Old bringing in the new

Architects are wondering whether in Warsaw, Kiev, Paris and Bucharest, all modern shopping centres will look the same. So how should they be designed and built to encourage the citizens of the so-called emerging markets to part with their cash?

Retail developers are entering Central and East European countries with increasing verve and enthusiasm. The Romanian and Bulgarian markets, as is also the case with Ukraine and Russia, are, admittedly, still toddlers; but nevertheless, they are proving to be magnets for investment and are rapidly catching up with Poland.

 Aleksandra Zentile-Miller, director of Chapman Taylor, remarks that: “The shopping centres opening in this part of Europe are often more attractive and better designed than those in Western Europe. One could even claim that ‘old Europe’ looks with interest at retail projects in the ‘new Europe’. She stresses that it is unimportant in which part of Europe a shopping centre is to be, since business for developers and investors will always remain business – and every shopping centre is considered through the lens of the profit generated.

Inventing gunpowder

 When designing shopping centres, architects thus rely on their international experience and the own knowledge they have accumulated down the years.

Witold Gilewicz, board member of the Kraków-based IMB Asymetria architectural studio, says: “Just as it is impossible to design a church with its main altar at the side of the building, it is also not possible to design a shopping centre contrary to its logical function. My experience is that the third generation shopping centre standard now being adopted all over the world is also being warmly accepted in the Ukraine, for instance”. He also highlights the range of new projects to be found in Europe’s developing markets.

He adds that: “Every project needs to be viewed from the perspective of its location; although, for example, an eastern European trend is to develop larger premises. What investors expect are splendid shopping centres boasting contemporary architecture.” Witold Gilewicz mentions the newly-built centres in Moscow which were created to resemble the surrounding historical architecture, in a kind of pastiche. This Kraków architect is of the opinion that what is needed is to skilfully integrate a design into its surroundings by referring subtly to local trends. This is the real challenge: to design centres that complement the local architecture without being a carbon copy of it.

Aleksandra Zentile-Miller takes a wider look at the market and the size of shopping centres. She points out that in the 1980s a typical shopping centre in Western Europe was around 15,000 sqm. Today, increasingly large malls are being designed and built, and in the Russian and Ukrainian markets real business starts from around 100,000 sqm. She stresses that: “Increasing the size of a shopping centre and providing a wider range of products for customers, is a way of enhancing its attractiveness, and a way of beating the competition.”

Cinema needed

 Having good and varied entertainment on offer, as a means of attracting and keeping customers for the longer term, is another very effective weapon in the arsenal of a developer’s ideas. This is not an absolute necessity, especially as it is far from being the most profitable part of the business, and there are examples of Western European shopping centres without any entertainment provision that have proved that they can nevertheless prosper very well.

“Cultural differences should be taken into consideration when designing a shopping centre’s catering section. The French are not too keen on the ‘food court’ concept in shopping centres, preferring to eat in restaurants, bistros or to sit outside in cafés; the Spanish don’t have dinner before 9.00 pm, while KFC and McDonalds fast-food are still the craze in ‘new Europe’. Such a ‘westward longing’ is also reflected in the architecture.

Bitter winter

 The climate may also influence the appearance of a shopping centre. On the one hand there are centres that are more open-air and aspire to emulate town squares – such as the Apsys Manufaktura centre in Łódź, which revitalized Ewa Andrzejewska