Veneer-Art Helps Turn a Shopping Mall into an Elegant Excursion

The 1.1 million-square-foot Lakeline Mall in Austin, Texas opened in 1995, but by 2007 it was starting to show its age, both in terms of wear and style. The population of its trading area had grown tremendously. And its customer base was becoming more sophisticated, opting for more contemporary lifestyle shopping center concepts with a range of familyfriendly amenities.

Clearly, the mall’s owner—Simon Property Group—needed to renovate all of its public spaces to keep it welcoming and comfortable.

The goal of the renovation was to enhance the entire shopping experience,

says Kim Cummings, Senior Associate at OmniPlan, the internationally known architectural firm that oversaw the project. “Of course, given the high volume of daily traffic in the mall, everything had to be durable while creating this sense of elegance.”

The right material for the right reasons

Realizing this dual challenge, the OmniPlan team immediately thought of Veneer-Art from Lamin-Art for the banquettes in the food court, which was to be the “heart” of the updated environment.

We had used it in other projects and knew that it would help us project warmth, beauty, and luxury through the multiple tones of wood,

says Cummings

The fabricator on the project, Commercial Millwork, also thought that it was an excellent choice. “With all the kids and people running around the mall, it takes a lot of time and effort just to keep surfaces clean,” says Mike Berry, founder and president of Commercial Millwork. “You need a material that is going to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, and VeneerArt does that quite well.”

Building the new image for the mal

One other Veneer-Art advantage that Berry appreciated was how relatively easy it was to install. “It takes less work because it’s already pre-finished,” he says. He also appreciated the durability of Veneer-Art.

The food court fixtures were very long, large pieces, but we were able to fabricate them at the shop and deliver them to the mall completely finished, saving time, labor, and money.

Finally, Berry discovered that Veneer-Art is also easy to repair. “Some of the fixtures had been damaged during shipping,” he says, “but we were able to fix them on site. There’s no way we could have done that with traditional unfinished veneer.”

But the real payoff was the end result. “We gave the client a before-and-after album of the project,” says Cummings, “which was a clear testament to our success and was due in large part to the durability and sophistication of the materials we used. Now everyone who visits the Lakeline Mall will have a more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing time whether they’re shopping, going to the movies, or dining out.”

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