Fragmenting the Monopoly: Creating A Heterogenous Suburban Landscape

...private ownership over land to communal ownership, an economic catalyst to a cultural catalyst, and franchised shopping to local consum-erism will dissolve the monopoly of proprietorship, intent, and control, and begin to fragment the mall ...

Avnika HariThesis Advisor: Benjamin Farnsworth

A Monopolizing Typology

Due to the rise of the automotive industry in the early twentieth

century, and a subsequent rise of an emerging middle class, suburban

communities began to occupy the perimeters of urban cities. Modeled

around the haphazard organization of sprawl, these newly formed suburbias lacked a social focal point capable of

synthesizing a sense of community. Victor Gruen, an Austrian-born archi-

tect, from Vienna, filled this voided communal sensibility with the design

of the Southdale Center Shopping Mall in Edina, MN in 1956, the first

American Shopping Mall (see fig. 1). The success of the Southdale Mall, al-lowed for its proliferation throughout

suburbias alike, causing a mutation of the design from a cultural icon to a de-contextualized typology, fueled by

consumerism. Gruens design caused a cultural infatuation with this formula of a formalized privatization accom-

panied by stringent programmatic protocol, and the resulting interiorized

suburbanism.

Figure 1. Southdale Center Shopping Mall, 1956.

A Monopolizing Typology

In his design of the Southdale Center Shopping Mall, Gruen had envisioned

a mall of internalized shopping that would not only service the needs of

the community, but also become the suburban sink in which suburbanites

could interact. Organizing a central court (see fig. 2) to host a cultural diversity, Gruen intended the com-

mercial spine of the mall to catalyze a social density, accompanied with

ample amount of parking to promote accessibility.

Figure 2. Southdale Center Mall Garden Court.

A Monopolizing Typology

Todays mall typology, although looks like, and follows the formula of Gruens vision (see fig. 3-5), has been

diminished by the inherent conse-quences of a monopolizing dominion. Now, a mall could more accurately be described as an internalized concrete

commercial conglomerate, with air-conditioned pedestrian walkways, lined with brand name retailers void of any context and climate, complete with a centrally-located barren court,

floating loosely on a surface of withering gray parking (see fig. 6-8). Due to a design outdated by a change

in audience, and technologies such as online shopping, these once iconic shopping malls are now in a state of

decay (see fig. 9-11).

Figure 3. Willow brooke Mall.Figure 4. Southdale Center Mall Garden Court. Figure 5. Southdale Center Shopping Mall.Figure 6. Bellevue Square Mall.Figure 7. Pembroke Mall.Figure 8. Mall Parking Lot.Figure 9. Woodville Mall.Figure 10. Randall Park Mall.Figure 11. Randall Park Mall.

Suburban-ScaleConsequences

Malls have become architectural artifacts of privately-owned, capital-istically endorsed, and internalized

monolithic spaces. This thesis intends to operate on the site of the Southdale Center Shopping Mall (see fig. 12), to exemplify a re-conceptualization of a

mall as an extension of the city, while still utilizing its existing structure.

The shear surface area it occupies, its suburban significance, and its attrac-

tion as a one-stop shop, equip the mall with the physical, political and

economic leverage to not only be held responsible for serving its suburban

congregation, but also the obligation to resonate as a contender in city

planning and thus the duty to mitigate between its many circumstances.

Figure 12. Southdale Center Site.

Diagramming Fragmentation

If mall planning is an addendum to city-planning, then the fragmentation

of the Southdale Mall will require a series of interventions precedented by

the works of architectural theorists. Giambattista Nollis map of Rome,

engraved in 1748, redacted the urban image into a political dichotomy of pri-vate figures and public ground, which

has since been misappropriated into an understanding of the city through private forms and public landscape.

This thesis will project the arguments of these precedents, in the re-diagram-

ming of the Southdale site in Edina, MN with the use of figure-ground rep-resentation, to investigate the nature

of fragmentation in the re-introduction of the Southdale Mall into its subur-

ban context.

1748

1997

1961

1956

1978

1991

1978

2011

2016

Giambattista Nolli

NEGOTIATION BETWEEN PRIVATE & PUBLIC

Documented the city of Rome, utilizing figure-ground as a representational technique to demarcate private and

public spaces. Sets an underlying con-notation that figure equates form, and ground serves as the given landscape.

Victor Gruen

DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN SUBURBAN & URBAN

Most importantly, this air-conditioned court would not only neutralize the

weather but create a forum for continu-ous events, thus folding culture, enter-

tainment, and community activities into retail shopping (Wall, 2005, pg. 93).

In Gruens City, the mall is defined by the centrally-located, internalized

container, accompanied with a voided interior. Catalyzed by the injection

of strictly retail program, creating a juxtaposition between a concentrated

form and a dormant landscape.

Colin Rowe

DISCUSSION OF FIGURE-VOID & OBJECT-GROUND

the object to become digested in a prevalent texture or matrix...the imag-ined condition is a type of solid-void

dialectic which might allow for the joint existence of the overtly planned and the

genuinely unplanned, of the set-piece and the accident, of the public and the private, of the state and the individual

(Rowe, 1978, pg. 83).

In Rowes City, the significance of the malls monolithic exterior qualifies it

as a monumental figure. Its formal presence is challenged through a jux-taposition within a matrix of objects.

Oswald Unger

CONSIDERATION OF ACTIVE & PASSIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Rather than being a unified concept, the city is now a structure made up

of complementary places. The many contrasting areas, areas of recreation,

culture, commerce, residence and work, together form a loose urban association

(Ungers, 1997, p. 19).

In Ungers City, the malls site is acti-vated by the insertion of the necessary

contextual infrastructure capable of facilitating the operations of a city. By implanting active programs within the

site, the adjacency of the mall with these built forms creates a suburban

association.

Rem Koolhaas

ADMINISTRATION OF PRESERVING & DECAYING TACTICS

For Exodus amplified a theme already emergent in Ungers work: the principle of turning the splintering forces of the metropolis into architectural form that

addresses the collective dimension of the city (Koolhaas, 1978, p. 197).

In Koolhaass City, a preservation of locality within the lot of the mall, de-fines the perimeter of administration.

Physically inhabiting the malls site with a contextual patchwork, while

conceding the decay of its surround-ings, allows for an internal suburban-ism operating within the architectural

parameter.

Pier Vittorio Aureli

EMPHASIS ON ARCHITECTURAL IMMORTALITY &

CITY MORTALITY

In contrast to the integrative apparatus of urbanization, the archipelago envisions

the city as the agnostic struggle of the parts whose forms are in constant relationship both with each other and with the sea that frames and delimits them (Aureli, 2011, pg.

xi).

In Aurelis City, occupying the architec-tural form of the mall with its context, monumentalizes the figural structure.

Impregnating the architecture with the influence of its environment, allows

it to resonate as an artifact, thus affording it immortality.

Jane Jacob

SYSTEMIZATION OF BUILT & UNBUILT

...bits and pieces which, are to be sure, knit into a city fabric of use that is as continuous

and little cut apart as possible. But, emphasis on bits and pieces is of the essence: this is what a city is, bits and pieces that supple-ment each other and support each other

(Jacobs, 1961, pg. 390).

In Jacobs City, the mall is eradicated due to its inability to formally fit with-in a unitized framework, and its site is dissolved into an urban fabric. Empha-sizing the dynamism of systemization, and the capability of its streets to host

any necessary interaction, suburban returns to urban.

Margaret Crawford

FABRICATION OF CONTINUITY & PUNCTUATION

monumental, highly ordered, and carefully designed spaces like Pershing Square or Citywalk punctuate the larger and more diffuse space of everyday life

(Crawford, 1991, pg. 26)

In Crawfords City, in the introduction of an urban fabric, the mall becomes

a suburban concession interrupting the idealized framework.

A Formal Dialectic

Through an analysis of the nature of city expansion and compression, each of these precedented representations of potential methods of re-contextu-alizing the mall, begins to unveil a synonymous reliance on dialectical conditions. These dialectical condi-

tions, that possibly emerge due to the use of diagramming through fig-

ure-ground, rely on a tension between formal architectural objects, and the

way they shape their surrounding fabric.

Post-Formal Fragmenting

This thesis intends to transcend the understanding of the mall as a formal response to the needs of a

suburban population, and pursue a more specific fragmentation of the

political monopoly that has solidified the physical presence of these private

conglomerates.

The Fragmentation

Through a series of interventions that reclaim ownership, control and acces-sibility over the Southdale Center, this thesis proposes a future for the mall,

not only as a commercial epicenter for its localized suburbanites, but a

flexible landscape capable of serving a diversity of needs, and cultivating a density of interactions. Currently,

Simon Property Group owns, operates, and controls the 74 acre lot that the

Southdale Center Shopping Mall occu-pies. This thesis contends to assume the proprietorship of the Southdale

Center Shopping Mall from its current owner, Simon Property Group, to

re-conceptualize the existing South-dale Center, as a place of difference, exchange, and collective activity, --in

addition to shopping.

The Fragmentation

In efforts of reclaiming the large expanse of land, previously devel-oped as a commercial wonderland

for branded retailers, this thesis has brokered deals with three

organizations, The Community, The Government, and The Tenant.

The Withering GrayScape

Privately owned, and only visually accessible, the vast moat of parking,

originally implemented to host a large volume of shoppers, is now only

partially used. With a reduction of usage, there is an increased potential

for the surface area of parking, that not only surrounds the physical mall,

but proceeds to separate the monolith from its context (see fig. 13).

Figure 13. Owings Mills Mall.

The Community

This thesis has donated, roughly 2 acres of its available parking, as is, to

a cooperative farming organization, made up 50 local farmers, referred

to as The Community. The Community has adopted a portion of this sea of asphalt, conveniently located at the

perimeter of the mall lot.

Operational Components

Granted permission to deconstruct the lot as needed, The Community

has re-surfaced the area with top-soil, and sown an acre of potatoes and an

acre of corn, both flourishing crops local to the Minnesota temperament.

They have also constructed machinery storage for equipment, a water tower for irrigation, and a covered stall for

product turnover. The Community has been granted a portion of internal

real estate within the shelter of the mall, affording internal access, which

they have chosen to occupy as product storage, and as an indoor market.

As a co-op, the operational duties of managing, harvesting, and marketing the supply yielded from the two crops are shared amongst the members of

the The Community.

Private Parking to Communal Farm

Allowing The Community to landscape the unused parking lot, challenges the assumption of privately owned space,

and affords it communal rights and accessibility. Donating the land to a

local organization engrains a contex-tual identity to a previously de-con-

textualized typology, and activates an untapped surface area.

The Suburban Farm

Greenhouses within Parking Garage Internal Corn Storage & Grocery Sculpture Gardens within Corn Crops

The Deserted Anchor

Shopping Malls have relied on an economic formula, of attaining large

retail anchors, to sustain its capitalistic foundation. However, when a gravi-

tational department store, such as JC Penney decides to cut its losses, and

abandon its shift as a primary anchor, it creates a vacuum of economic

security (see fig. 14).

Figure 14. Randall Park Mall.

The Government

To avoid the potential financial vul-nerability, this thesis has negotiated with the government of Edina, MN,

and convinced them to re-purpose the economic anchor as a cultural center,

taking advantage of the physical struc-ture of the warehouse-like department

store, and its significant positioning within the circulation of the mall.

Operational Components

The Government, has agreed to construct its cultural center within the constraints of the previously occupied

JC Penney department store. The cultural center is equipped with an au-ditorium with seating for 850 people, 3 flexible event spaces, and teaching

classrooms. The cultural center will be maintained by government employees

and will be accessible to the entirety of Edina, MN. Due to the adjacency of its auditorium to the The Communitys

farm, trades between the organiza-tions has resulted in the proliferation

of the The Government throughout the malls parking lots, manifesting as an outdoor amphitheater, and sculptural

gardens.

Economic Formula to Cultural Purpose

Convincing The Government to build its cultural center within the mall, not only holds The Government liable as

an anchor, over an erratic department store, but shifts the intention from

economic stability to cultural empha-sis.

A Cultural Anchor

Mall Entrance to Cultural Center Sculpture Park Adjacent to Auditorium External Amphitheater

The Extinct Retail Agora

The popularity of online shopping, and a consequent decrease in mall

shopping, malls monolithic interior spaces, originally envisioned to foster the spill out of shoppers, now wastes

away. The branded retail-centric agenda of mall programming leaves little room for a diversity of audience

(see fig. 15).

Figure 15. Randall Park Mall.

The Tenant

To diversify internal tenants, and challenge the systematic organization of franchised retailers, this thesis has

leased a portion of the unoccupied central garden court, to a local sports and recreation club referred to as The Tenant. Granting The Tenant, the lib-erty to alter the physical structure of the mall, in exchange for communal access to its facilities during specific

time periods.

Operational Components

Under the clause to implement non-retail program, the Tenant has

decided to develop outdoor swimming pools within the previously indoor

court, removing the roofing above the pools and framing the parameters The

Tenant has occupied, while maintain-ing accessibility to already established

retailers. With a program of high density, two additional entrances

have been carved from existing retail mass, in anticipation of the increase

of volume and traffic. The storage and indoor facilities now occupy an

abandoned adjacent retailer, propa-gating the diffusion of this internal density throughout the retail mass. The multiplicity of pools at varying

depths and purposes not only allows for easy maintenance, but fosters an

assortment of users.

Retail Rigidity to Programmatic

Diversity

Emphasizing the population of local brands, and non-retail programming

will generate a multiplicity of consum-ers, and evoke a contextual identity

within the mall.

Localized Container

Occupying Internal Central Void Absence of Roof Exposes Interaction Tenant Transforms Exterior Presence

Fragmentation of A Monopoly

Allowing a parking lot to cultivate a suburban farm, instilling an anchor with cultural intent, and transfusing

barren spaces with local programming will allow for the diversity and density

Gruen had originally imagined.

A Heterogeneous Suburban

Landscape

Via these interventions, private ownership over land to communal

ownership, an economic catalyst to a cultural catalyst, and a franchised shopping to local consumerism will

dissolve the monopoly of proprietor-ship, intent, and control, and begin

to fragment the mall into a heteroge-nous suburban landscape.

Resources

Images Cited

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Crawford, Margaret, & Chase, John, & John, Kaliski. (1999). Everyday Urbanism. Cambridge: The Monacelli Press.

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Koolhaas, Rem. (1978). Delirious New York. New York: The Monacelli Press.

Rowe, Colin, & Koetter, Fred. (1978). Collage City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ungers, Oswald, & Vieths, S. (1997). The Dialectical City. Milan: Skira.

Wall, Alex. (2005). Victor Gruen: From Urban Shop to New City. Barcelona: Actar.

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