CLIENT
Alvores
LOCATION
Jaén, Spain
CATEGORY
Retail
VISUALS
The Visual Plan
PARTNERS
RDT engineering, Fhecor structural & COT+Partners
FURNITURE
Pedrali, Sancal & Contain
A shopping center has been conceived since its beginnings as an agglomeration of businesses or premises generating a commercial attraction to attract a greater number of potential buyers complementing each other and being a space in which to “SPEND” much of our time. In them the main element was the premises that made up the center.
As architectural concepts have been appearing and growing so have the use we make of spaces, that is why the stereotypes of shopping centers have been breaking; they are no longer static and rigid spaces, but synergistic spaces have been created in them. Jaén Plaza reinforces these paradigms through a new spatial organization as a mesh matrix, in which the new spaces that are generated between commercial content acquire greater relevance with social appeal, The new shopping centers are large varied spaces full of activities and life to be able to “INVEST” our time.
THE RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL CONNECTIONS AND THE INFLUENCE ON SPACE
We want to delve into what matters most within our buildings, people and their social interactions. The design must then be understood to be by and for the user, seeking to generate spaces that represent them and where they identify with who they are and the society to which they belong.
According to these bases a dispersion of commercial content is proposed in a cloud of points, thus allowing to give a greater value to the spaces between them allowing a total opening to the context both physically and conceptually.
What were previously grey areas/intermediate spaces without any use or active claim become the new links within this metabolism that is understood by the contemporary shopping center. Experiential connections are generated between particles.
HYBRIDIZING THE MODEL
Finally, each particle-event is catalogued in the parameters of scale, use, impact, landscape, among others. We propose a radically diverse map of uses to generate a rich and genuine metabolism.
We developed a new concept based on a new philosophy of space. It performs a work of abstraction of these, dispersing the contents of the commercial space in a cloud of points. With this organization we value the intermediate space, a dynamic negative space with high porosity that allows to be totally open to the physical and conceptual context.
Jaén Plaza is one more organism, which establishes relations with its occupants, reaching interactions with different complexities, in which it gives and receives in different proportions; proof of this is the variety of spaces and activities offered in the center.
BREAKING THE STEREOTYPE
The porosity of the entrances, facades and intermediate spaces reinforces the node concept, breaking stereotypes and reinforcing the paradigms of the new commercial hybrid spaces.
We have to passed away from closed off box to experiential mesh. The Retail sector faces a need to changes the paradigm, in order to attract the younger generations, sceptical of the current, large scale retail model. If the offer of the traditional mall is similar or even less attractive to that online or in more centrally located areas, is time to reinvent it.
agora //: concept
from lat. hac hora ‘in this time’.
The agora is an arcaded enclosure that occupies the center of the city-state, conceived in an innovative way for public use. It is the heart of the city, a typical place to meet, trade and discuss business, philosophy or politics.
It is the evolution of this classic concept to this day that makes us aware that the need to socialize people has always been the fundamental motor of any society, so this concept must be present in the reimagination of the operation of the shopping center Jaén Plaza as a new social center, the place where we meet.
The importance of the Agora, in this sense, lies precisely in the fact that it is constituted as a space of interaction and social exchange and nerve center of urban life in the city.
We managed to adapt Jaén Plaza in such a way that the entrance squares to the building become large nodes of concentration and agglomeration, dynamic that is reflected and filtered in the interior space through a strategy of functional and complete distribution, which uses the usual gray spaces between premises to generate areas of interest and meeting.
We understand the importance of each area and the spaces that surround them and are between them, but it is not until everyone begins to understand themselves as part of the same system that we do not reach the concept of metabolism that characterizes this project, is not a physical relationship but symbiotic with the user, this one is looking for an experience with which to interact, this node forms the perfect structure to break with the traditional shopping center, generate a fluid movement that invites you to explore and experience beyond shopping.
New facilities are provided in addition to the relevant ones for consuming products. With all this functioning as new nodes and milestones within the mall creates a rich experience intended for users.
It allows the free and unlimited growth of the proposal taking its concept of system beyond its physical and conceptual limit, combining it with materialialities and the treatment of textures a timeless aesthetic and seeking not to follow previous stereotypes.
