Life Cycle: Produce Consume Dispose

This is a project which focuses on public space typologies. There was a speculation on new typologies of public space through an exploration of how national retail chains aggregate to make space in the city, including how they brand and give cultural identity to the public realm.
More appropriate models for these retail aggregates in urban contexts were explored as well as new supplementary programs and operations that might piggy-back or co-exist with these retail establishments to create expanded nodes for public occupation.
The case study site that is used is Old Town Square, a retail development at the intersection of Division, Clybourn, and Orleans Streets in the Cabrini Green neighborhood. The existing mall was built about 6 years ago and is best described as a suburban typology that was transposed to the city, a phenomenon that is increasingly common in other parts of Chicago.
The following is an observation to the current standing and trend in urban areas of urban suburbanization.

The following images show a response to this suburbanization of the city, and an exploration of new opportunities for public territory that can be possible by alternative typologies of public retail space. The ideas that were taken into consideration are: The change that occurs in the transposition of a particular typology from one context to another, The cross-breeding of spatial and programming attributes of these franchise corporations into spatial synergies, The economic power of these corporations to fiance new public initiatives at specific locations, The increasing rose of retail franchises in branding, programming and cultural organization of the public realm, The adoption of sustainable strategies for retail zones in an urban context (density, environmental, etc.), and Ways in which these retail zones could become more place specific (less generic).