st james centre edinburgh
The 60s deep-space prison-chic of Edinburgh’s St James shopping centre remains in stasis awaiting removal of asbestos before demolition begins. A wander yesterday on the upper deck attracted not one security guard – and also surprisingly, considering all the awkward dead ends hidden from lines of sight and the easily accessed sloping glass/perspex roofs, the place is still intact with very little vandalism/graffiti. For all this, it sounds better than it actually is – the most interesting part of the deck is the babble of voices and strains of music coming from the mall underneath.
At least Stalinist architecture had an underlying social mentality and intention – St James is utterly soulless (much like the stupendously banal, formulaic contemporary buildings opposite at Greenside). Yet as is often pointed out, people flock to it. I think the reason, after many years of strolling through this poor relation to a Paris arcade myself, is that the low ceiling, pyramid skylights, the dogleg route and the entrance and exit points create the feeling of a cosseting, blinkered maze; or a warren. The best feature is the multilevel John Lewis department store which also dissuades you from any plans on going home – why windowshop when you can be in the window itself. But of course the real reason it’s still popular is that it’s the only place to go if you want to shop in the centre but can’t handle the Princes street crowds or the social cachet on George street.
