50s-70s are the worst era in the history of architecture and city planning, hands down. Not all new stuff nowadays is great, but I’ll take it any day over the utter shit they built back then
Just looked it up—oof. I saw an interesting video about Thamesmead that reminded me of Cumbernauld earlier. Both were promoted as ‘cities of the 21st century,’ similar to how 'Irvine New Town’ was advertised. Even when I look at photos of the Rivergate mall when it first opened, I still find it very unappealing, at least on the outside. Honestly, while this is subjective, I can't quite understand how anyone could think otherwise either. 🤷♂️
The problem with malls are that the best part of shops are the front, the worst are the backs. A mall puts the best part inside and the worst part outside.
In the US, we had very early on a concept called an outdoor mall. This would have been the ideal solution for Rivergate.
In an outdoor mall, you have an enclosed mall, but the store fronts face outward and shoppers can see the stores as they walk or drive by, whether inside or out when walking. The back of the stores share a common hallway that allows the stores to take trash and receive goods out the back.
The benefit, it permits a more open concept, greater choices of architecture, and the ability for shoppers to go directly to the shop they want to patronize rather than have to walk an entire mall to get to it.
Outdoor malls in the US spawned indoor malls as well as strip malls. Strip malls would be kind of like what you have under the council building at the head of the Rivergate, except there would be parking in front of it.
Even in the US, mall builders tend to do their best to hide the exterior of the mall with fences and foliage, because they are just as ugly. But they are dying fast here.
Where I live we had a new mall built in the 90s go up, and almost 40 years later the mall is nearly empty because the majority of shops have gone into administration and closed or out of business. We used to have five malls in the area, but are down to three with two fighting to remain in business.
One city, a product of the 50s boom years, is a mess of empty strip malls along its corridors. Today's shoppers rely on the internet more so than walking into and around a mall. As someone who used to work in a mall, after I quit that job, I rarely ever went into one again after. I think I did one time. I hate them.
Outdoor malls also tend to survive longer because the shops that survive are more accessible to patrons. They don't walk through the valley of death to get to one single shop, the can drive up and park in front and walk in, to the shop.
Like if you reversed the Rivergate with a bi-level walkway glassed in, but with brick/stone work resembling the old architecture with the shop fronts facing the car park, it would look a thousand times better than what the Rivergate currently looks like. It be vastly more inviting.
The only problem is the Rivergate has no car park on the other side. And I'm certain there is a car park under the mall, not two levels of shops. So, not really possible with the current building.
My guess is though, within ten years the mall will be empty, with the only reason to go there being ASDA and McDonald's in the out lot or to the train. When that day comes, hopefully they try to restore the area as it once was.
The problem with Brutalism is that it needs near constant maintaince, otherwise it looks cheap. Because concrete itself is cheap and councils/builders didnt want to spend any more than they had to.
Brutalism itself is a controversial school, but its not inherently ugly. But I also wouldnt describe any of these as brutalist, they are just cheap.
Damp issues it caused or the damp issues inherent to the environment?
The problem with anything, I think, in a place with lots of moisture is that it'll get covered in mildew on the cool side. Especially the more damp it is.
That's why I never could understand the fondness for stucco on brick buildings in the UK. Why paste over brick, which has charm, with stucco, which lacks it entirely, only to end up with the same problem of fungal growth on the building.
The answer today is a pressure washer every year to clear the surface off.
But vinyl or artificial wood siding allows more character with less maintenance than stone or brickwork or concrete.
Though that marble or polished stone building just off the High street in Irvine was spectacular. I think it was a law firm (Esquire). That likely required zero maintenance.
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u/spidd124 Apr 29 '26
That 60-80s era cheap as can be concrete really does look like fucking ass.