Tech

This 7-story-deep underground mall is the future of retail

Ariel Schwartz

2016-02-05T18:35:00Z

In my book "Hyperlocalization of Architecture," urban design constraints provide opportunities for extraordinary building designs. Garden Santa Fe, a 7-story-deep underground shopping mall in Mexico City, is a peculiar hybrid of basic infrastructure needs and a re-envisioning of contemporary retail. At a time when urban real estate is a precious commodity, going underground might just be the future of shopping.

"The basic concept is how can we translate what is overground to what is underground. The problem was how do we bring both the daylight and park into the retail environment? There was nothing quite like this at the time in Mexico, so as we researched the concept we only found a few examples worldwide...We wanted to make it feel as though you are in the city and not underground," explains Robert Velasco, lead architect at KMD Architects.

Check it out below.

The Garden Santa Fe Mall has outdoor spaces at multiple levels below ground. The circular courtyards, complete with live trees at the bottom and second level of the mall, provides a release from what would otherwise be a claustrophobic environment.

Something you rarely see in modern malls is sunlight streaming in from all sides.

The presence of three full story glass atriums essentially brings the outdoors to the underground.

The mall and parking garage development were required to maintain the existing open space in the dense commercial district while providing 1400 parking spaces. The immense underground parking structure bottoms out at 7 stories beneath the street.

The entire building is buried 7 stories deep, making heating and cooling much more energy efficient. Overall, the mall uses 60% of the energy of a comparable retail space. An extensive rain collection system and onsite grey water treatment and water reuse system make a similar impact in water consumption.