Chad Benoit

Chad Benoit

For these sketches, I emphasized the changes in elevation in the two different shopping areas. I thought it was interesting how while one might imagine an indoor mall to have shopping on multiple levels, the more traditional shopping on Newbury Street actually makes use of shopping on various levels as well. There are the street level shops with entrances at sidewalk level, but there are also shops upstairs from these and often shops below sidewalk level as well. In addition, in both the Copley Place mall and on Newbury Street, there is additional office space located above the retail levels. In the photos that I have also included alongside my sketches, you can see that the mall is characterized by large escalators and a waterfall in the atrium that highlights the enormity of the shopping on its three levels. In comparison, there are certainly no escalators on Newbury Street, and the change in elevation is subtler, the entrances to subterranean shops often hidden behind railings and shrubbery. Storefronts in the mall are large and imposing. For example, you can see that the Barney’s storefront is meant to invoke a sense of elegance and grandeur in the shopper’s mind. In comparison, the shops on Newbury are subtler, often with only a limited square footage of window and floor space to showcase their products.

Overall, I think that both forms of shopping make good use of space by having shopping on multiple levels. However, you can tell that the mall was specifically built with room to showcase lots of advertisements and products in each store whereas on Newbury Street, retailers have to make do with a limited amount of floor and window space to draw the customer in.