One Denverite Is Creating a Virtual Tour of the Iconic Cinderella City Mall
An iconic Colorado mall was torn down in the late 1990s, but for the past three years architect Josh Goldstein has been rebuilding what once was—at least virtually.
Cinderella City stood at what is now the intersection of Hampden Avenue and Santa Fe Drive in Englewood from 1968 to 1998. The more than 1.5 million-square-foot mall was popular among area residents and took claim as the largest mall west of the Mississippi, according to the Denver Public Library.
“The mall was the thing that got me interested in architecture, in that when I was young, my parents drove me by the [mall], and it was being demolished,” says Goldstein, now 30. “I don’t think at the time I had ever seen anything being demolished before. And certainly nothing of that scale.”
Goldstein says he hoped to finish the simulation in one year for what would have been the mall’s 50-year anniversary. His intent was to build a simplified version, but says that didn’t satisfy him. So, he began adding people, signs, trees, and music. “It sort of snowballed from there,” he says.
To build the simulation, he’s using a 3D modeling software called FormIt. He’s also building the mall in reverse starting with an ’80s/’90s model and working his way back to a ’60s/’70s version. “Seeing the model get more developed and the mall feel more alive … feels like you’re watching the mall’s life play out in reverse,” Goldstein says.
See the full story here: https://www.5280.com/2020/04/one-denverite-is-creating-a-virtual-tour-of-the-iconic-cinderella-city-mall/