(Background and Purpose) The modern commercial space is gradually evolving into the complex shopping mall to satisfy the cultural and leisure needs of users, capturing various cultural activities, rather than common consumption activities such as shop...
(Background and Purpose) The modern commercial space is gradually evolving into the complex shopping mall to satisfy the cultural and leisure needs of users, capturing various cultural activities, rather than common consumption activities such as shopping and dining. In today’s society, consumption is not simply the purchase of goods but a concept that includes the empirical aspects of buying in a broader way, encompassing space consumption. Newly completed complex shopping malls have begun paying attention to space consumption in a way that will increase consumers’ stay time, drive consumption naturally, and establish the identity of the shopping mall; the focus on direct sales has shifted. This change represents the extension of a city; as the complex shopping mall internalizes the character of the city as a leisure and cultural space, malls are characterized by the expansion of public space, superposition of the interior and exterior, and expression of the outdoors. These characteristics are reflected in the composition, layout, and architectural features of stores, affecting not only their interior street but also their adjacent stores. Focusing on these six core characteristics, six representative shopping malls in Korea were selected to analyze comprehensively the characteristics of space planning, design, and effects of the stores. Just as the city’s streets interact with neighboring cities, the inner city of a shopping mall also becomes a city street, changing the spatial attempts and settings of adjacent stores. The discussion identifies the changing nature of the complex shopping mall. (Method) This study examined the spatial characteristics of the current inner street of the complex shopping mall through analyzing the interior street. The research aimed to evaluate the spatial strategy and design characteristics of stores in the complex shopping mall to assess the future differentiation of shopping malls. This study identified the concepts, features, and types of interior streets through theoretical consideration, from which six characteristics of the interior streets were derived: horizontal, outdoor, complex, openness, and non-commodity. (Results) The stores of complex shopping malls are characterized by the following: inversions, mixed deployments by industry, increased openness, improvement of externality, and increased experience stores. The multi-hearted arrangement of the stores makes the space smaller and more open, increasing the link between the street and floor space. The externality of indoor and outdoor features and building elements is promoted, and non-operative will increase as theme park type stores increase. (Conclusions) The complex shopping mall has undergone three changes as estimated by street characteristics: first, the weakening of boundaries; second, the strengthening of non-uniformity; and third, the strengthening of space consumption. These show that the recent complex shopping mall has the following differentiating element from other shopping malls: space interacts and mixes in various ways to meet the cultural needs of users and stimulate their emotions based on various purposes, instead of on large product aggregation and consumption.