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comment by sounds_sound
sounds_sound  ·  4582 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: PBS Lists top 10 buildings that changed America...
I would've liked to have posted this after seeing the actual PBS series because some of the buildings on the list could use a bit of an explanation as to why they were chosen. For me, I think that 'changed' is perhaps the perfect ambiguous word for the impact the Southdale Center has had on the U.S. Is it change for the better? Maybe not, but one cannot deny the fact that shopping centers have been paramount in shaping suburban landscapes.

The thing is, you've got to put yourself in 1950's shoes to try and understand what a promising typology the enclosed mall was. It was seen as another way to be liberated from the dirty and seedy downtown industrial center. It was a place to go to with the whole family, in the new car. What I'm wondering is - would the middle class in the United States have thrived so much if it weren't for the shopping center? I think the answer has to be no.

Btw, Victor Gruen was also the chief designer for post-war Detroit's four major suburban shopping centers: Eastland Center, Southland Center, Westland Center, and Northland Center. Another, albeit completely different, architectural legacy from Motown.





mk  ·  4582 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I'd like to see that series. And I will concede that the Mall was a noble effort. But in solving a perceived problem, it created others.

IMO it was the car that powered the middle class, and the mall was probably an inevitability (a place we were going to pass through). I'd say that the sanitized community gathering place was an excuse for the parking lot, which was the real need. And I'd say that box stores are the proof of that; we didn't learn that malls weren't socially satisfying, we only learned that they weren't efficient enough. Now we have parking lots that surround warehouses.

sounds_sound  ·  4582 days ago  ·  link  ·  
< in solving a perceived problem, it created others

I think the real test of the shopping center as an institution is just on the horizon. The question now, after shopping malls continue to go under, is what can they be turned into? What other new functions could they absorb to ensure their continued relevance in the next 100 years? And you're absolutely right about the car. That's the star of this story. But also know that shopping was a form of propaganda that the U.S. used to demonstrate to the rest of the world just how great our system was and how prosperous our citizens were. That's what the Kitchen Debates between Nixon and Khrushchev were all about.

mk  ·  4582 days ago  ·  link  ·  
    The question now, after shopping malls continue to go under, is what can they be turned into?

Rubble, I hope. :) The fact that they are an island destination makes them very limited in terms of community functionality, IMO. In my childhood town, two malls were replaced. One became a box store grouping, the other became 'The Village', a faux mainstreet, surrounded by parking lot. The Village seems to do enough business, actually.

sounds_sound  ·  4582 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I was thinking more along the lines of shopping center meets ice rink. You could play a quick two on two hockey in the food court and then do some shopping. All the clothing racks could be on skates and the clothes could come to you. But wait....how do you try on pants?.... Dammit!!! Clearly, I need to work out a few kinks :P