Malls are such sad places now.
Barely half the stores have tenants. People sleeping in massage chairs desperately placed in ‘high traffic’ areas.
Like, yeah we need to fix our consumption obsession. But I also have fond memories of hanging out at the mall with friends as a kid.
Plus, when you *do* need a product to solve a problem, it’s great to get hands and eyes on them beyond a screen and a buy button.
I hope we can transform these spaces into something more useful to human beings.
@eric Yeah, living spaces make sense. Although a friend pointed out that the movement to convert all the newly empty downtown office space into residences can be tough in many cases because those buildings were *not* designed with residences in mind.
For example: many office buildings often have few, sometimes zero bathrooms on a floor (maybe just old bldgs?). Which means *zero plumbing was run to that floor,* never mind all the potential converted units.
Sounds like a tough problem to solve.
@chartier Good point about office building conversions and bathrooms. I remember working downtown and using bathrooms on different floors.
However, I think each store in the mall has their own bathroom. I could see a store front being a luxury residence. Old anchor store buildings would be subdivided and there’s probably enough space to run all sorts of infrastructure to support multiple units. Windows would be a problem though. Maybe just cut a hole in the middle for a courtyard.
David Chartier
Eric Abando