Adam Oh

Adam Oh

Having visited both Newbury and Copley/Prudential shopping centers, I was most surprised by the difference of the vibes that these two places gave. In the Newbury’s shops/street, we notice that it has a more homey feeling due to the linear building of shops. All of the shops are accessible on the first floor whether. Another difference of the newbury shops that I found interesting was the outside sitting spaces provided by each of the shops. There were tiny patios made of brick which also made the viewer feel more comfortable because of the familiar brick structure. Along the top of the shops were residential buildings which contributed to the more at home feel. The wider streets also gave a feeling of openness and the natural light from the outside really made the shops on newbury more attractive and feel very homogeneous. Upon entry into Newbury St., you feel like you have entered a residential neighborhood rather than a commercial district. However, the owners of stores replicate the feeling of a commercial district by providing signs for their stores that really pop at you. The shops at Prudential had some similar things as Newbury such as the incorporation of natural lighting and lots of plants. I noticed that there were a lot of windows that let natural light flow through along with attempted greenery with artificial plants. However, one thing that really stuck out as a difference was the starkness of the shopping mall. The choice of white along with the narrow corridors and lack of sitting spaces made everything very “in your face”. The mall also felt very disjointed with very a different feeling as you step into a different part of the mall. Another theme that I noticed was that the mall was very vertically structured whereas the newbury shops were horizontal. This vertical architecture gave off a sense of grandeur and an elitist aura. The last difference that stuck out was the quality of stores in each location. While Newbury had more stores that were for the everyday customer such as smoke shops, convenience stores, etc., the shops at prudential were more high end clothing and accessory stores.