Alvarez 1 Abril Alvarez Professor Filbeck English114B 3/24/14 The Americana at Brand as United Ideally people want what

they cant have their goals are as big as Mount Everest, their American dreams consists of falling in love with places they never been and people theyve never met. Societys Utopian world is a place where they have more than what they have now, whether its spiritually, love, world dominance, money or everything else that comes after that people want a place where they are free. With that being said there just might be a place that offers this option for the most part, The Americana at brand. Being an open mall located at Glendale across from Glendale Gallerias, The Americana is an ideal Utopian world because it provides what most people want packaged in a 2-acres park, it gives people culture from both the past and the present and its gives people the feel of really being in a better place. The Americana can serve as a great melting pot it can be manipulated as the public wants it, after all the Americana was intended to belong to its public an open space for all to just come together and have a great time. The feel that the Americana haves guarantees you just that, you go there expecting to shop, some just to figure out on something to do yet you arrive and a numerous amount of options welcome you in with a crowd of people walking towards and with you into a different scene, you can see fashion critics of all ages holding hangers with pastel fabrics against darker colors in an unspoken competition. As you walk deeper into the long entrance you are welcomed by a beautiful lobby to your left with a classic piano and a stunning

Alvarez 2 chandelier that introduce an elevator that belongs in Paris. As you are revealed to the open space you see a beautiful fountain that holds dreams and wishes with dancing lights and a golden naked man reaching for the galaxies. The road is shaped as an open U pointing in the opposite directions at the ends and in the middle of the black road, that shapes the U, is wooden road for the red trolley to go on with olden street lamps scattered along the sidewalk. Surrounding the fountain you have stores of all kinds technology, books and clothes are provided for buyers and delicious sent flows in the air of various plates. A vintage white kiosk offers a stage for new musicians and an open green lawn is provided for the audience or families to simply enjoy the day along with a small playground for all the energetic children. The Americana provides a place where people can come together and simply have a great time a place where they can be free and finally feel in an environment where more is provided to them. How is The Americana better for society One may ask, well to begin with in order for a great idea to take place it first needs conflict, because in reality no one is going to want to support any new idea because we are so use to restricting ourselves to the opportunities we already have that when we see a new one come along that requires us to first give, we refuse because then we have less only leaving it to chance and good opportunity that the project will be prospect and because The Americana has been wagered in the pros and cons when the project was first laid out on the table it makes it worthy because of the many doubt it over came. The Americana grants what a utopian world should be like by various reasons first, people want to be able to feel like they have improved their living whether theyve worked hard to get that salary raise, came to the United States for a better future, or simply became part of society. People want to be in an environment where their reward is the same productions as those coworkers who work the same yet are a different race And having a world where you get a bit of everything you

Alvarez 3 ever wished for is an ideal utopian world this is what it means when people come here for a better future they want to know that the sacrifices they did and are doing are worth the trouble, they want to be able to not only know they are doing better but see it as well. The architecture of the Americana has a mixture of luxurious, folks town and modern city in it, it provides you with some green environment, a beautiful view, a large variety of different food choice from pretzels to hot dogs to a dish from France the Americana gives you that architecture context that people are drawn to, the kind of America society is looking for. In an interview with chairman and CEO of the Glimcher Reality Trust, Michael P. Glimcher, explains the concept in which his malls are built on, he tells the writer of Glimcher gets some fresh air Michael Fickes Context is the environment: the amenities, landscaping, water features, the elements that bring people to the property even when they don't have a mission. If a group comes to your property looking for something to do - and not just something to buy - the property has great context. The Americana gives an option between entertainment and a check for your to do list. Sure enough the architecture of the Americana gives the feeling of wanting to belong and as it was confirmed by Glimcher when society gets bought in together for the simple reason of wanting to coexist with one another in that specific location you know there was something you did correctly when building that location. However, contradictions and arguments will always rise to the surface against local spaces like the Americana for example the problem of traffic a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Cara Ma DiMassa, points out this argument saying; Some critics are quick to point out that traffic from the Galleria and other shops can already bring Brand Boulevard to a crawl. Perhaps a structure built in such a spacious way can cause traffic and ruin local businesses but thats a problem that could be fixed. For instance these roads are specifically designed to soothe its inhabitants Rod

Alvarez 4 Bantjes a professor of sociology and anthropology studied and was able to confirm that these types of open space architecture work for the benefit of its society; The street is gently curved, slowing traffic and varying the visual prospect for drivers and pedestrians alike. If local businesses where to blend in with the Americanas structure there shouldnt be a problem in who gets the best location or the best building and the trafficking crawl would only work to encourage people to walk to the lively hood of the streets instead of using vehicles. Inclusive there is an old newspaper article that is dated from 1976 written by Paul Goldberger, who wrote against the Albany buildings when they were first developed in which he argues that Futuristic doesnt work with the architecture of malls, one realizes that the entire mall complex is not so much a vision of the future as of the past. The ideas here were dead before they left the drawing board, and every design decision, from the space allocations to the overall concept, emerges from an outdated notion of what modern architecture, not to mention modern government, should stand for. Already people are thinking in a moderate form where they lose the concept of how it used to be with what the future should look like, slowly this is how people start to lose culture in architecture and we start building blend spaces that no longer contains history and uniqueness. People do not dream of living in such places, nor are they drawn there to walk, jog, roller blade or to pass the time of day with othersPeople are attracted to places where other people are present on the streets. Businesses and culture too flourish where human traffic is concentrated. People come to such places for instrumental reasons, but even if they are passing through they are drawn to lively streets because these are less boring and dangerous (Rob Bantjes)

Alvarez 5 Indeed Bantjes proves a point when he says this, people want to be where they can see and do different things and not be so caught up in having the necessity of seeing technology imprinted everywhere they go. Although, the architecture of the Americana provides you with the past and the future a lovely green environment and a large variety of choices for the community, in the ideal utopian world there would be no social barrier. A social context is being fulfilled in the Americana today in which only the upper class society is more visually prominent than lower classes and races all consist of the same three. In the utopian world this would be an exclusion to what would be included in it, local stores would emerge with higher class stores in an open green environment where the physical surrounds all have the same level of quality. The social context would be a more diverse place, in better words Rick Caruso, CEO of Caruso Affiliated, real estate company that developed, owns, and operates the Grove in Los Angeles, the Americana at Brand in Glendale, and a handful of other mixed-used properties in Southern California, describes to Shayna Rose Arnold in his interview for Los Angeles Magazine, what he thinks is the main bolder that Angelinos face today: Heres the frustration I have with the city of Los Angeles: I think [its] the greatest city in the world but the greatest city in the world has not figured out how to evolve and embrace the diversity it has People want to live and socialize and play and work closer to home. They want more of a sense of communitybut our planning process in the city doesnt allow or support that. Thats what we need to change. If you have the right constructed architecture, if you give the right surroundings to people who come here for a better future for them and their off springs the ideal utopian world can be constructed. You need to give them just that, in order for the society to work these properties,

Alvarez 6 public spaces, involve more than just consumption patterns but sustain and support social identities in a new political situation where society, economic structures and a wider community as a whole can be a progressed world. We must quite imaginary complexity we create in wanting to separate different classes by labeling them with its architecture. We must understand that by staging an open space with the sense of olden culture and modern culture, where race culture can be manipulated and implanted as we please we must act in provided spaces that are like the Americana, where we can enable an opportunity to various amounts of people. There for giving creating a utopian world.

Alvarez 7 Works Cited Arnold, Shayna Rose. "Big Shots: Rick Caruso - CityThink - Los Angeles Magazine." LA Mag. Los Angeles Magazine, 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Bantjest, Rob. "Rural sustainability and the built environment." ProQuest. Emerald Group Publishing, Limited, 07 20 2011. Web. 24 Mar 2014. Goldberger, Paul. "Albany's South Mall (Empire State Plaza) Paul Goldberger Review." Albany's South Mall (Empire State Plaza) Paul Goldberger Review. N.p., July 1976. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. DiMassa, Mia Cara. "Americana Taking Shape." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 01 Apr. 2008. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "Glimcher gets some fresh air." ProQuest. Lebhar-Friedman, Inc., 11 22 2013. Web. 24 Mar 2014.