Another mall, a new experience

As defined by the Urban Land institute, a mall is “A group of architecturally unified commercial establishments built on a site which is planned, developed, owned and managed as an operating unit.” Unification and commercialization are the basis of malls all over the word. The goal of mall owners and developers is to have a “cookie cutter” system that will produce successful establishments all over the word. Kowinski’s article speaks of this controlled planning that is so successful in a mall. The environment is completely staged; the temperature, the lighting, the smells, the colors, what stores are inside. They create a world that is based on how people react to the spaces they are experiencing. Controlling the experience of the occupant is always a motive for architects. This experience is controlled through a “kit of parts” type of system. Every mall has certain defining aspects that have proven successful for not only business, but for positive feedback by customers to their experience of the space. These designed “fantasy” worlds are what make people so intrigued by malls. They excite us and encourage us to feel safe and at ease to spend our money. Getting trapped in this fantasy world is what has driven mall architecture to where it is today, DestinyUSA being the ultimate example. The new mega-malls popping up all over the world are literally using a “kit of parts” to create this new worlds. For instance the Tuscan Village that is in the design for part of Destiny. The developers know how to attract people and they have done it in the past and will continue to create these worlds that bring us in and encourage us to forget about everything else going on outside the interior.