Inverting the Mall: Creating Places of Experience Where Just Shopping Used to Be

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In Folder: 2019 Theses

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Inverting the Mall: Creating Places of Experience Where Just Shopping Used to Be

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2019

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title: Inverting the Mall: Creating Places of Experience Where Just Shopping Used to Be

creator: Marisa E. Zorzi

subject: Shopping malls, Remodeling for other use; Abandoned buildings; Mixed-use developments, Massachusetts, Springfield, Designs and plans

description: Shopping Malls were created as areaction to rise of suburbia. Peopleno longer wanted to live or shop indowntowns. The standardization ofthe car allowed stores to move intoa structure dedicated entirely toconsumerism. Malls became culturalstaples in communities for leisureactivity. Going to the mall was a socialevent wrapped in a shell of consumerism. Millennials and the youngergenerations have found new waysto shop and spend their leisure time.They have not stopped shopping;they are just shopping in new ways.Young people strive for convenience.Mixed-used communities allow forpeople to walk around, work, reside,shop, and socialize in one place.Springfield is in an ongoing rebuildingphase. After the Great Recession,the city was hit hard and faced adownward spiral; he unemploymentrate more than doubled in twoyears and businesses closed, leavingempty storefronts and offices. In2011, the city was hit by a tornado,displacing thousands of people,forcing the community into dire needof assistance. After this, many storesremained closed due to the shift to aninternet-based consumer age, makingthe Eastfield Mall obsolete. As themall closes it’s doors, the large site isleft vacant, open for redevelopment.The site can bridge together the cityby providing mixed-use developmentwith programs to meet communityneeds.

publisher: The Douglas D. Schumann Library and Learning Commons, Wentworth Institute of Technology

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date: 2019

type: Thesis

format: .pdf

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language: eng

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rights: https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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