Nina Hooper

Nina Hooper

My journey began, as prescribed, at the entrance of Copley Place Mall on the corner of Dartmouth and Stuart streets. I found the two horse statues at the entrance to the Copley Place to be an interesting symbol. Almost as if they were regal gate keepers, these horses are the first indication of something artificial and curated. The shape of horses are easily recognisable, yet they are made from what looks like scrunched-up sheets of metal. Similarly, the shopping mall itself is made from very different materials than you would find in the make-up of a shopping street, yet they are recognisably similar. One inside, visitors are immediately elevated off from the street level by two sets of escalators into the main hall of Copley Place. The stores are all beautiful, expensive and big. There is an indoor garden at the center of the main hall, creating the sense of an oasis within an otherwise artifical space. Everything is polished and shiny from the floors to the windows to the sunglasses, shoes and jewels in the store-front windows. The last store at the end of the hall is Tiffany’s Exiting the main hall, vistors are funneled down an escaltor and towards the pedestrian bridge leading into the Prudential Center shopping mall. Significantly less elegant, the Prudential Center mall has a collection of stores of a lower calibre. The Prudential Center mall contains more advertising banners and more small stalls in the middle of the walk way, especially with Boston and Harvard/MIT merchandise. Newbury street is amongst the most glamorous streets in Boston. Notwithstanding, there are clear physical differences between the cultivated interior of the Copley Shopping mall, with it’s two levels and marble-tiled floors, and Newbury street, flat and made of concrete. Starting from the Boston Common end of Newbury street, the first stores we encounter are Burberry and Tiffany’s. It’s interesting that Tiffany’s is located at the end/beginning of both Newbury street and Copley place, I wonder if this was intentional. The high calibre of stores continues as you move down the street, however stores begin to be interspersed with cafes and eateries. Past Dartmouth street, there are significantly fewer luxury stores. Instead, stores like Forever 21 and Urban outfitters become more common. This is similar to the transition between Copley Place and the Prudential Center mall. One of the most significant differences between Copley Place/Prudential Center mall and Newbury street is the signage and advertising. Being a privately owned space, the mall is able to sell advertising space on walls, and free standing signs, directing customers towards particular stores which otherwise look fairly simlar from the exterior due to the uniform style of the buildings’ interiors. As a private space, Newbury has little to no advertising and the buildings vary stylistically. There are many more observations to be made, but I elected to represent my experience of the two spaces as a 3D rendered maps accompanied by a perspective drawing of each of the spaces, highlighting the difference in the walking passage and visuals of each space.