Shopping Mall in a State of Change
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01 | 2011 Movements in architecture 01 | 2011 Shopping Malls pulse The new dimension of light. Busch-iceLight®. Shopping Mall in a Illuminating. The first flush-mounted box with light for a feeling of well-being. state of change The new Busch-iceLight® designed by renowned architect Hadi Teherani. Suitable for switches and socket outlets. Discover more atmosphere at by Atelier Plötzl www.BUSCH-JAEGER.com Urban revitalization – interview with Hadi Teherani Busch-Jaeger Elektro GmbH The future of shopping Central sales service: Phone: +49 180 5 669900 Fax: +49 180 5 669909 Networking and energy optimization E-mail: [email protected] at the Westside shopping complex (0.14 €/min. from the German landline but different costs from abroad, please check it locally) » Editorial Since the modernization of the Glatt Center in Zurich, Switzerland, designing shopping malls has become a core competence for Andreas Ramseier. To the point: Modern shopping worlds pulse in conversation with Andreas Ramseier, Ramseier Associates Would you say that for a long time architects Things are developing in two directions: First- Malls are returning to the city, because they failed to recognize the opportunities inherent ly, there is the Asian model – very high quality can offer considerable benefits here. For in designing shopping malls? malls with excellent materials. Then there are instance, having an adjoining car park or a Well, architects are snobs in a way, and it the malls which are easy to alter and are inex- nursery can be very attractive for young fami- sounds really brilliant when you say you are pensive to build. An example of the latter lies, say, and provide security. presently working, for example, on the design would be the shopping mall we developed at for a fascinating museum. For a long time, the AFG Arena in St. Gallen. With just a few Is sustainable building a realistic goal given shopping malls were looked down on as infe- alternations – say a new floor – you can create the energy requirements of a large shopping rior projects. Then along came Daniel Liebes- a totally different setting. mall? kind, who set about designing Westside in Today, you can build a shopping center in an Berne, Switzerland, and suddenly the archi- Might the future lie in flexibility? extremely sustainable manner. First of all you tects were all thinking: "Wow, just look at the Yes, previously stores had a lifespan of 12 have a closed building shell and no windows, opportunities such complexes offer us! You years, then it was ten, now it is just six. If a which means that you can achieve first-class can also be very creative with a shopping mall is built smartly and intelligently you can insulation values around the building. Using mall." respond quickly and alter it. LED technology you can keep the energy con- sumption for lighting low, and simultaneous- Looking to the future: Consumers are chan- For a while shopping malls moved out of the ly you can install heat recovery systems. As ging. How do you think what is expected of a city centers and to the outskirts, but now such, if you build a new center or radically shopping mall will also change? architects are busy designing malls for modernize an existing one it can certainly be downtown settings. very energy efficient. 02 pulse 01 | 2011 Commerce and change – the revitalization of the urban space > p. 4 Snow and palm trees – the Mall of the Emirates > p. 14 Metamorphosis of a discount store > p. 20 Between Soho and souk > p. 24 Glitz and glamor > p. 28 "Commerce is at the heart of the idea of the city" > p. 32 Corian, a construction material with a future > p. 38 04 Macro 28 Visions Commerce and change Glitz, glamor, gigantonomy By Wilhelm Klauser 32 Visit 10 Micro Interview with Hadi Teherani, Westside – successful networking BRT Architekten, Hamburg By Pierre Schoeffel 38 Material 14 In practice I Ippolito Fleitz group on Corian Snow and palm trees – the many faces 40 News of the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai Product innovations from 20 In practice II ABB/Busch-Jaeger PlusCity – a discount store becomes a mall 42 Food for thought 24 In practice III The competition question for this issue The Avenues – between Soho und souk 43 Imprint Cover illustration: Werner Krug Picture editing: Raphael Pohland / stilradar 03 » Macro Urban entertainment: At the Beijing shopping mall “Mosai”, customers glide between the levels on reflective escalators. Keiichiro Sako upgraded a for- mer abandoned construction site with an exciting new shopping mall. Commerce and change For a long time architectural issues played no role in the construction of shopping malls. Then Rem Koolhaas stepped onto the scene and paved the way for inviting, aesthetically pleasing sales complexes that addres- sed consumers' increased expectations and helped make certain that shopping could become a leisure-time activity. With the revitalization of the urban space further innovations are emerging in mall and store design. By Wilhelm Klauser "Take 40 hectares of a suitable, level plot. And surround it mind. For subsequent malls were organized as a setting with 500,000 consumers who have no other commercial for chain-stores, for stores that in very similar settings institutions at their disposal," wrote Victor Gruen, the always offered the same range of goods. The organization man generally considered to be the inventor of the shop- behind retailing had formulated such clear conditions in ping mall back in 1963. In his cynical sounding recipe for 1960 that this architectural type emerged as the basis for a success, Gruen advises establishing "the best retailers of new business model . The stores were of a standard size, high-quality goods at low prices" in the area available. had standard fittings and standard ranges. Within a few Then you garnish the whole thing with 10,000 parking decades malls sprang up like mushrooms and the success- spaces and ensure the mall can be reached via excellent ful model spread incredibly quickly – and that included to highways with little traffic. Finally, you decorate the who- locations in other continents. The design requirements le thing with bushes, a herbaceous border and a small were minimal, the profit expectations high. Against this sculpture and serve it hot to the customer." In 1956, the background architecture swiftly took a back seat and the first shopping mall that bore Victor Gruen's signature ope- planners retreated. They were no longer required. Parking ned in Southdale, in the town of Edina, Minnesota. Victor lots dominated where previously it was buildings, land- Gruen construed the mall as a new center, as public space. marks were replaced by billboards. All architects could do There were to be other things: a theater, exhibition rooms, was to confirm and analyze the situation. In 1972, Denise cafés. Gruen dreamt of a European city in the prairies, Scott Brown and Robert Venturi published a manifesto which was how he saw the United States. For him the mall which very clearly reflects the mixed feelings evoked in was the urban space for a landscape that did not know architects by an environment over which they have no any other urban center. And what then happened was that influence whatsoever. "Learning from Las Vegas" describes he was totally misinterpreted. True, the idea of the mall as a city that is devoted solely to commerce and in which the Gruen had conceived it was quick to catch on – but in a mall celebrates its triumph: The "decorated shed" had Sako architects completely different guise from what its inventor had in become standard. What emerged was a counter reality, 05 Patrick Bingham-Hall which would perhaps in future lend the architect a diffe- who thanks to the efficient means of transport could reach The Iluma Shopping Center in Singapore attracts visitors rent role; at the time he was still damned to looking on. these places easily. In Shibuya, in Shinjuku or in Yokohama with its “diamond façade.” vibrant, bustling centers emerged. They were strange Inside, WOHA impresses with Shopping as a leisure activity cities in which a strict division between public space and a 40-meter-high atrium (above). In 2001, Rem Koolhaas entered the fray and in his book private enterprise was no longer possible and in which At the MyZeil Center in Frank- furt, Fuksas went for a no less "The Harvard Guide to Shopping" presented commercial new store spaces and ranges constantly appeared. When extraordinary, swirling light architecture as an interdisciplinary task in which style, the third-largest commercial district in France was created funnel (right). design, product development, technology, marketing and in Lille, it was none other than Rem Koolhaas who propo- financial constructions all came together. Koolhaas proved sed in addition to a new, trans-European express train hub once again to have a truly great sense of timing, as com- an enormous shopping mall. It was realized 1994 by Jean merce was gradually realizing that things could not conti- Nouvel and lent the place a magnetic attraction that a con- nue as they were. Customers were no longer prepared to glomeration of office areas would not have managed to do. squeeze themselves into premises where they felt uncom- Shopping had emerged as a kind of leisure activity, as a fortable. Sales areas in the open countryside lost their pursuit that could trigger something big in a city. Subse- appeal – a disastrous development for the retail trade. As quently, architects and real-estate developers drew on the population numbers in the industrialized nations were momentum offered by places of transition and brought it stagnating and a further upward trend in purchasing to bear in ever larger concepts, building hybrid spaces in power was unlikely, other ways had to be found to ensure which diverse functions could be combined.