Toronto Yorkdale Shopping Centre | ?m | ?s | Oxford Properties | MMC Architecture

MetroMan said:
Yorkdale has the nicest indoor design of any mall I've visited. Next time you're there, look up at the ceilings. Some beautiful dry wall work there.
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I've also always thought that about Oakville Place. For a while it was the only mall I had been to, so I assumed all were like that.

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I'm jealous for the Eaton Centre. That renovation didn't turn out quite nice. It fell midway between losing its history and not quite achieving a modern sophisticated look.

In turn, Yorkdale's continual expansion is impressive. Imagine that an entire Eatons department store used to be where the food court is going. They're not afraid to part with the past here and go for all out change where needed. Keep in mind that Yorkdale opened much before Eaton Centre as the largest mall in the world at the time.

Shopping malls are meant to -- and should -- evolve to meet the tastes and needs of changing generations. Yorkdale sure did.
 
Not to mention the exterior of the Eaton Centre was ruined anyway with the late '90s renovations. I just wish they'd kept the metal balcony railings.
 
egotrippin said:
Not to mention the exterior of the Eaton Centre was ruined anyway with the late '90s renovations. I just wish they'd kept the metal balcony railings.
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"Ruined", ya probably, but it was a disastrous design facing Yonge Street to begin with. The Eaton Centre was needed, it helped revitalize shopping downtown and serves tourists well who are here for shopping trips, but it's such a shame all of what we lost along that stretch. Facadectomies would have served the west side much better than version 1 or 2 of what we got, save for the beautiful atrium entrance at Dundas Street, which is pretty much gone now too.
 
MetroMan said:
Shopping malls are meant to -- and should -- evolve to meet the tastes and needs of changing generations. Yorkdale sure did.
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If shopping malls have impressive original architecture, art, and design, they should preserve it for future generations. The design quality of original features often can't be attained with renovation budgets, and the tastes of changing generations often have some common threads. Mall owners can keep their buildings from feeling dated by enhancing elements. Let the stores meet the tastes and needs of changing generations. Yorkdale is much more interesting for having the stalactites hall and Brutalist architecture from the Simpsons era, for instance.

Lewis Mumford said something relevant about malls evolving "to meet the tastes and needs of changing generations" in The City in History: they can't. The mall is inherently inflexible and difficult to change to meet different needs. One might conceive of solutions like infilling the parking lots with a neighbourhood and making the internal streets of the mall a real pedestrianized centre for the area, but that would be radical. I've never seen a mall converted to other uses like residential, industrial, or offices.
 
junctionist said:
Yorkdale is much more interesting for having the stalactites hall
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Those weren't originally "stalactites", they had beautiful chandeliers hangings from them which are now gone. Being the largest Mall in the world at one point gives Yorkdale historical significance but that didn't prevent it from adapting to the times and becoming one of the most popular malls in the GTA.

The Eaton Centre is beyond preservation yet not fully embracing modernizing. Redoing the floors and installing glass and stainless steel is not going to cut it. I hope Cadillac Fairview has something more ambitious in mind.

I think the new food courts are brilliant and I find myself going there for lunch even though I have other places nearby. I like the environment and food selection there. The bathroom updates are great too. I think with the Eaton Centre, the off-white, concrete walls above the store are what make it look old and outdated.

The storefronts themselves could be more creative. What Yorkdale did with the double floor store fronts certainly made the mall look a lot more attractive. Eaton Centre could do the same on the top floor where there is vertical room to grow. Make it a premium location. Maybe try to retain Apple who is looking for a flagship location. My guess is that wherever Apple locates, they'll keep their Eaton Centre store as a satellite location but if the Eaton Centre were to give them a premium spot with 2 floors of retail space looking out on to either Queen or Yonge, Apple might stick around.

Then there's the atrium domed ceiling. This is contentious because it's such a signature item, but there's no denying that it's showing its age. The Yorkdale equivalent with its super clear glazing and clean mullion design is stunning. Talk of replacing it will no doubt cause a big discussion here but I think that it should be done. Keep the shape and size, just replace the glazing and framing. This would have the largest effect on modernizing the mall and keeping it attractive to future generations.
 
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Reserve a table at the Yorkdale food court.

This food court ‘oasis’ takes reservations

You’re at the mall and you’re feeling famished. But you’re worried you won’t get a seat at the crowded food court.

Why not reserve a table?

The upscale food court wars just got a little crazier with the introduction of a table reservation system at Toronto’s Yorkdale mall.

“We like to think that this is a bit of an oasis for our customers, so they can relax a bit when they’re having something to eat,†says Anthony Casalanguida, general manager of the mall, standing near one of the two oversized fireplaces in the food court. “Being able to reserve a table makes it a much more civil experience.â€
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Guests will be greeted by a “perfume butler†so they can try on different perfumes to freshen up. There will be a translator service just in case you need directions to Holt Renfrew in, say, Japanese. There are, of course, two massive fireplaces and a patio that seats 60.

Here, no detail is too small. The dining experience is elevated with bag hooks under the tables, so that guests will never have to soil their new handbags from the just-opened Tory Burch store.
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Cheesecake Factory

Any truth to the rumour that The Cheesecake Factory is opening up at Yorkdale? I heard it was taking over the space of the Rainforest Cafe, whose time seems to have come and gone.
 
Had lunch at the new food court today. Here's what it looks like walking through, and looking out over the patio. The patio is surprisingly small for what I was expecting it to be, and the view is.....

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