Blue Coral featured in the Visions 2007 magazine. Read the feature article here.
Date: Jan 24, 2007
Blue Coral Mall - the hub of a rejuvenated Castries
(Barbara Jacobs Small)
In much the same way the venerated Pitons have come to be the unofficial brand for St. Lucia, the Blue Coral Mall is poised to define the wider Castries experience whether day or night. Already, it is pregnant with history, its beginnings having evolved from a visioning to rebuild a city twice destroyed by fire, with bold statements of architecture and even bolder moves of entrepreneurship.
Standing on the corner of the William Peter Boulevard and Bridge Street, the former M&C {now Blue Coral} building, is the veritable junction to banking and financial services and general essential shopping in Castries. Twice remodeled, this {third} time around the context is informed not by the whims and fancies of one owner or landlord, but by a holistic socio-economic picture that accommodates a whole regeneration of the city centre, with Blue Coral Mall defining the City's aesthetics, while it transform the shopping experience.
The designers' envisage something beyond mere shops and restaurants. They speak of a destination. So that the layout of the interior spaces will flow within the ground volume of the building, to achieve that seamless shopping experience in a way that is clearly differentiated from the regular shopping mall layout. Leisure is as carefully considered in the grand scheme of things. And grand it is -
A colour-coated aluminum rain-screen system is being used for the external cladding. Along its northern facade, the fenestration will be designed to form vertical display strips and provide light ventilation-wells into the store. On either side of these display-strips, full height vertical perforated anodized aluminum screens are being set perpendicular to the faýade to shade the glass-bays from the relentless sun. At night the perforated screens glow with the illuminated "display strips" and work to enhance the ambience through the louvered canopy of the "Sky" garden restaurant.
The main entry to the building will be via the Boulevard. It will be a generous foyer housing the vertical drift of movement to the floor above, and to the ground floor.
The surrounding external landscape will see the sidewalk expanded out into the street and taking up the space now occupied by cars. The expanded sidewalk will incorporate semi-mature trees and the reclaimed areas will be rough-cobbled between the trees to discourage the "bend-down plaza" type of squatter trade.
And that is just the translation of the concrete and steel. Anchor shops, accents of heritage, elements of elan, fine-dining and fast-food, nighttime entertainment, juvenile amenities, business and leisure conveniences are all being defined, identified and signed off, as we speak.
With significant sporting events ahead, the sound of pedestrian and trade traffic bearing down on the Castries is now audible, and significantly amplified in the timelines of the creators and managers of Blue Coral Mall. While communities on the periphery of the city are working on strategies to integrate their village tourism with the wider island experience, Blue Coral Mall is putting the finishing touches on what will be the standard bearer for both resident and visitor patrons alike.
Here's to living history. Viva la difference!