownership, it became a chain of a dozen stores across the United States, but went bankrupt in 1978. Thompson's goal was to provide "a place where people could buy everything they needed for contemporary living",Pilar Viladas, "One-Stop Living", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' September 29, 201

/ref> notably modernism, modern European furnishings and in particular

Scandinavian design Scandinavian design is a design movement characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality that emerged in the early 20th century, and subsequently flourished in the 1950s throughout the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, ...

. D/R has continued to have an outsized reputation: in 2000, a survey of influential design stores named D/R as number one, though it had then been closed for 22 years.Rob Forbes, "Foreword: Who's Your Daddy?" ''in'' Jane Thompson and Alexandra Lange, ''Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes'', 2010 , p.
excerpt available
/ref> The store influenced later retailers like

Crate & Barrel Euromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel (stylized as Crate&Barrel), is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the Uni ...

, Design Within Reach,

Pottery Barn Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is head ...

Workbench A workbench is a sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by ...

, and

Conran's Habitat (a trading name of Argos Limited), is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group. Founded in 1964 by Sir Terence Conran, it merged with a number of other retailers ...

.Suzanne Slesin, "Design/ Research Store Starts Its Final Sale", ''The New York Times'
June 1, 1979
/ref>

Selection of products

Design Research carried an eclectic selection of products, from furniture to

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

, from

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

s to pots and pans, at a wide range of prices, introducing the idea of a

.Carole Nicksin, "The Legacy of Design Research: The impact of the long-defunct retailer is still being felt within the home furnishings industry", ''HFN The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network'', November 8, 200
full text
/ref> It carried furnishings by such designers as

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most i ...

Hans Wegner Hans Jørgensen Wegner (April 2, 1914 - January 26, 2007) was a Danish furniture designer. His work, along with a concerted effort from several of his manufacturers, contributed to the international popularity of mid-century Danish design. His sty ...

, Alvar Aalto, and

Joe Colombo Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. (; June 16, 1923 – May 22, 1978) was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City. Colombo was born in New York City, where his father was an early member ...

.Rachel Travers, "Through a glass, brightly", ''The Boston Globe'', October 29, 2009

/ref> Design Research was the exclusive US representative for the Finnish clothing and textiles of

Marimekko Marimekko Oyj is a Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Marimekko made important contributions to fashion in the 1960s. It is particularly noted for its brightly colored pri ...

from 1959 to 1976. Jacqueline Kennedy was pictured on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' in 1960 in a Marimekko sundress purchased at D/R.

Stores

The original Design Research store was in a 19th-century wood frame

mansard A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

house at 57 Brattle Street, in Harvard Square, Cambridge. D/R later added stores in

Hyannis Port Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is an affluent summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis. Community It has ...

, Massachusetts; Lexington Avenue (1961) and East 57th Street (1964) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

; and

Ghirardelli Square Ghirardelli Square is a landmark public square with shops and restaurants and a 5-star hotel in the Marina area of San Francisco, California. A portion of the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Pioneer Woolen ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(1965). In 1969, Thompson moved the original Cambridge store to a revolutionary new building designed by his firm, Benjamin Thompson and Associates, at 48 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, on a block that came to be known as "Architects' Corner". The 5-story building consists of flat

concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

s supported by interior columns, and enclosed by frameless

tempered glass Tempered or toughened glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength compared with normal glass. Tempering puts the outer surfaces into compression and the interior into tensi ...

walls. The use of butted glass with no frame or mullions was unprecedented, and "allowed D/R to be a building almost 'without architecture'". It immediately received favorable reviews: "points the way to a method of glass building that could create a warmer city, adding color and light and optimism to the life of the streets". The building won many awards over the years: * 1970: New England AIA Honor Award, New England Chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

* 1971:

Harleston Parker Medal The Harleston Parker Medal was established in 1921 by J. Harleston Parker to recognize “such architects as shall have, in the opinion of the Boston Society of Architects One of the oldest and largest chapters of the AIA, the Boston Society of ...

for Outstanding Architecture,

Boston Society of Architects One of the oldest and largest chapters of the AIA, the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) is a nonprofit membership organization committed to architecture, design and the built environment. History On June 20, 1867, approximately 50 architects co ...

* 1971: National Honor Award, American Institute of Architects * 2003: AIA

Twenty-five Year Award The Twenty-five Year Award is an architecture prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architect ...

for "architecture of enduring significance" The first D/R stores were all located in urban areas, but under new management starting in 1969, D/R opened stores in suburban

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

s, which Thompson disapproved of:

South Shore Plaza South Shore Plaza is a shopping mall in Braintree, Massachusetts, owned by Simon Property Group. It is near the Braintree Split interchange, off the I-93 / US 1 and Route 37 junction. The mall opened as an open-air plaza in 1961; it was enclosed ...

Braintree, Massachusetts Braintree (), officially the Town of Braintree, is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a towBraintree is a city, with a mayor-council government, mayor-council form of government, and ...

(1972);

South Coast Plaza South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275 retail ...

in Costa Mesa, California (1972); and The Mall at Chestnut Hill in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

(1974). The company also opened urban stores at the

Embarcadero Center Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of five office towers, two hotels, a shopping center with more than 125 stores, bars, and restaurants, and a fitness center on three levels located in San Francisco, California. There is an outdoor ice sk ...

(1973), and in downtown

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. The neighborho ...

(1975).

Later tenants of Brattle Street store

After D/R closed in 1978, the Brattle Street building housed a Crate & Barrel store (1979-January 2009). From October 2009 to April 2010, the vacant Brattle Street store hosted a temporary installation of D/R goods, visible from the street. Since August 2010, the building has housed an

Anthropologie Anthropologie is an American clothing retailer with approximately 200 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the UK that offers an assortment of clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decoration, beauty products, and gifts. Anthropologie is part of ...

store.

Corporate history

Design Research was started by the architect Ben Thompson in 1953. Spencer Field, a furniture designer, joined the firm as a 50-50 business partner in the early 1950s. By 1966, it was clear that the company was underfinanced for Thompson's expansion plans, and he started looking for outside investors. The company was reorganized as a new corporate entity in 1967 and was recapitalized, with Field's interest being bought out in February 1968 by Peter J. Sprague, an entrepreneur and chairman of

National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer which specialized in analog devices and subsystems, formerly with headquarters in Santa Clara, California. The company produced power management integrated circuits, display dr ...

, who became chairman. In 1969, Sprague forced Thompson out as director of the company, but Thompson remained a stockholder. Under a succession of presidents, D/R opened more new stores, but Thompson felt that they had lost their distinctive style and approach. By 1976, the business was deteriorating, and in 1979 it declared bankruptcy. Rights to the names "Design Research" and "D/R" were bought jointly by Crate & Barrel and

.Levy, "Design Research
Chapter 1
p. 17-29

Bibliography

* Janet Levy, "Design Research: Marketing 'Good design' in the 50s, 60s, and 70s", Master of Arts thesis at

Parsons The New School for Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhat ...

, 2004
chapter list
* Walter J. Salmon, "Design Research, Inc.", Harvard Business School Case 578-203 (not seen) * * Andrew Wagner, "Partners in Design", ''Dwell'' October/November 200
original magazine spread

"Ben Thompson"
''ArchitectureBoston'', Spring 2011 issue,

. Issue is dedicated entirely to Thompson with articles by various authors.

Notes

{{reflist

External links

photos, plans, bibliography from

ArchitectureWeek ''ArchitectureWeek'' is an international weekly magazine covering architecture and design, published online by Artifice, Inc. in Eugene, Oregon, United States. ''ArchitectureWeek'' was founded in May 2000, with its first issue publication on May ...

.
Design Research Headquarters
at the Archiplanet wiki, a service of ArchitectureWeek American companies established in 1953 Retail companies established in 1953 Home decor retailers Defunct retail companies of the United States Companies based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Retail companies disestablished in 1978 Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts 1953 establishments in Massachusetts 1978 disestablishments in Massachusetts