Pearly Kim

Pearly Kim

Copley, Prudential Center, and Newbury Street are all popular commercial spaces in close proximity. However, by virtue of some being an indoors shopping space and the other being an outdoor shopping space, the problems each commercial space have to address and the images they try portray to the customers are different. The Copley and Prudential Center malls are obviously separate buildings, but the general theme that prevails throughout is shared. First, the shopping areas of Copley and Prudential are within an enclosed building; there is even an enclosed walkway connecting Copley to Prudential Center. However, despite its limiting nature as an enclosed space, these two shopping centers make every effort to convince the customers otherwise: that the shopping center is open and “infinite” in space. To start off with the most obvious, both buildings have large entrances, wide corridors, long hallways, and high ceilings to emphasize the magnitude of space inside the building. There are often openings in between different floors that further the effect of high ceilings. However, the key element for this illusion of infinite space is windows, especially those as ceilings. By allowing a view of the blue sky from above, the building takes the vertical expansion to the next level; its limit only being the sky. The enclosed shopping spaces want to keep the customers inside for as long as possible because the longer they stay, the more they spend. In order to do that, they must make sure that their customers do not feel confined or restricted inside.

Newbury Street is also a commercial space, as it is clearly shown through a similar emphasis on item displays and shop names, along with the side-by-side layout of shops that makes it convenient for the customers. But in Newbury Street, efforts to keep the customers by making the space look open are useless: it IS already in open space. In fact, it is even unclear where Newbury Street starts and ends, and the street is just a part of the surrounding city—if there is no definite barrier, it is impossible to try to keep people inside it. Therefore mobility along Newbury Street seems greater than that of the shopping malls, giving a more bustling feeling with greater variety of crowd: parents with strollers, people walking the dog and so on. This lively feeling is juxtaposed with the small red-brick buildings along either side of Newbury Street, each holding its own shops while making sure that the buildings are not too tall to block the view to the blue sky. This earthy color in Newbury Street creates a friendlier atmosphere.

In contrast, Copley and Prudential Center maintain a “high-end” look of elegance and classicism with the use of light and color. Windows not only help create the illusion of expanding space, but also let in lots of natural light. This natural light works along with artificial lighting ubiquitously present inside to illuminate the whole complex, particularly the products on display and the brand names of each shop—the two most attention-requiring objects for high sales number. But sales, although important, is not the only aspect light plays into. The brightness across the entire shopping complex adds to the glamour of malls, giving it the prestigious look. In addition, setting aside the colors of each shop, the overall interior of the buildings are white. White, a color symbolic of classism, makes the building look clean and graceful.