Revista Lusófona de Arquitectura e Educação nº 08-09 (2013)

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Percorrer Revista Lusófona de Arquitectura e Educação nº 08-09 (2013) por autor "Enache, Cristina"

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    A discussion about new Bucharest ShoppingScapes
    (Edições Universitárias Lusófonas, 2013) Enache, Cristina; Mihaila, Marina; Escola de Comunicação, Arquitetura, Artes e Tecnologias da Informação
    Because of a multitude of factors, Bucharest has developed in the past 20 years new typologies of shopping buildings and sites, either in the peripheral or in downtown areas. 20 years ago Bucharest has the its “universal” stores like buildings developed in the socialism-communist period of time and well formally designed in a specific local – functional way, but also a few older ones like the former “La Fayette Galleries” actual “Victoria Galleries”. Also some small area of shopping (for public or private commerce) were kept in the city center or in some important areas in a ruined built pattern of ground and 1 up to 3 levels – like in the North Railway Station area. In the beginning of these 20 years a phenomenon of reconversion of these “universal” stores has begun, because of the increased need for private commerce spaces, being something in a very new trend for the city. And because these were situated in the cores of the neighbourhoods, some of them have first become compartmented with “small boutiques” (as they were called), but in fact small private shops – small business of different imported and less local products. As a direct result they kept the initial urban image, and restore only the content and sometimes the global function. There are a few in some areas considered more important that have been transformed into showrooms and offices above, like in Dorobanti Street Area, and lost the initial function of “universal” store. From the beginning of these 20 years in empty urban spaces have appeared new buildings constructed by private owners that were formally enveloped in glass coverings and announcing new attraction points. Most of them were located in the downtown nodes, and at the public space level they aggressed the green available areas. Socialist-communist Era had been left also some finished and unfinished huge structures that were developed initially as “palaces” for the people, huge and with cupolas covering a main atrium. It was in the 2002-2004 when the foreign investors were encouraged to come and reuse these buildings that permit to transform them into city shopping malls. These new malls kept the local volumetric presence and the connections to the urban and neighbourhood space. And because the beginning was made, a long series of city shopping malls has began to emerge in downtown and at peripheral nodes, establishing new interior urban spaces surrounded by another built nature, envisaging a new Bucharest ShoppingScape, but mainly artificial and accepted as a new fashionable space to dress and live for. In fact the notion of urban atmosphere was replaced with an easy way to be and experiment the shopping process in the city: the “non-place” as Marc Auge said in his book. The urban network of commercial areas in Bucharest is present today as a non-hierarchical structure of commercial streets, galleries, shopping malls and large commercial platforms, mixing the old city identity with new icons promoted by the new trends.