The Oracle Mall Refurbishment, Reading
Client Hammerson plc
Location Reading, UK
Status Complete Feb 2017
When the Oracle Shopping Centre in Reading was built in the late '90s, an extensive mechanical ventilation system was installed in deep bulkheads above the retail units. This limited the shopfront heights and screened the view of mezzanine trading levels that most of the tenants have subsequently installed. Our new design aesthetic for the malls is aimed at giving more prominence to the brands and how these are expressed by each tenant via their shopfront design, with a more uniform and softer looking bulkhead above concealing the two levels of parking over the shop.
This also included the creation of the high end shopping atmosphere at Holybrook Mall, altering the marketing approach to the area to attract more aspirational brands through the introduction of dramatic set of twisted aluminium fins and high quality finishes. We are particularly pleased with the lighting design on the Lower Mall which transformed the rather dingy areas at each end of the mall into brightly lit zones in front of House of Fraser and Debenhams, using large areas of Barrisol stretch fabric light boxes.