Subscribe » Issue #39, May-Jun 2012 Mag Cover
Idealog—in the ideas business

World’s first pop-up mall rears its head in London

A new mall is literally popping up in Shoreditch, South London, in a world-first for mall construction.

The BOXPARK mall constructed from shipping containers will be the new home to 60 fashion, art and lifestyle brands.

The innovative design by Roger Wade is a cost-effective and environmental building method and means that these malls can literally pop up anywhere. 

Wade says the beauty of the concept is that the malls can be easily moved or stored until a suitable location is found. 

Boxpark Shoreditch from Roger Wade on Vimeo.

As commenter Glen pointed out, Christchurch has its own version - but there's contention over the origin of the idea. Wade is threatening legal action, saying a Christchurch City Mall board member visited London earlier this year to discuss a potential Boxpark joint venture.


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Comments

Hasn't Christchurch already beaten them to it?

Irrespective of whether there were discussions or not in London earlier this year the Christchurch one has been open for 6 weeks so the London version cannot be a world first (unless of course the colonies don't count as part of the world). I would have expected some subeditorial input before you posted this item.

This is a side issue to the much bigger problem of ChCh's future which seems to be in the hands of heavy-handed bureaucrats - and the latest word from govt is that quality housing will be built some time 'in the future' - yeah right - that's what they said about pre-fab classrooms in the '70s and look how many are still in use? Chch will end up as a shanty town of poor quality public buildings and sub-standard housing.


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