The effect of architectural character on usage of shopping malls; example of Van province

Irresistibly, capitalism forces productive individuals and societies to become consumers. Today, the concept of consumption comes to life with the act of shopping. As shopping action changes, shopping spaces also change in the direction of the needs and trends of the day, in order to serve better to the shopping action. With this change, today's people leaved the public spaces in the city centers and prefer using closed public spaces which are called shopping centers. In this study, the elements that create architectural character of shopping centers, which have become a part of our lives, have been questioned and the effect of architectural character on shopping center usage has been examined through the selected Van Province example. Keywords: Shopping malls, shopping mall design, architectural charecter, design-usage relations