On the 17th, I posted an entry regarding the attention our industry has received from Architectural Lighting magazine thanks to Flex Storage Systems of Kansas, which received an AL design award. The gist was self-storage is often (erroneously) accused of being the low-class citizen of the architectural world. In the minds of many potential users, mention of "self-storage" inspires visions of ill-kept, garage-style buildings. While I'll concede this is sometimes the case, I was put off by the magazine's referral to the "slap-it-up world" of storage.
Today I read a more enlightened piece written by Robyn Friedman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, who notes self-storage is going "upscale and high-tech." Friedman says, "Self-storage has lost its stigma and come into the mainstream. Today, storage facilities are designed to look like apartments, condominiums and office buildings."
And she's correct. Whether it be due to the demands of municipalities or the tendency of Industry to eventually "grow up," self-storage has largely shed its unsightly industrial look for a more appealing architectural approach.
Storage operators: Send us your pics! Do you have a facility of which you are proud? Would you like to share remodeling ideas or building projects with the storage community? I'll be happy to post them here. Please send your digital images to [email protected].