Woodville Mall, Northwood, Ohio; via <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n Today, about one third of the country\u2019s malls are considered \u201cdead\u201d or \u201cdying,\u201d meaning that at least 40 percent of the stores are vacant. \u201cThe malls died for a reason,\u201d said Ellen Dunham-Jones, an architecture professor at Georgia Tech, \u201cWe were way over-retailed.\u201d As consumers found alternatives to the mall in online shopping and big-box stores, the redundancy of malls was only intensified.<\/p>\n Dixie Square Mall, Harvey, Illinois. You may remember this mall from the hit 1980 movie, \u201cThe Blues Brothers.\u201d It looks quite different today; v<\/i>ia <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n A languishing economy has also played a major role in the decline of malls. In the mid-1990s, malls were being constructed at the rate of 140 per year<\/a> in the United States. Yet in 2007 \u2014 the year before the start of the Great Recession \u2014 no new malls were built at all. This was the first year this happened since the 1950s. Construction has bounced back a bit since then, but not enough to keep pace with closures.<\/p>\n North Towne Square Mall, Toledo, Ohio; via <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Dead malls have their admirers<\/a>. The Facebook group Dead Malls Enthusiasts<\/a> has over 21,000 members. On the Facebook page, members discuss memories of malls gone by. Some users have even created a map that charts the locations of shuttered malls throughout the country. This is an exciting resource for dead-mall tourists, a small but growing demographic.<\/p>\n Map charting the nation\u2019s dead malls, compiled by the members of \u201cDead Malls Enthusiasts\u201d; v<\/i>ia <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n The real draw of the group, however, are the photos. Like other examples of ruin porn, there is a nostalgia factor at work in the appeal of dead-mall photography. The mall is a symbol of suburban American life, and its decline corresponds to a change in lifestyle, as young people are increasingly drawn to urban centers. The idea of a mall as a commercial hub and public gathering space increasingly feels very 20th century.<\/p>\n Randall Park Mall, North Randall, Ohio; via <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Waste is basically built into the idea of malls, which are giant buildings attached to massive parking lots. Unlike the retail space one would find in an urban downtown, malls are not especially flexible. If the shops aren\u2019t being used for retail, it can be difficult to imagine alternate uses for them. This is why vacant malls often stay that way, marring the suburban landscape.<\/p>\n Dixie Square Mall, Harvey, Illinois; via <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Abandoned malls are not just unfortunate from an aesthetic standpoint, social problems often pop up in the wake of a mall\u2019s failure. \u201cWhat happens when a mall begins to deteriorate and no longer functions as a mall?\u201d said Richard Rhodes, the President of Austin Community College in Texas. \u201cIn the surrounding neighborhoods, you begin to see the crime rate increase, other homes and buildings being vacated. The whole community surrounding it begins to deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Rolling Acres Mall, Akron, Ohio; v<\/i>ia <\/i>BuzzFeed<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Mr. Rhodes has a special stake in the fate of malls. For years, the administrative offices of Austin Community College were located in the Highland Mall, which was named one of America\u2019s most endangered malls<\/a> by U.S. News and World Report <\/i>in 2009. By that time, nearly all of the mall\u2019s 1.2 million square feet of interior space was vacant and falling into disrepair. Not a pleasant work environment in the least!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The exterior of the new Highland Mall in Austin, Texas; via <\/i>The Atlantic<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n Austin Community College was faced with a choice: Either vacate the mall and let it wallow or try, somehow, to help bring it back from the brink. The college chose the latter, purchasing the mall outright and converting retail spaces into classrooms and computer labs. The college worked with Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek <\/a>Architects to renovate the space, installing skylights to offset the \u201cbunker\u201d feel so many midcentury malls can have.<\/p>\n Seeing the success of the first wave of improvements, the city of Austin poured another $386 million into the project. Now Austin Community College rents out portions of the building to technology companies and other leasers. The building has been reborn as a dynamic mixed-use office and educational space. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Richard Rhodes has called the new Highland Mall \u201cthe galaxy\u2019s largest learning emporium.\u201d With 200,000 square feet of instructional space, this just might be right; via <\/i>The Atlantic<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cJust since we\u2019ve started construction, we\u2019ve seen the surrounding community improve,\u201d said Rhodes of the renovation. \u201cNew businesses opened up, and vacant businesses have been purchased. It\u2019s turning around the local neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n Englewood CityCenter was built around the old Cinderella Mall; via <\/i>Intercultural Urbanism<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Mall restoration projects are slowly gaining ground around the country and beyond. The Cinderella Mall in Englewood, Colorado \u2014 once the largest mall in the Western U.S. \u2014 has been transformed into Englewood \u201cCityCenter<\/a>,\u201d a complex that includes residences, municipal buildings, a rail station, and even an art museum. If malls once served as \u201cpseudo downtowns\u201d for poorly planned suburban communities, Englewood has shown that with the proper redevelopment scheme, they can be repurposed as the real thing. This is exciting. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Rendering of the redeveloped Oakridge Centre; via <\/i>Daily Hive<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n No mall transformation project is more ambitious than what is in store for Oakridge Centre, a mall located just north of the border, in Vancouver, Canada. This renovation, which is being carried out by a team that includes Henriquez Partners<\/a>, Stantec<\/a> and Gensler<\/a>, involves the construction of tall residential towers on top of the 57-year-old building\u2019s flat roof, which will be fitted with greenery to become a public plaza. The $1.5-billion project will also double the amount of retail space available. This plan shows how, with enough imagination, the humble, sprawling mall can be transformed into the bedrock of a vibrant urban downtown. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Oakridge Centre Mall will become the bedrock of a new downtown; via <\/i>Stantec<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Cover image via <\/i>CNN<\/a>; special thanks to Alana Samuels of the Atlantic for her March 2015 story, <\/i>\u201cA New Life for Dead Malls,\u201d<\/i><\/a>which was an important resource for this piece. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The American shopping mall has always been a symbol of excess. In at least one respect, this reputation is justified: There are far too many of them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"architizer_featured_type":"projects","architizer_featured_image":"1697147","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"architizer_project":[],"architizer_brand":[],"architizer_firm":[9327],"architizer_product":[],"class_list":["post-12055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry","category-inspiration","architizer_firm-txs-industrial-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n