Effective Elements and Interior Typologies in The Public Space Construction of Shopping Centers

Abstract

Shopping centres, which are urban public spaces, support environments where different groups living in the city can be together and symbolize their power. These environments, which respond differently to today’s sociality and daily life, affect the awareness of publicity and direct the formation of physical architecture and social space. While the urban model setup is used against the problem of large-scale building solution under a single roof/cover in shopping malls, it brings together the urban spaces scattered in the city and gives the human communication/interaction process with entertainment culture. The discourse of being an alternative to the city centre, which brings people together, connects time and space, and intertwines activities that vary, prevails in shopping centre designs. In this study, the differentiated interior plan types of shopping malls in Turkey are extracted in the physical context with the spatial analysis, and the intensity of use and supported objects/elements specific to the focus spaces are determined. In the social context, the spatial continuity of the existing public space phenomenon in the city in the common use areas (foci) of shopping centres is evaluated through subjective perception. Beyond similar architectural examples with the effect of globalization and consumption habits, different interior typologies are shown for the designs of new shopping centres, and the effective elements of publicity fiction are discussed.