MUNICH.- The exhibition »World of Malls« explores an architectural type that arose in the 20th century and radically influenced the character of many cities. The shopping mall, first developed around sixty years ago in the USA, quickly evolved into a global phenomenon with millions of users. Although its positive and negative influence has for decades been discussed by urban planners, sociologists, and psychologists, the architecture of the mall has for the most part been regarded as a peripheral issue. Using 23 international projects as case studies, this exhibition examines important stages in the architectural development of the shopping mall, as well as the future prospects of the building type.

The original idea behind the shopping mall was to incorporate the model of European town centres with their rows of shops into the rapidly growing American suburbs. As malls developed, however, a new concept arose that functioned as a self-contained economic product: the mall designed and run by a developer. From the beginning, architects in particular criticized the often standardized design of shopping malls. At the same time, however, prominent architects from Victor Gruen and Jon Jerde to contemporary celebrity architects like Norman Foster and David Adjaye have repeatedly had a hand in transforming the building type.

The shopping mall is also a very dynamic and flexible building type. In the course of the past decades both the form of the mall and its function have changed. While its primary function sixty years ago was commercial, the importance of the overall experience of visiting a mall gradually took precedence. Its relationship to the urban context has also changed significantly in past years, leading to completely new variations on the type. Today the mall is frequently placed in an entire urban district, in which residential areas and public services play an important role. With these new offerings private investors increasingly take on responsibility for the development of a city, for better or for worse. A new examination of the architecture of the shopping mall is thus imperative, even if the mall itself remains a commercial product.

Like the high-rise or the football stadium, the shopping mall presents a type of architecture in which numerous people from a wide variety of social strata can gather. Despite this, no large exhibition on the subject has yet been produced. »World of Malls« presents the diverse lines of development and future perspectives of the shopping mall. The exhibition design, conceived by StiftungFREIZEIT (Inés Aubert, Rubén Jodár and Katharina Schmans), takes on a special role in conveying content, as it leads the visitor through a different reality. The presentation of a ‘beautiful appearance’—a central theme of the mall—is transformed and alienated here in the context of the museum.

The comprehensive catalogue (256 pages, 200 images, €49.80) published by Hatje Cantz contains scholarly contributions from American and European authors examining the history and current development of the shopping mall.