Up, Up, Up We Go
There appears to be another shift in the urban planning mindset that has gripped
Los Angeles for the past 80 years, a shopping mall that goes up rather than spreads out. For anyone not familiar with the largest suburb in the world posing as a city, urban sprawl has been the modus operandi of the city planning department for decades. But, as LA has matured there has been a seismic shift in planning and development circles. So much so, that developer J.H. Snyder Co. has announced plans to build an indoor vertical mall (yes you read that correctly - indoor and vertical); a first in Southern California.
The LA Times reports that developer Jerry Snyder is bucking conventional wisdom by
building a 7-storey inner city shopping mall at the intersection of Vermont and Wilshire Boulevard. The architect for the project, Howard Elkus, also oversaw the design of another shopping center, The Grove, three miles directly west - which opened in 2002 and revolutionized mall design. Unlike the boxy, dreary enclosed mall of the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Grove was an outdoor mall with only ground level retail, fronted by a variety of historical architectural styles. The Grove is so successful - it has become as popular as Disneyland - that owner Rick Caruso, recently opened another incarnation, The Americana at Brand, in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. Likewise, the owners of the 1980s enclosed mall, Santa Monica Place, are spending millions to open it up to the outdoors. Snyder is definitely taking a chance, and is being praised for a mall concept that fits in with the "new" urban LA.
Main entrance escalator, rockman13 via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
The tall mall is not a new idea, but it was revolutionary in 1975 when Water Tower Place
opened on Chicago's Michigan Avenue. Just 4 years earlier, the largest mall ever constructed (either indoor or outdoor), opened in the Chicago suburb of Schamburg. Woodfield Mall would cater to the shopper who had fled the city for green lawns and better schools. People didn't want to shop on gritty downtown streets any longer, they wanted their shopping experience to be bright, clean and free of the weather. The big retailers were ready to flee along with their customers, when the real estate development arm of the venerable Marshall Field & Co. decided to gamble on an untried idea. The concept was to build an enclosed mall, but instead of spreading out; build up and build in the heart of the city. Developer Urban Properties stepped up to the plate and built a multi-purpose complex that included the mall, theaters, a hotel and apartments. Two flagship department stores would be located at ground level on Michigan Avenue and a large central escalator would deliver shoppers into a soaring 8-storey atrium of glass, marble, chrome and 100 stores. The world's first vertical mall burst on to the scene and drew people in droves. It became, and remains, one of the top tourist attractions in the city.
Lower level facade, No One Nels via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
We have been shopping in designated retail districts for millenia, whether in the market
square or along the retail corridor of a city street. But, the idea of climbing several stories to do your shopping seems to be revolutionary whenever proposed. Imagine then, what the Roman's thought in 112 A.D., when the Emperor Trajan completed his forum and revealed a brand new shopping market that went up, instead of out along the street. When Trajan decided to build his government center, the old Forum area had run out of room. So, the emperor's architect Apollodorus carved out a portion of the Quirinale Hill which was standing in the way. Once the rectangular forum buildings were laid out, the architect filled a hollow - created by the hill's removal - with shops and offices. It consisted of 6 levels that were accessed by tiers of terraces that ascended to the top of the hill. Shops lined the walkways, as well as a central 2-storey market hall ringed by a balcony, that provided access to vendors. No one was sure it would work; why would anyone climb all that way lugging their wares behind them? But, the people of Rome had no hesitation and Trajan's Markets were as popular as Water Tower Place is today.
So whether it is 112 A.D., 1975 or 2008, retail's upward ascent still provokes surprise and
reluctance, and hopefully, in Mr. Snyder's experiment, history will be on his side.
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