for Joost: they gave up originality in shopping malls, let’s just copy them

September 14, 2007 in cities, contextuality, shopping mall

well, at least they do it in los angeles. the funny thing is they call a lot of these malls over there in SoCal walks… i’d rather call them crawls.

the anaheim garden walk, through curbed LA.

plus a list of my personal favorites over there:

universal city walk by the jerde partnership (the guy that gave rotterdam the beurstraverse/koopgoot). this one is quite interesting, since the initial masterplan provided for housing on top of the shops (something you don’t see too often in malls), but that the client declined due to ’security issues’. great chapter on shopping mall security in mike davis’ city of quartz too, by the way.

the grove. as with most shopping malls, you have to enter through the parking lot.. but this one is in the middle of the city! you really really have to look for a pedestrian access… including a tram that runs for about 500 meters.

the beverly center. again, in the middle of the city. built on top of 5 stories of parking, and only now they have started to construct escalotors you can access from street level.

enjoi. marten