The Trafford Centre's unorthodox style of architecture was prompted by the wish to offer a unique shopping experience.
John Whittaker, chairman of Peel Holdings, had to convince architects that a lavish design would not alienate shoppers.
Peel Holdings were keen to avoid the problem that afflicts many shopping centres after years in use whereby they become dated and stale, this has become a problem for many dilapidated shopping centres in the United Kingdom that were built in the 1960s and 1970s.
Although the extravagant Rococo and Baroque design may be viewed as gaudy the prospect of the shopping centre ageing and becoming dated is greatly mitigated.

When we first started the architects said, "you shouldn’t be doing all this and giving it all the razzmatazz and showbiz, leave that to the retailers.
Make it plain, make it clinical, make it white and hospitalised and let them do the work".
So then we put in the paintings, we put in the real gold leaf, we put artefacts everywhere, paintings.
It is the people’s palace.
It is something to attract shoppers ... to give them the Dallas effect.

— John Whittaker - chairman of the Peel Group which developed the Trafford Centre in the 1990s
The design was a collaboration between the architectural practices of Chapman Taylor and Manchester-based Leach Rhodes Walker.
The construction contractor was Bovis Lend Lease, with structural engineering services provided by the WSP Group.
Such was the size and detailing of the building, architects ended up producing over 3,000 separate shop drawings on the drawing register and the construction process required twenty-four chartered architects to work on the project full-time to monitor the construction and interior design process.

The centre has four main areas across two floors, Peel Avenue, Regent Crescent, the Dome, and the Orient, and was designed so that visitors enter on both main shopping floors in equal numbers.
This avoids the problem where visitors do not visit the upper floors and retailers avoid upper floor units.
The ODEON Cinema is on the third floor along with other leisure facilities such as Laser Quest.
The Trafford Centre was built to be "future-proof" in the words of developer John Whittaker with the infrastructure for an additional fourth floor built during construction.

The Trafford Centre is Rococo/late Baroque in design, with eclectic elements of Art Deco and Egyptian Revival.
It is decorated primarily in shades of white, pink and gold with ivory, jade and caramel coloured marble throughout.
There are three domed atria along the length of the mall, and Peel claim the middle dome is bigger than that at St Paul's Cathedral.
The central dome cost £5 million to construct.
The Trafford Centre has 45,000 square metres of marble and granite flooring from Montignosa and Quarlata in Italy at a cost of £5.8 million (1996 value) and gold leaf adorns the building's columns.
The marble floors and handrails are polished nightly to maintain the centre's opulent appearance.

The Trafford Centre has features which pay homage to the local area and North West England.
The Orient food hall is themed around a steam ship, paying homage to the Industrial Revolution and the nearby Manchester Ship Canal.
The Lancashire Rose also permeates the décor on window panes and interior cornices.
Mythical griffin statues adorn the exterior, the heraldic symbol of the de Trafford baronets who historically owned much of the land in modern-day Trafford.

Others, however, have criticised the deception of the fake palm trees and neo-classical decorative pillars which are not made of marble but decorated medium-density fibreboard.
Architecture critic John Parkinson-Bailey described the Trafford Centre as a building which "will not appeal to purists" and the range of interior architecture as "bewildering".
The Peel Group say that the striking and extrovert architecture is aimed at providing visual delight, to make the visitor's shopping experience more vivid.

Since it opened in 1998, advances have been made in lighting design and efficiency such as the growth of L
The Trafford Centre's unorthodox style of architecture was prompted by the wish to offer a unique shopping experience. John Whittaker, chairman of Peel Holdings, had to convince architects that a lavish design would not alienate shoppers. Peel Holdings were keen to avoid the problem that afflicts many shopping centres after years in use whereby they become dated and stale, this has become a problem for many dilapidated shopping centres in the United Kingdom that were built in the 1960s and 1970s. Although the extravagant Rococo and Baroque design may be viewed as gaudy the prospect of the shopping centre ageing and becoming dated is greatly mitigated.
When we first started the architects said, "you shouldn’t be doing all this and giving it all the razzmatazz and showbiz, leave that to the retailers. Make it plain, make it clinical, make it white and hospitalised and let them do the work". So then we put in the paintings, we put in the real gold leaf, we put artefacts everywhere, paintings. It is the people’s palace. It is something to attract shoppers ... to give them the Dallas effect.
— John Whittaker - chairman of the Peel Group which developed the Trafford Centre in the 1990s
The design was a collaboration between the architectural practices of Chapman Taylor and Manchester-based Leach Rhodes Walker. The construction contractor was Bovis Lend Lease, with structural engineering services provided by the WSP Group. Such was the size and detailing of the building, architects ended up producing over 3,000 separate shop drawings on the drawing register and the construction process required twenty-four chartered architects to work on the project full-time to monitor the construction and interior design process.
The centre has four main areas across two floors, Peel Avenue, Regent Crescent, the Dome, and the Orient, and was designed so that visitors enter on both main shopping floors in equal numbers. This avoids the problem where visitors do not visit the upper floors and retailers avoid upper floor units. The ODEON Cinema is on the third floor along with other leisure facilities such as Laser Quest. The Trafford Centre was built to be "future-proof" in the words of developer John Whittaker with the infrastructure for an additional fourth floor built during construction.
The Trafford Centre is Rococo/late Baroque in design, with eclectic elements of Art Deco and Egyptian Revival. It is decorated primarily in shades of white, pink and gold with ivory, jade and caramel coloured marble throughout. There are three domed atria along the length of the mall, and Peel claim the middle dome is bigger than that at St Paul's Cathedral. The central dome cost £5 million to construct. The Trafford Centre has 45,000 square metres of marble and granite flooring from Montignosa and Quarlata in Italy at a cost of £5.8 million (1996 value) and gold leaf adorns the building's columns. The marble floors and handrails are polished nightly to maintain the centre's opulent appearance.
The Trafford Centre has features which pay homage to the local area and North West England. The Orient food hall is themed around a steam ship, paying homage to the Industrial Revolution and the nearby Manchester Ship Canal. The Lancashire Rose also permeates the décor on window panes and interior cornices. Mythical griffin statues adorn the exterior, the heraldic symbol of the de Trafford baronets who historically owned much of the land in modern-day Trafford.
Others, however, have criticised the deception of the fake palm trees and neo-classical decorative pillars which are not made of marble but decorated medium-density fibreboard. Architecture critic John Parkinson-Bailey described the Trafford Centre as a building which "will not appeal to purists" and the range of interior architecture as "bewildering". The Peel Group say that the striking and extrovert architecture is aimed at providing visual delight, to make the visitor's shopping experience more vivid.
Since it opened in 1998, advances have been made in lighting design and efficiency such as the growth of L
Trafford Centre