03 11 / 2008
"The idea of creating an urban space inside the shopping mall seems to be de rigueur these days. But what is striking about these projects is how backward-looking they are; the 19th-century arcade is, apparently, the preferred model for the 21st-century mall. Of West Village, Gabellini says: “For us, it was a contemporary interpretation of a traditional urban shopping typology—if you want, the 19th-century galleries of London, Milan, or Paris."
A perfect, concrete example of why American public policy errs in not considering historic architectural examples “important” enough to warrant skilled regulation (as in Europe’s ministries of antiquities, or, you know, YES ON PROP J!) . As the world realizes that postmodern disregard for artfulness of form in public places of utility (like shopping centers) creates nothing sustainable or desirable, they look to historic example. Wouldn’t it be nice if our historic shopping districts were still intact?
