INTRODUCING DAYLIGHT TO SHOPPING MALLS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

A shopping mall is classified as a type of retail architecture. It is a space designed not just for commercial purposes, but also for social exchange and thus inherently urban. It is a place of social interface, a semi-private place with a direct and active relationship to the public and the street. The early shopping malls in Singapore follow the classic American model proposed by Victor Gruen, which are large, enclosed spaces that are divorced from the external environment. These spaces are mechanically ventilated and artificially lighted, designed to create an optimal environment of comfort to lull shoppers to lose track of time and to stay in the shopping mall as long as possible. This translates to majority of early shopping malls in Singapore to have opaque facades and limited skylight, and relying heavily on artificial lighting for the spaces. However, such typologies have become increasingly dated and shopping malls adopting this typology are decreasing in popularity. Instead, the building envelope of shopping malls are becoming increasingly transparent to address both the external environment and the street, softening the boundaries between the interior and the exterior. This trend is especially evident in shopping malls along Orchard Road built in the early 1980s, and were refurbished to become more outward looking to better integrate with the street. This paper seeks to challenge the classical shopping mall strategies implemented on shopping mall typologies, and through dissecting factors affecting consumer behaviour in shopping malls, re-examine whether the paradigm of insulating the interior from the exterior to encourage consumers to lengthen their stay in the shopping mall is still valid. Ambience and social factors are both important factors that affect consumer behaviour, of which the quality of light is crucial. The factors affecting consumer behavior in shopping malls and properties of natural daylight will determine if introduction of natural daylight to shopping malls will enhance the shopping experience. The shopping experience should be comfortable and enjoyable to encourage shoppers to maximize the amount of time spend there. Thus, the issue of human comfort is studied in this paper to see how natural daylight can help to improve comfort and enjoyment levels. In doing so, this paper can help to set the direction towards a new design paradigm for shopping malls that embraces the natural environment.