Robert York

Robert York

The shopping malls of Copley Place and the Prudential Center are very focused on aesthetics as a part of the experience. The area is bright, clean, and certainly not made of cheap materials. As shown in the sketch, the malls have a definite flow to them through large corridors, with smaller walkways branching off to stores and other amenities. There are many changes in elevation throughout the long chain of malls, most of which take visitors to higher elevations allowing for better views of the city when looking outside (including the pedestrian bridges). The malls act mostly as a location for people to shop, but there are also many restaurants and larger social areas for leisure, rather than just walking from store to store. The entrances to the mall sit back further from the street and are made to look grand, and demand a stronger presence on the streets of Boston. While my sketch only shows the large main corridors of the malls, the configuration seems to be main walkways lined with stores, punctuated by larger social gathering areas, restaurants, and cafes. This configuration allows for a balance between the fast paced consumers and those who go there to relax and be social.

Newbury Street has a few characteristics that reveal its commercial nature. First of all, unlike the residential buildings along the streets of Boston, the first 1-2 floors of the buildings on Newbury are occupied by stores, mostly with a lot of glass to allow window shopping and to display their inventory. There are also small sitting areas outside of many of the buildings, giving pedestrians and consumers a place to sit, relax, and socialize while still being within the commercial space. Another characteristic is the the sidewalks are much wider than many other streets, allowing for the increased foot traffic that a commercial space would have. Like the stores in Copley Place, the window displays in the shops on Newbury are meant to draw people in, and the close proximity of all the stores replicates the dense nature of a shopping mall. Newbury Street is a part of the larger grid that makes up much of Boston, allowing for easy access from many locations.