War of the Malls - Ch. 1

It is a fact that malls have quite a competition going on no matter where they were located and regardless of its' scale- whether it was a harrod's vs. selfridges or just the local ones in town !

But nthg has been more tangible than the undeclared "to be declared" war of Le mall vs ABC dbayeh !

It's true that ABC dbayeh has scored a comeback with a foreign signature architecture by nArchitects that has been the reason of siteworks and expansions over the past years.. And yes, its architectural image has improved -from the days of that striking yellow box originally designed by Nehme- with interactive lighting elevations that are quite "statementful", with a replica rooftop although not as successful as its  achrafieh version, a "not so clear" circulation pattern and a limited reduced parking space compared to its original smaller area bigger parking ratio.

On the other hand its counterpart,  reminds us of the early "yellow" days of ABC's architecture with a bold and daring volume by Aconsult (ironically the same architects as the other version of ABC) that stands out of the context - and once again yes we know those elevation tubes were described "ugly" by many, a replica of China's bird's nest by HdeM & Ai WeiWei by others- but they have played their role and done their part in creating a buzz regardless of its esthetical value if it had any- true we've all nagged about its' finishes, its' internal layout, its circulation, its parking spaces and mainly the connection between those parking spaces with the main mall and the lack of escalators or even regular staircases (which exist but are not part of the public space) besides the fulltime busy elevators.

But yes for the sake of attracting customers we've done our best - assigned foreign designers, created bold architecture, etc- True that the tenant mix comparison does not stand as ABC targets a more posh layer of the society, but with a very large and diversified food outlet range Le mall has managed to attract consumers on that level. And yes, le mall has also succeeded to attract clients to its much more affordable stores and tenants !

But the war of the malls has reached a new stage or so it seems - with a full parking at all times and not only because of its business but its shortage as well-  Le Mall's consumers have managed to park in the next door lot ABC and have a walk to its premises.

So u might have noticed the newcomers in town (the parking meters) which announce that ABC after many long years of free parking in Suburbia will soon be paid.

Within all this chaos where does urban planning stand, and where does it actually define the line between a commercial growth along the coast and traffic generating mass blocks like the ones mentioned above ... Where do municipalities stand on regulating when it comes to such matters and hasnt anyone objected on the proximity of the malls and the amount of traffic it could generate (specially on weekends) and very soon on holidays!?

So the war of the malls was created not only by the greed of developers, or anxious consumers, it was encouraged by a chaotic planning (regardless of which governmental party was responsible of that) that in a fight of attracting clients might just as well turn those into objecters of the current status.