Unwrapped

Concept

A Mall Facade Renovation​
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Typical malls rely on signage to tell what is inside. This facade gets unwrapped to reflect and show the inside. Through this mirrored view, every store gets a storefront, adding value to the underutilized top floors, and connecting the urban fabric to the depths of the mall.

The plaza is the largest and most public room a community has. Plac Grunwaldzki fills this role of community center, but can seem too large. The mirror facade reflects the plaza, doubling the amount of apparent users, and enhances opportunities to see and be seen. The mirror gives a spectacle to gather around and when visitors recall their experience at the mall, they will think of their own reflection.

The quiet back of the mall consists of the library back yard and middle school yard. These smaller gathering spaces are similarly reflected onto the facade turning these left over spaces into stages.

Peeling the facade away on the ground floor gives many street entries to shops, which then have access to more shops deeper into the mall. Since these shops now have two front entries, the storage spaces run along the side walls. These entries allow shops and cafés to spill onto the street.

The two mirrors are angled to reflect storefronts on to different parts of the sidewalk, so the pedestrian always gets a view to the inside. Sidewalk paving is altered to mark the bike path, which is protected by a series of bioswales, which act as a noise and physical barriers to the sidewalk, as well as a way to manage stormwater and snowmelt.

Ruukki mirrored panels reflect views when facing the street and transition to a matte white finish using a frit gradient when the facade peels up, creating a light shelf bringing natural light deeper into the mall.

Mirrors peel up for window shopping

Mirrors peel down for people watching