Shopping centers in Southern California have become a pretty fascinating bellwether of contemporary trends in architecture and urbanism. Developer Rick Caruso’s The Grove, for instance, made a splash when it opened in 2000 by modeling itself after a traditional European village with a purely ornamental trolley line, in many ways echoing the New Urbanist call for transit-oriented, walkable places. The Americana at Brand in Glendale, also by Caruso, added to this concept a mixed-use component (rental apartments) and a more generous public realm. Granted, these shopping centers paid lip service to New Urbanist ideas, more than implementing them in earnest.

In this context, the recently renovated Westfield Culver City off the 405 represents its own leap into the future of architecture. Inside, vaulted ceilings and slices of skylight create an airy, vertical sense of space, a cathedral-like effect. The interior is more or less gutted, with walkways around the perimeter. Diagonal ramps straddle and crisscross this spatial void at non-perpendicular, irregular angles. The ground plane feels tenuous. From virtually any given point in the mall, the consumer enjoys panoramic, unobstructed views of the retail frontage on multiple levels. Paradoxically, however, it is nearly impossible to identify the shortest way from Point A to Point B, if you actually see somewhere you want to go. The developer of Westfield Century City wanted to “blur the boundaries between exterior and interior spaces,” and by this measure succeeded, but the effect is disorienting.

What does this mall say about trends in American urbanism? Well, the Westfield Culver City actually seems much closer to the grands magasins, the great department stores of early 20th-century Paris than the nostalgic village concept so successfully exploited at The Grove.

With its generous use of glass and open-air quality, the architecture is undeniably complicit in a sense of voyeurism. There is nothing new about places of commerce serving as a showcase for social spectacle and celebrity. Indeed, the Parisian upper classes would frequently go to these luxe Art Deco retail palaces to see and be seen. During my visit, the TV phenomenon “So You Think You Can Dance” was hosting auditions on the main plaza, amid a 360º ring of onlookers.

Overall, this design concept is thoughtful and contextually appropriate. Westfield Culver City is located not only at the intersection of the 405 and 90 freeways, but of ethnically diverse communities who might otherwise find few opportunities or excuses to patronize the same places. Because the architecture makes voyeurism acceptable, it in turn allows people to gawk at cultural differences and feel comfortable doing so.

In its quest to be modern and cutting-edge, however, the mall overlooks features that might make the experience more user-friendly. The parking system is disorganized. None of the innovative traffic management strategies used at other Westfield locations, such as the red/green lights installed above parking spaces to signal occupancy/vacancy, are imported here. Directional signage is inconsistent at entrances and exits.

Despite high hopes, especially for a Target both nearby and easily accessible via freeway, the new Westfield Culver City mall misses the bullseye in terms of convenience.