The striking thing for me about the shopping centre was it’s resemblance to
Westgate in Harare, Zimbabwe. That was a project in the office of Clinton and
Evans during the early days of my employment there. My own involvement was
quite minor, but I remembered that the client was inspired by a shopping centre
in Florida and that they employed American concept design architects for the
basic layout, theming and signage.
I still have some low-res pictures taken from the booklet they produced some
years later when I acquired a digital camera. I doubt that it was the same
firm. I’m sure there are several design practices in Florida that use this
idiom from time to time. But it stirred up old memories from 30 years ago.
To my mind this kind of scheme is preferable to the rectangular parking layout
with shops around the perimeter which is so common here. This brings me back to
the topic of the relentless pursuit of efficiency which is such a marker of
“the American way” On…