Drisana Mosaphir

Drisana Mosaphir

One feature of Copley Place that I found interesting was the instinct to mirror the layout of outdoor places. The signs that functioned almost as outdoor directional signs, as well as the fact that seating areas within the mall almost mirrored the outside gathering square, seemed to want to emulate avenues/an outdoor shopping experience recast in a more luxurious set of materials. Further, the main difference was that the seating areas were slightly more desolate/empty, and some were located just within the entrance doors but below the stairs one would need to take to get up, leading not as many people to be gathered there to socialize as were found in the square outside and across from the large T station. Since a security guard was sitting right by the entrance, it is evident that this was not as much of an “open” social space.
The space on Newbury St. that I chose to focus on was a “hidden” passageway between Newbury and another street that displayed a mixture of shops with a large church building. There seemed to be an intentional effort to blend the styles of the shop buildings with the more historic appearance of the church, as well as to create a quieter brick alleyway to the next row of shops. This seemed to simulate the experience of a “mall” while at the same time being different in that there was intentional effort to blend the shopping areas with the existing cityscape.