Sunday, November 8, 2009

Burdick Street

1) Overall I feel that downtown Kalamazoo is a great shopping design. Other than a few flaws (probably due to the rebuilding process) downtown is an ideal shopping area. Burdick Street provides a great shopping atmosphere. The street is located in the heart of downtown and designed to be an extremely inviting environment. Littered with benches and chairs, compromised of neatly and uniquely designed buildings, and a safe, low-traffic street, Burdick Street is an ideal shopping area. The surroundings also provide a great shopping atmosphere. With hotels, parking structures, and busy college areas, Burdick Street’s location is ideal for attracting customers. One of the only down sides is the slight lack of development due to the redesigning process. There are a scattered, empty buildings that slightly take away from the inviting feeling, but those negative emotions are kept to a minimum.
2) a) better lighting in deep-set stores- some store fronts are set further back into the building and are well lit inside, but are difficult to see into from the street. b) fill empty spaces- some empty buildings detract from the overall feeling of the area. c) more hotels- different kinds of hotels would attract more travelers, thus attracting more businesses. The Radisson is a very nice hotel, but is not an option for many people.
3) “Gibbs is impressed that most of the trash cans and newspaper vending machines have been painted the same dark green, a fashionable hue now used in many malls. Even a pair of two-by-fours supporting a tree have been painted. "A little detail you would expect in mall management," Gibbs says approvingly.” One of the first things I noticed about downtown Kalamazoo was the unattractive color used for the tables and garbage cans. All throughout Burdick street there were tables, chairs, benches, and light posts all painted a slightly different, equally as ugly dark green. It seems as if the designers were trying for that classy look to go along with the bricks, but failed by using too light of a green color. A classy green that coincides with the bricks needs to be a very dark, almost black-green color. The color used in downtown Kalamazoo makes for too much contrast and draws too much attention to the furniture rather than the stores.

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