Old School Third Places, The Pastor Gruen Effect, and Strange Loopy Megachurch and Malls

Great post from Jeremy on shopping mall and church.

One interesting topic was a mall in Portland, OR that is "built in a loop, not one long hallway with different offshoots. So you can go round and round and forget where you parked your car and somehow you buy an Annie’s Pretzel while you search–or is it just me? It can feel overwhelming, but that’s the point of the Gruen effect: to make us forget the focused reason we came and become open to more possibilities."

Hmmm...strange loop indeed.
One Yelp reviewer:

Once I do find my way inside, I feel like I am always lost.  I don't like the circular layout.  I always feel like I am missing seeing something or I walk by the same store 3 times because I don't know where I am.  I prefer the way Lloyd Center is designed, all the stores are lined up in a tidy row.  link

In a wonderful irony, I found through Googling that the name of the circular, loopy mall is Washington Square