Enclosed malls may be on the way out, but their structures aren’t going anywhere. A new report from The Atlantic details how creative developers are turning malls that were once filled with shoppers into medical centers, elementary schools, colleges, and churches.
The report cites research by architect and Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones which shows that approximately one-third of the country’s 1,200 enclosed malls are “dead or dying” due to the overbuilding done by developers in the 20th century.
The good news is that a sizable portion of that building stock is being repurposed. According to Dunham-Jones, who maintains a database of mall retrofit projects across the country, there are 211 enclosed malls currently being retrofitted in some form or fashion, reports The Atlantic.
One of those projects is the Highland Mall in Austin, Texas, where developers transformed the structure into a mixed-use community education center after it was purchased by Austin Community College. Now, with the help of Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects, the once derelict mall is a thriving operation, with 604 computer stations, 200,000 sf of instructional space, a library, and offices.
In September 2014, BD+C reported on one of the nation’s most successful mall conversion projects, the Vanderbilt Medical Center at One Hundred Oaks Mall, which transformed a former 1960s-era indoor shopping mall in Nashville, Tenn., into a 880,000-sf, mixed-use medical office center for Vanderbilt University.
Related Stories
| Jul 15, 2014
A look into the history of modular construction
Modular construction is more than a century old, and throughout its lifespan, the methods have been readapted to meet specific needs of different eras.
| Jul 14, 2014
Meet the bamboo-tent hotel that can grow
Beijing-based design cooperative Penda designed a bamboo hotel that can easily expand vertically or horizontally.
| Jul 14, 2014
Foster + Partners unveils triple-glazed tower for RMK headquarters
The London-based firm unveiled plans for the Russian Copper Company's headquarters in Yekaterinburg.
| Jul 11, 2014
First look: Jeanne Gang reinterprets San Francisco Bay windows in new skyscraper scheme
Chicago architect Jeanne Gang has designed a 40-story residential building in San Francisco that is inspired by the city's omnipresent bay windows.
| Jul 10, 2014
Berkeley Lab opens 'world's most comprehensive building efficiency simulator'
DOE’s new FLEXLAB is a first-of-its-kind simulator that lets users test energy-efficient building systems individually or as an integrated system, under real-world conditions.
| Jul 9, 2014
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. adds Nicholas Sandersfeld as Director of Business Development to newly opened San Jose office
California's largest general building contractor just opened up an office in San Jose, and named Nicholas Sandersfeld as the new Director of Business Development.
| Jul 9, 2014
Top U.S. cities for design professionals
Though New York and Los Angeles are often seen as the sole hubs for design jobs, other design epicenters are scattered between the coasts.
| Jul 9, 2014
First Look: SOM's design for All Aboard Florida Fort Lauderdale rail station
The lightweight and luminous design "responds to its setting and creates a striking infrastructural icon for the city," said SOM Design Partner Roger Duffy.
| Jul 8, 2014
Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?
After being criticized for the cost and size of her stadium design for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese architect points out a major design flaw in the stadium that may endanger the spectators.
| Jul 8, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo
Eighty-seven years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed an ornamental gas station for the city of Buffalo, the structure has been built and opened to the public—inside an auto museum.
