Scarlett Yin

Scarlett Yin

Interior v.s Exterior

The Prudential Center is a complex that decorates the interior as exterior. Glass ceilings, tropical trees and roof gardens all yield a sense of organic nature within the artificial world. The glass ceiling is especially interesting for a shopping mall because normally owners wouldn't want customers to notice the time in reality so as to immerse themselves more (and spend more money) in the mall-world. On the other hand, shops along Newbury Street are mansions whose design has a clear boundary between interior and exterior: roof is not transparent, plants are outside, streetwalkers see only models in the window but no further into the shop, etc.

Social Boundary: Top v.s Down

The Prudential Center uses height and levitation to delineate the unspoken "class." I circled three levitation - one elevator at the Boylston gate next to Gucci store, one staircase to luxury store Saks Fifth Ave, one gateway to premier cuisine Top of the Hub - in red circles. These design partition social boundaries. The Newbury shops, on the contrary, focus on digging down. A typical shop would have a basement level that serves as a bar, a restaurant, or a bookstore. In line with these mansions' essence as "private territory", Newbury shops deliver a sense of social intimacy.

Function Boundary: Mixed v.s Single

The Prudential Center mixes a variety of clothing, lifestyle, restaurant and entertainment places organically in its floor plan. They also have little cart selling cellphone cases, hats and local souvenirs in the center of the pathways. There are also resting seats and open snack/dessert space scattered in public area. The Newbury shop, restricted by its much smaller room, endorses one function to one space - for example, clothing shop on the first floor and bar in basement. On the other hand, The Prudential Center restricts all staff area to the customers, while at a Newbury shop, customers see or even interact in the office area. This brings the notion that the Prudential Center (and shopping malls in general) is a "stage" where every shop on set is trying to create a compound experience, ideally a virtual reality. Customers are invited to the virtual reality by the design itself; other customers are also merely experiencers. The Newbury shop (and other street-side shops) gives customers more free will and independence as they browse in-and-out hopping different stores; the design itself is not as seamless and coherent as in the shopping mall. Yet in this case, it is the pedestrians that are coming and going on the street serve as "actors" that complete this commercial experience.