Precedents

Precedents

Literature Review

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Fong, P. (2003). What makes big dumb bells a mega shopping mall? 4th International Space Syntax Symposium (pp. 10.1-10.14). London: Space Group Publications.

Within this paper, Fong presents a morphological analysis of a mega-scale shopping centre, stating that “the ‘shopping mall’ is a very interesting case in itself, in that it attempts to recreate the scene of natural movement using apparently opposing dynamics. Fong takes on the idea that shopping centres are an attraction for consumers through a series of specific design installations that are replicated from the external market, and improved to create a more desired shopping experience.

“Shopping malls are built to replicate the retail offer in established city centres, providing comparison shopping in a ‘continuous’ selling space on goods... all under one roof” (pg 10.1)

Fong, specifically focussing upon the movement throughout the shopping mall, states that “a critical approach within architectural discourse misses the opportunity to raise interesting questions concerning their design in terms of how natural laws of movement are seemingly opposed inside a shopping mall.”

Fong perceives that the classic dumb-bell concept, (large anchors at conflicting ends) is an important factor within mall dynamics in attracting consumers into and through the mall. (See below)

(The Urban Land Institute, 2002)

The Urban Land Institute (2002) provides a basic design diagram of the spatial elements of a typical regional shopping centre.

The natural movement economy theory proposed theory by Hiller (1993, 1996) is opposed to shopping mall design, stating that “Natural movement is the proportion of movement on each line that is determined by the structure of the urban grid itself rather than by the presence of specific attractors or magnets.” (Hillier, 1996: 161)

Fong explores the question of do planned shopping malls obey natural laws of movement, such that the distribution of movement can be predicted by the pattern of relative integration in the configuration.

Fong states through his analysis that from the point of view of mall design, minimising integration differences seems to be the objective of mall designers when thinking of the shopping centre as a managed ‘asset’. The main concern of mall managers’ and developers’ is rent optimisation, which is best achieved by ensuring an evenness of foot traffic to all its tenants. It would appear that although principles of attraction do have contributory effects on the distribution of movement through the arrangement, placement and allocation of space in the tenant mix process, configuration still provides a stronger predictive power, yet the addition of an attractor value increases the predictive value considerably.

Pong concludes that through her analysis, there is reasonable evidence that configuration has a direct relationship with the distribution of movement within planned, artificial shopping centre environments; hence, configuration has a stronger prediction than anchors, attractors or magnets.

Kuribayashi, Y., & Kishimoto, T. (2009). Configurational Comparison of City Centre Shopping District and Shopping Mall, with Observation of Shop Locations. In D. Koch, L. Marcus, & J. Steen (Ed.), 7th International Space Syntax Symposium (pp. 061:1-061:10). Stockholm: KTH.

Overview of Text

Kuribayashi and Kishimoto found that the shopping districts of major cities have been declining. The change in customer needs and the increase in the automobile consumption have led the public to shop in the convenient shopping malls. This circumstance has induced an additional problem of the weakening of interrelationship between the individual shops within the district which is crucial in means of both the local economy within in these districts and their surrounding community.

Kuribayashi and Kishimoto applied the Space Syntax Theory conducted by Polly Fong in designing the pedestrian movement within a commercial space to apply this theory to a city’s domestic shopping district to reveal the natural law of human attraction to the certain classification of shops. The paper discovers the successful point of the creation of commercial space by ‘shopping malls’, and compared them to the ‘shopping district’.

Through using the Space Syntax values, Kuribayashi and Kishimoto analysed four sample commercial spaces; two city centre shopping districts, Jiyugaoka and Daikanyama, and two shopping malls, Outletpark Iruma and Lalaport Yokohama. Through this analysis, the results showed that the sampled shopping malls were successful in attracting the pedestrians to the core compared to the sampled city centre shopping districts. Also, it was shown that the matching of customers’ behavioural pattern and shop locations are significant in the creation of successful shopping environments.

Proposal

 

Research Stream: Emergent Practices           Supervisor: Diane Brand and Jacqueline McIntosh

Research Question How can I design a sustainable inner-city neighborhood using the successful design principles of a shopping mall that will act as a catalyst for individual retail outlets?

Abstract  With the slump of the economy leading to less of the public spending money1, and therefore less income for the commercial market, an inner-city external commercial retail neighbourhood with the integration of design principles from the shopping mall will act as a catalyst of improving all external street retail and possibly, in turn inner-city residential conditions as well. A new form of commercial retail needs to be introduced to prevent the struggle of individual economic outlets and community groups against large-scale retail development in their neighbourhoods. “Shopping centres... are well-planned, well-funded, and well-organised... Main streets need management like that.” (Huffman 95)

Aims & Objectives -          Aims to identify the design principles at play in a complex retail space and how they can be manipulated into a design to create a sustainable inner-city neighbourhood that benefits the community. -          Investigating the benefits for external retail will qualify the reason of integrating the positive shopping mall design principles into the exterior retail space, as well as finding, keeping and integrating the positive aspects of the external retail. -          Through exploring previous case studies within New Zealand, this thesis will be able to understand why certain project developments are successful and unsuccessful in terms of their return on investment, community and sustainability. -          Research and case studies will also be studied for possibilities of how the financial benefits of a shopping mall model can be redirected into the community, and in turn foster new growth and innovation. -          Finally, this thesis’ research will enable a series of development guidelines for integrating an external shopping mall and residential accommodation within one community.

Methodology 1.          Literature Review A multidisciplinary literature review will be conducted to determine the principles and concepts that inform mall design. 2.         Correlational Research Quantitative Research that is conducted to clarify patterns of relationships between two or more variables. -        A Focus on Naturally Occurring Patterns -        The Measurement of Specific Variables -        Interval and Ratio Scales -        The Use of Statistics to Clarify Patterns of Relationships 3.         Case Study Research A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a setting phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. -        Auckland’s Botany Downs -        Wellington’s Chews Lane -        Dunedin’s Wall Street

Key Authors & Ideas Goss, Jon. The "Magic of the Mall". An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment. Honolulu: Association of American Geographers, 1993. This text covers the overview of the shopping mall through an analysis of the form, function and meaning of the (mainly) American shopping mall design principles. This is the main body of text used to derive the problem of shopping mall power over smaller, individual retail outlets through their specific design processes. Most significant authors came from this text such as -          Hazel, D. "Crime in the malls: A new and growing concern." Chain Store Age Executive (1992, Feb): 27-29. -          McCloud, J. "Fun and games is serious business." Shopping Center World (1989, July): 28-35. -          Rathbun, R. D. Shopping centers and malls 3. New York: Retail Reporting Corporation, 1990.

Key Precedents  ·         Botany Town Centre in Auckland, New Zealand by Hames Sharley Architects ·         Chews Lane in Wellington, New Zealand by Athfield Architects Ltd ·         Wall Street in Dunedin, New Zealand by Team Architects ·         Namba Parks in Osaka, Japan by The Jerde Partnership ·         Kanyon in Istanbul, Turkey by Tabanlioglu Architects

Proposed Site (three lines) Wellington’s inner-city from Leeds to Eva Street which is an undeveloped side street with a semi-large open space within the middle. This side street attaches to Dixon Street which is on the outskirts of the main Courtney Place shopping street. This side street is also at the median point between the shopping centres on Courtney Place and the individual retail outlets on Cuba Street and therefore acts as a good point of where the development will be able to act as a catalyst for other individual outlets.

Role of Design  To create a sustainable external retail development including residential occupants using the successful design principles of the shopping mall. This development would act as a catalyst for further developments for the individual retail outlets within Wellington.

Bibliography This is just the start of the research into designing a sustainable inner-city neighborhood using the successful design principles of a shopping mall… Beddington, W. Charles Baudelaire: A lyric poet in the era of high capitolism. London: New Left Books, 1973. Borden, Iain and Katerina Rüedi. The dissertation: an architecture student's handbook. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006. Borden, Iain and Ray, Katerina Ruedi. The Dissertation: An Architecture Student's Handbook (2nd Ed). Great Britain: Architectural Press, 2006. Building despite the obstacles. "Anti-growth sentiment, local restrictions slow retail development." Chain Store Age Executive (1990): 27-32. —. "Chain Store Age Executive." Anti-growth sentiment, local restrictions slow retail development (1990): 27-32. Chews Lane. Chews Lane Precinct. Unknown. 29 03 2011 <http://www.chewslane.co.nz/the-project>. Chow, Renee Y. Suburban space: the fabric of dwelling. University of California Press, 2002. Competition and Economic Development. Harvvard Business School - Institute for strategy and competitiveness. Unknown. 27 03 2011 <http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-innercities.htm>. Congress for the New Urbanism. Charter of the New Urbanism. McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999. Cresswell, John. Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Sage Publications, 2002. Debord, G. Society of the spectacle. Detroit: Red and Black, 1984. Entertainment anchors: New mall headliners. "New mall headliners." Chain Store Age Executive (1989): 54, 63, 65. Frieden, B. J., and Sagalyn, L. B. Downtown, Inc.: How America rebuilds cities. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989. Goss, Jon. The "Magic of the Mall". An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment. Honolulu: Association of American Geographers, 1993. Groat, Linda and David Wang. Architectural research methods. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Gruen, and Smith, L. Shopping towns USA: The planning of shopping centers. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1960. Hazel, D. "Crime in the malls: A new and growing concern." Chain Store Age Executive (1992, Feb): 27-29. Huffman, F. "Mall Street, USA." Entrepreneur (1989, Aug): 95-99. McCloud, J. "Fun and games is serious business." Shopping Center World (1989, July): 28-35. Oldenburg, R. The great good life. New York: Paragon House, 1989. Rathbun, R. D. Shopping centers and malls 3. New York: Retail Reporting Corporation, 1990. Reiss, Eric. "ROI and the Business value of IA." 10th Annual IA Summit. Memphis, Tennessee: FatDux, March 20, 2009. 94. Reynolds, M. "Stores." Food Courts (1990, August): 52-54. Rowe, P. G. Making a middle landscape. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991. Weir, James. "Economy barely escapes recession." The Dominion Post 24 03 2011.

Literature Review

Goss, Jon. The "Magic of the Mall". An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment. Honolulu: Association of American Geographers, 1993.

‘The 'Magic of the Mall’ acts as a broad overview of the theory of mall design, discussing the reasons for the techniques involved in constructing a mall and how they affect the consumer. Goss aims to explain that developers have wanted to moderate the collective guilt over obvious consumption by designing a fantasized dissociation from the act of shopping into the retail built environment. In other words, shopping makes us feel guilty, or insecure; but if we don't believe like we're shopping, then it's acceptable. So the developer and architects go to great lengths to build environments that help us pretend that the experience within the mall is segregated from the external ‘real’ world through a selection of successful design principles that aim towards the ultimate goal of developer profits.

Although this text acted as the founding motivation towards my thesis, the article was published in 1993, so some arguments that Goss creates are no longer applicable towards the problem’s causes and effects. I think Goss's failure to consider the time-geography does undermine his argument slightly, however, the modern strip mall, which may be more closely related to my thesis topic, has a less constructed atmosphere than the indoor mall that is the focus of Goss's work, and, in-turn human behaviour would be experienced differently within these different atmospheres. The main failure within this text is that it focuses too much upon the success of mall design being a failure towards human society. For example, to consider that people go to malls because they've been deceived into feeling that they're not consuming. Consumers go to the mall because it offers something that is genuinely desirable, i.e. ‘the one-stop shop.’

Colwell, P. F., & Munneke, H. J. (1998). Percentage leases and the advantages of regional malls. The Journal of Real Estate Research , Vol. 15, Iss. 3, pg. 239-253.

This article specifically examines the value-enhancing aspects of percentage leases and explores the mechanisms of tenant mix, risk sharing and rent discrimination through which this value is created.
Colwell and Munneke argument focuses upon the use of percentage leases leading to superior returns by allowing a rent structure that approaches perfect price discrimination and that risk sharing through the use of percentage leases may also create value for the property owner and lead to lower rents for tenants. In other words, a win-win economic situation for all involved.

The argument created in this article is relevant to a very small specific mall structure where the landlord has complete confidence in the gross income of its tenants. The only prime candidates for this would be national tenants with proof of a high positive income, relevant to it context and having some surrounding precedents. However, if this is the case, the tenant would not be willing to do a percentage lease, which would be taking a sum of the profits when the business has already created a standing within the current economic market. The scheme is correct, but I believe that the justification of real-world application would not be as simple as Colwell and Munneke perceive.

Brown, M. G. (1999). Design and Value: Spacial form and the economic failure of a mall. The Journal of Real Estate Research , Vol. 17, Iss.1/2, pg. 189-226.

This article focuses upon one mall, Beau Monde, which opened in 1985 and defaulted on loan payments and sold for about 25% of its construction costs to ‘Happy Church’ claiming “as if it was built for us.” Browns focus is upon three main areas; space is what real estate and building, site and urban design have in common; spatial and related visual patterns have deep behavioural and cultural constraints often overlooked; and when these patterns combine with non-rational human behaviours, serious decision and judgment errors are more likely. Brown claims in this article, “The real intelligence, the central nervous system of a building, is its spatial configuration. The special central nervous system choreographs interface patterns: person to person, goods to person. If not adequately interconnected, parts of the building served by its spatial interconnection, or even all of it, will cause atrophy.”

This article by Brown focuses upon a very important part of the successful shopping mall design; spatial syntax, when properly structured, this link (the shopping centre) works top-down from the macro level of the street to the micro level of the merchandise, global to local, not bottom-up. Brown believes that spatial syntax is so important as to claim that in some cases a well-designed and otherwise attractive shopping centre can countervail a poor location. Whilst in-turn a poorly designed shopping centre can be redeemed by a good location, it is not inevitable, especially when a shopper has a choice on where to shop.