Five non-standard shopping centers
Today, more and more citizens are turning to conscious consumption, and the model of a shopping center as the main point of attraction for any area is becoming a thing of the past. Nevertheless, among these objects you can find structures that carefully work with urban space and even have a chance to someday become architectural monuments.
Non-standard shopping centers. Westside Bruennen
Location: Bern, Switzerland
Date: 2008
Architecture
The Westside Bruennen shopping center was built by Studio Libeskind in 2008. The head of the bureau is the American architect Daniel Libeskind, one of the creators of the deconstructivism style. Most of Libeskind’s works are architectural interventions in classical buildings. The most striking examples of his buildings are the new building for the Museum of Military History in Dresden and the expansion of the Royal Museum in Ontario. So the architect seeks to create a dialogue between the past and the future. Other features of Libeskind’s style are the abundance of sharp corners, the inconsistent rhythm of volumes, and atektonicity.
Construction and territory
The building with broken, deliberately complex edges and sharply protruding volumes is an example of deconstructivism. However, it does not enter into open confrontation with the urban environment, which is typical for deconstructivist buildings. On the contrary, the shopping center is conceived as a link between the city and the countryside. The building on the border between the two territories fits into both the urban environment and the natural landscape. The wooden façade and horizontal shape allow the mall to avoid conflict with the suburban landscape. Westside Bruennen has become a transition point between the city and the surrounding area.
What else to pay attention to
Diagonal ribbon glazing of the building is an interpretation of one of Le Corbusier’s five theses about, which states that windows can be stretched along the entire facade of the building. “The latest means have liberated the window, reinforced concrete has made a real revolution in its history,” wrote the great architect.
Markthal Rotterdam
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Date: 2014
Bureau of Architecture
The Markthal shopping center was designed by the Dutch design bureau MVRDV. It was founded in 1993 by architects and urbanists Winy Maas, Jacob van Reis and Nathalie de Vries. The studio developed a manifesto outlining the main principles of its work: the creation of an urban space that promotes active social interaction and satisfies the basic needs of residents.
MVRDV pays special attention to the problem of urban development, therefore, it often develops projects for structures that could combine several functions. So the studio achieves space savings. For example, Markthal has shops, restaurants, a residential complex, an indoor city market, and even an art object.
Construction and territory
Markthal is located in the center of Rotterdam, in the Laurenskwartier district. The building is a large-scale arch, the pillars of which contain a residential complex of 228 apartments, parking and shops. The vault of the structure forms the city square. During the day it works as a market, in the evening it turns into a place to relax with restaurants and bars. This architectural solution allowed to save space and create a new place of power for the citizens.
What else to pay attention to
The inner vault of the Markthal is decorated with a work by the artists Arno Cohen and Iris Roskam. The digital composition “Cornucopia” is a free-floating images of fruits, flowers and insects. The animation studio Pixar participated in the creation of the work. The work refers to the 17th century Netherlandish still life tradition and creates a historical connection with the city.
Forum Gdańsk
Location: Gdansk, Poland
Date: 2018
Bureau of Architecture
The concept of the Forum Gdańsk shopping center project was conceived and implemented by the Polish division of the French architectural studio SUD Architectes. The bureau sees its mission in creating a compact urban complex that harmoniously coexists with the environment.
Construction and territory
The shopping center is located in the historical center of Gdansk, on the site of Sennoy and Crayfish markets. Thus, Forum Gdańsk continues the tradition of trading in this area. The building is a chain of several volumes of small height, interconnected. This approach, according to the architects, saves the shopping center from the massiveness inherent in buildings of this kind, and brings it closer to the rest of the city.
The authors of the project not only took into account the history of the area, but also thought about how to fit the shopping center into the surrounding area. For example, the building included the Raduynia canal, dug back in the 14th century. One of the banks of the canal is paved with paving stones found on the site of the old Sennoy market. Thus, the architects emphasized the historical continuity of the building.
What else to pay attention to
Forum Gdańsk plays on elements of the historical buildings of Gdańsk. For example, the building uses a material reminiscent of red ceramic bricks in color and texture, which is typical of traditional Polish architecture.
Mall Morocco
Location: Casablanca, Morocco
Date: 2011
Bureau of Architecture
Mall Morocco was developed by Design International, a design studio for business and shopping centers. The bureau was founded in Toronto in 1965.
Construction and territory
Mall Morocco in Casablanca has become the second largest mall in Africa. The building on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean covers an area of more than 10 hectares. The architect David Padoa, who developed the project, paid attention to the area where the shopping center is located. The construction, 628 meters long, runs along the coastline, emphasizing its length and without disturbing the terrain. The outlines of the building are dominated by smooth lines and volumes without sharp corners. They are combined with the uneven contour of the seashore.
What else to pay attention to
Inside Morocco Mall is another shopping center a branch of the famous Parisian gallery Lafayette. The construction received a separate entrance, which was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest facade inside the trading floor. It has round holes with illumination they recreate the pattern of the dome of the first gallery Lafayette.
Sony Center
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: 2000
Helmut Jahn, a student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the founders of architectural modernism, worked on the Sony center. In his projects, Helmut Jahn strives for manufacturability and functionality, and pays special attention to the structure of the building.
Construction and territory
The Sony Center is one of Berlin’s top new attractions. It is located on Potsdamer Platz, destroyed during World War II and divided into two parts by the Berlin Wall. In 1989, after the fall of the wall, the city regained one of its main squares. And in 1996, the city authorities decided to erect a new building on it and turn Potsdamer Platz into a symbol of a united Berlin.
The Sony Center is a complex of seven separate buildings that form a walk-through triangular space. One of the sides of this triangle forms the axis of Potsdamskaya Street, the other the axis of Ben-Gurion Street. Helmut Jahn included in the ensemble monuments from the pre-war past, for example, part of the Esplanade Hotel. The remains of the building were moved 70 meters and then placed in the northern part of the Sony Center.
What else to pay attention to
The hallmark of the Sony Center is a hipped roof of steel ring and glass panels that rests on the buildings that make up the complex.
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