Civic Significance of Mall Spaces What’s Next?

Further along in our process, we hosted a design workshop at the OMA Office in Hong Kong. We began by recreating the same survey given to strangers in mall spaces, and then opened up the floor for discussion. Drawing in 15 architectural designers from around the world, the event produced a dynamic discussion exposing their professional and personal opinions and experiences regarding retail public spaces in Hong Kong.

“Government ownership doesn’t equate public” - Yuan Zhang, China “There’s a tradeoff between maintenance and control” - Paloma Bule, Spain “I never look forward to being in a mall

space here” - Connor Sullivan, USA

“Can these spaces be considered public? A 24h passage doesn’t make something a public space” - John Thurtle, USA

“In HK there’s also the commodification of outdoor spaces, every week Victoria Park has another paid event” - John Thurtle

“In Europe the mall is actually just the - Xaveer Roodbeen, Netherlands “We have malls in Italy, but they are day trips, outside of the city”

city streets, it’s not contained” - Giuseppe Bandieramonte, Italy

“In Indonesia the government is unreliable, so there is safety within the mall” - Felicia Gambino, Indonesia

“Malls in China reflect the Chinese desire for security in public spaces” - Meng Huang, China

“Malls project different class structures, even with protests, for instance police never entered Pacific Place” - Adrian Wong, Hong Kong

“When designing malls you want to put the cultural activities in the middle to draw people in” - Patrizia Zobernig, Austria