Shopping malls grew massively popular in the 1950s when families started moving to the suburbs and didn’t want to travel downtown to individual stores. The unique concept of a weather-conditioned building that contained shopping, food and entertainment for the whole family took off and malls were soon built across the states. This boom continued until the 90s, peaking with the construction of the Mall of America in 1992.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:17 Redesign proposals
2:59 Psychology of mall design
4:09 Minimal changes
4:58 The Arcade Micro-lofts
5:54 Issues with mall layouts
7:23 Complete demolition
9:18 Hybrid conversion
10:58 Conclusion

During the 90s and 2000s, online shopping steadily grew more popular and retail stores didn’t adapt to the changing market. The supply of malls outgrew demand leading to many abandoned buildings across the States. This creates both an opportunity and a problem for designers, investors and cities. Many designers propose turning all these abandoned malls into housing for the homeless or low-income individuals. Others want to reinvent the retail centers, create transparency and permeability by breaking up big boxes, bringing the outside in, and opening up visual connections to the street.

There are 3 things we can do with them. MINIMAL CHANGES
The Arcade in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, which was built in 1828, is considered the nation’s oldest indoor shopping mall. Its neo-Greek Revival architecture landed it on the list of National Historic Landmarks. In 2013, it was converted into a mixed use space with micro-lofts, boutiques and coffee shops. This conversion interests me for several reasons. First, the original building design had exterior windows so you have two sources of light entering the units, one from the atrium and another lighting the back of the unit. Also, since it was built so long ago, the scale of the space can work with micro lofts. Finally, the decision to convert it into micro-lofts is very smart. A property like this one in a downtown area is very expensive. You need to fit as many units as possible to get a higher ROI or return on investment.

On the other hand, the layout of a typical suburban mall is so unique, it’s difficult to convert it. The spaces are usually deep and sunlight from a central atrium won’t get very far. Even if skylights are installed on the roof, you have to deal with a lack of sunlight on the lower level.

COMPLETELY DEMOLISHED
Cinderella City Mall in Englewood, Colorado
Euclid Square Mall in Ohio
Valley View Center in Dallas
The Carpenter’s Shelter in Alexandria
It's painful to watch a structurally sound building be demolished when it could house the homeless and low-income families and it seems wasteful but these aren’t publicly owned structures. Also, families in surrounding areas will object to low-income housing since it could bring down property values. The programmatic layout of a mall is very different than that of a home or an apartment. It is expensive to retrofit malls, redo the plumbing and air conditioning and turn them into livable units. After going through cost analysis scenarios, developers often realize that they’d save time and money demolishing the structure and erecting a new one.

HYBRID CONVERSION
The Mayfield Mall in Mountain view, California
100 Oaks mall in Nashville
Collin Creek mall in Plano, North Dallas. The main atrium space will remain as a mall, but the big box stores that acted as anchors will be demolished. In their place, two 6 storey residential towers will be constructed with underground parking. The parking lot will be torn up and converted into rowhomes, a senior living facility, hotel, park.
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SOURCES:
   • Coming Soon: The Starcourt Mall! | Ha...   - stranger things
   • The Mall of America - Grand Opening H...   WCCO 4 News
   • Deserted shopping mall Zombie Experie...   James Dunleavy
   • Apollo 13 (1995) - Square Peg in a Ro...   Apollo 13

   • Leslie Knope has no time to do the Ti...   Parks and Rec
https://blog.x.company/from-mall-to-m...
https://www.gensler.com/research-insi...
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#shoppingmalls #abandoned #mallconversion #architecture #construction #design