Mashpee Commons is a

lifestyle center A lifestyle center (American English), or lifestyle centre (Commonwealth English), is an open-air shopping center which aims to create a "pedestrian-friendly, town-like atmosphere with sidewalks, landscaping, ambient lighting, and park benches. ...

located on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

in the town of Mashpee,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The center opened in 1986 and is considered to be an early example of

new urbanist New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...

development.

History

Mashpee Commons occupies the former site of the New Seabury Shopping Center; the original

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

was constructed in 1960 and initially consisted of of retail floor area. By the early 1980s the Field Point Corporation, owners of the New Seabury Shopping Center, sought to convert the site into a mixed-used district. Field Point contracted Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, the planners of

Seaside, Florida Seaside is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida Panhandle in Walton County, between Panama City Beach and Destin. One of the first communities in America designed on the principles of New Urbanism, which promotes walkabil ...

, and the founders of the

Congress for the New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...

, to design the conversion. The original four single-story flat-roofed buildings were renovated with new facades, and the parking lot was redeveloped as streets and blocks bordered by two-story buildings that typically housed offices or residential units above shops; parking is curbside and located behind the buildings. The site reopened as Mashpee Commons in 1986 and has had several expansions since.

Design

Much of the design of Mashpee Common is attributed to the new urbanism movement that emerged during the early 1980s. New urbanist elements such as rear parking, street-facing structures, and pedestrianized areas are present in Mashpee Commons. The architectural design of the center is derivative of traditional

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

town centers, featuring a mix of colonial-style facades. Mashpee Commons is classified as a

and contains a limited amount of multifunctional development, with most of the off-street parking being relegated to a large surface lot that encircles the main retail area similar to a traditional

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

References

{{Shopping malls in Massachusetts, state=collapsed 1986 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Mashpee, Massachusetts New Classical architecture in the United States Shopping malls in Massachusetts Shopping malls established in 1986 Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts

History

Design

See also

References