traditional indoor shopping mall on its way out

02/27/2004 02:46:00 PM
The enclosed shopping malls that dot the American landscape were designed, developed and built by real estate-minded management that planned for sales-volume and store capacity but not for harmonious consumer experience. This comes as little surprise to most of us who have noted the bleak, box-like exteriors, the aesthetically barren mazes of brown tiles and disjointed storefronts, or the desolate, half-constructed parking garages. But the formulaic similarity between one mall and the next has caused most of us to take these experiences as the unavoidable price we must pay for the convenience of being able to shop for so many products in one place.
Article entitled, 'Shopping Inside The Box'

One implication is the opportunity for sophisticated developers to create more agreeable shopping centers and to steal share from these interchangeable, dying mall behemoths.
Among the trends:
- Outdoor malls modeled after charming, old-Americana pedestrian shopping streets.
- Preplanned design consistency within each section of storefronts. Each retailer gets a design guide and must build within those aethetic guidelines.
- Parking buildings that resemble airport passageways with encased art, finished ceilings and windows.
- Exteriors that take advantage of the building's visible shell and its opportunity to denote something about the mall's contents. (not just a box)
- Independent sit-down restaurants within the mall instead of the dreaded 'food court,' which by the way was designed to prolong the shopper's stay at a mall, not to provide a pleasant eating or relaxing environment.
- Brandedness - i.e. distinctive and unique qualities that would make a consumer remember and value the mall experience in and of itself. An example: Selfridges in Birmingham, UK designed by future-systems.
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