To view commercial aspects as a tiresome appendage, however, would be an elitist misapprehension.
A typology of shop architecture is closely bound up with the historical development of trade. Successful trade required a central location and thus played a significant role in the process of urbanization. Cities frequently developed at the intersection of trade routes and at river bridging points, for example. The marketplace itself, the central trading venue, thus became the nucleus of civic growth, around which other important urban functions were grouped.
For a long time, the standard market hall had a three-bay layout, with lower side tracts and a taller central bay that ensured natural lighting through clerestory windows. This type reached its apogee in the 19th century, with the creation of many variant forms. Developments in the field of building technology, together with the growth of cities, led to the creation of large-scale central halls like Les Halles in Paris or the livestock halls in many European and American cities. All these types pro-vided good natural lighting and ventilation. The fact that these functions could later be achieved by technical means was one reason why the multi-bay cross-section was superceded by structures with simple double-pitched roofs or by flat-roofed box-like forms.
The basic unit of trading is the shop, but with the introduction of modern sales techniques, the traditional shop as a general type has slowly been displaced, and the dividing counter between serving staff and customer has largely disappeared. The principle of person-to-person service is now found mainly in upmarket and specialist sales venues. Today, customers move freely about shops, where they are subject to various suggestive influences, such as the architectural design, coloration, advertising, etc. The entrance should be broad, readily identifiable, well-lit and inviting in order to allay any fears on the part of customers. Only in the luxury sector is this principle reversed. Hans Hollein’s candle shop in Vienna (1965) – now converted into a jeweller’s shop – is a striking example of this (ill. 1).
Visual distractions are minimized in sales areas. Internal lighting, for example, should be perceived for its effect, while its source should remain unnoticed.
Although big product names may be adequately represented through general sales outlets, they are increasingly opening their own branches as well to cultivate a brand image. In such cases, the architect’s role may be simply to create a corporate identity through the finishings and fittings. A special form of this type is the so-called “flagship store” in major cities, where firms seek to make their own architectural mark and where the actual sale of goods may be of only secondary consideration. OMA/AMO has developed a conceptual, high-end variation on this theme for Prada (see page 172). The name “epicentre” chosen for these shops suggests the desired effect: making a concentrated media impact in locations of high intensity. The arcade, which had its origins in early property speculation and increasing consumption in society, and which became an important building type in the 19th century, allows a profitable use of the hitherto inaccessible interiors of street blocks. It reduces the length of inner-city routes; it provides protection against the weather; and it furthers private control of public space. Structures of this kind were usually the location of specialist trades. Ideally, an arcade should link two heavily frequented city-centre zones, drawing passing trade into the block. Trade is confined to the ground floor level, with an occasional use of the first floor.
As this type developed, the functional aspect of passing through the arcade receded behind the organized act of lingering within it, in response to which, the central hall type evolved, often with an ample dome. A fine example of this form of construction is the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (1877) (ill. 5).
Today, the arcade has become a relevant concept again. Modern arcades usually occupy fashionable inner-city locations and contain mainly upmarket sales venues. In the Kö Gallery in Düsseldorf (1986), the ambience is enhanced by gleaming metal finishes and opulent artificial lighting. A modern translation of this theme in a minimalist form may be found in the Five-Courts development in Munich by Herzog & de Meuron (page 182), although the scheme is something of an exception in that the courtyards are open to the sky.
The rise of the large department store in the 19th century was based on changing trading habits – a shift to fixed prices, ready-made products and lower profit margins as a means of boosting mass consumption. Another important factor was the advent of informal shopping without obligation, largely in a self-service form. In the course of time, department stores became the venue of staged experiences, with light wells, domed halls and a certain degree of pomp. Good access and circulation were vital, which meant that the staircases were among the most important design elements. From the mid-19th century onwards, some fine examples of this type were created in Paris, such as Au Bon Marché (1854). In Germany, Alfred Messel built a store for Wertheim in Berlin in 1894; and in 1900 in the same city, Bernhard Sehring designed the Tietz store (ill. 11) with a sensational planar glass facade that is still of great constructional interest today.
In its classical form, the department store continues to flourish, offering either a wide range of products or specializing in a single type of ware – usually clothing or textiles. The minimum floor area is around 3,000 m2, although that is economically scarcely viable. High property prices have forced cheaper stores like Woolworth’s to withdraw from central locations, while the surviving stores have concentrated mainly on goods of higher price and quality. The growth of urban department stores has been braked by competition from self-service stores on the periphery of towns.
Special mention should be made of department store facades. Whether they are open or closed, natural lighting and contact with the outside world are usually carefully avoided so as not to distract the attention of customers from the goods on sale. The large areas of glazing to the Tietz store mentioned above were blocked off internally with furnishings and other installations and served only as display windows. In this respect, the closed facade of the Horten store by Egon Eiermann is more honest. This concept was used by various architects for other branches and became part of the corporate identity of the concern. In contrast, Jean Nouvel designed a transparent, glazed building for the Galerie Lafayette in Berlin (1996), although here again, the sales areas are located on the inside behind a strip of external offices (ills. 8, 9).
The dogma of screening off the interior has its exceptions, of course, especially in more recent projects such as the Peek + Cloppenburg clothing store, where glazed areas of the facade are used for the presentation of wares and also allow natural lighting and views out. Daylighting, of course, allows a better assessment of colours, and the clothing concern has heightened its profile further by hiring international star architects like Richard Meier and Renzo Piano.
After realizing its store in Birmingham with Future Systems (page 200), the British Selfridges group has secured the services of Toyo Ito for its Glasgow development. In such cases, the architecture becomes part of a strategy of global marketing.
Personal mobility has accelerated the process of suburbanization. The importance of centrality is waning, although considerable differ-ences exist between various countries in Europe, partly as a result of the Second World War. In Germany, a modernization of many city centres took place, in the course of which large areas were made available for trade. In France on the other hand, the intact historical urban centres provided little scope for expansion of that kind. This has led to the creation of suburban agglomerations. Department store chains have expanded in Germany, whereas in France, the supermarket concerns are more dominant. In contrast to the classical arcade, customers may not be allowed simply to pass through this type of development. Their interest has to be captured. This is achieved through a mixture of functions and a differentiation of rents. For investors, the so-called “anchor tenants” are important – often a big clothing firm combined with an electrical discount company and complemented perhaps by a food market.
The term “shopping mall” is used for developments of 10,000 m2 and more in area. The average size is, in fact, between 22,000 and 25,000 m2. Malls are unlikely to be more than three storeys high, since a strong magnet is required to attract shoppers to storeys above ground level. Shopping centres are subject to strict rules in terms of their internal organization, and the central management will have far-reaching powers in respect of opening hours, advertising, the combination of tenants, protection against competition, etc.
The so-called “theme centre” is a special form of shopping centre, in which the range of services is restricted to a common area of trade. Although this kind of complex may be identified as a distinct building type – usually a compact structure of greater height on a tight inner-city site – the actual theme is not always clearly recognizable. For example, the common element of the Sevens centre in Düssel-dorf may be vaguely defined as “upmarket”. The Haas building in Vienna (1990) by Hans Hollein (ill. 10) was abandoned as a theme centre within a decade and restructured. In both examples, one recognizes a high degree of architectural mise en scène. The buildings of the stilwerk concern – based on the theme of furnishings – are a special example of this type in which an attempt is made to achieve a critical mass that will stimulate the public to visit even secondary locations. The structure is in the form of a multi-storey central space, but without escalators.
Shopping centres and their various hybrid forms are a growth sector and present a potential threat to department stores as well as an unresolved conflict for modern city centres. On the one hand, they act as public magnets in urban pedestrian zones; on the other hand, with their professional management, they draw the better chain stores out of individually rented premises into their malls, resulting in empty buildings and the visual decline of city centres. The redesign of Leipzig main station, for example, resulted in the largest continuous sales area in the inner city (ill. 12). Generally speaking, the integration of leisure and entertainment facilities is a positive factor that helps to fill the upper floors.
The concept of the supermarket, with its origins in the classical self-service food store, has expanded to include a wide range of special types. In the food-market sector, 400 m2 would seem to be the minimum area for this designation.
The hypermarket, with a minimum sales area of 1,500 m2, is the standard type of a food store with car access. The next stage beyond this is the large self-service department store with an assortment of food and non-food products at lower or medium price level and usually with a sales area of at least 5,000 m2. This type is commonly housed in large individual structures outside the urban centres.
Architecturally, the main functional requirements are confined to the creation of uninterrupted spaces with economical facades and simple roof structures – sometimes of great structural depth. There is usually a visual opening in the entrance facade, where the checkout points are also situated, with parking areas in front of this.
In conclusion, one can recognize two significant phenomena in the architectural development of buildings for shopping and trade today. One is the increasing importance of brand names, as described above, which has led in some department stores to the replacement of continuous, large-area displays by shop-in-shop landscapes or by individual shops in shopping centres. Here, the activity of shopping is dramatized to a special event. The second phenomenon is the increasing centralization of trade in different kinds of shopping centres, resulting in a de facto privatization of what was formerly the public realm.
Many modern cities suffer from the withdrawal of pedestrians from shopping zones into malls and the loss of urban intensity to which this leads. The strategies of powerful marketing concerns and developers need to be balanced by responsible urban planning, therefore, to ensure the good functioning and viability of our city centres.
