Dix 30: An Outdoor Mall Capable Of More

A few years back we visited a friend in Connecticut, among other things, we did some shopping at an outlet. It was a great way to shop. You parked away from the actual shops and walked to the center. Once there, you were free to walk at your leisure and in peace free of any cars getting in the way.

This past week end we ended up at an outdoor mall (not an outlet) in a suburb 10 minutes from Montreal. It's one of those new self-sustaining pseudo-city cosmo-mall thingy that's all the rage now.

While I can't say I'm against the concept per se, I will argue that the design and architecture of Dix 30 (the name of the mall) is abysmal. Let me explain.

Aesthetically, it's ok. There's no real sense of identity is present. Ground breaking and shaking it ain't. Functionally, it's a travesty for one simple reason: it was clearly designed to not have the citizen and the environment in mind.

There's no real rational reason why cars should be allowed into the center of any outdoor shopping center. Why couldn't they have designed a parking area for cars away from shoppers like the one we saw in Connecticut? Humans don't need to share public spaces with cars - especially in Montreal where the concept of "pedestrians come first" is optional.

On two occasions we stood at a barren intersection connecting different sections as the light system was obviously rigged to ensure the flow of cars was preserved - pedestrians be damned.

And this is just the tip of the scale. Personally, I would have made it more intimate, more environmentally friendy by, for example, planting trees. Create a shopping oasis of calmness. In this way, the energy of human activity would define the mall.

Instead, we get an indoor mall but outisde and with cars swirling about.

The potential for Dix 30 was great - and squandered.