[COM] Rundle Place | 76m | 15lvls | Retail & Office

[Pants]

Well that's all a bit dramatic.

I suspect you'd have some sort of branch of the ACC to thank for the retail facade. I don't buy any suggestion of lazy architecture. You don't design a (how much is it worth? $100m?) building with a few frills here and there and choose to ignore the part that fronts the busiest retail strip in the state.

[Splashmo]

It looks perfectly acceptable to me. I'm more interested in what new shops will be opening up! That'll make or break the retail development here.

[Pikey]

I've got a feeling that the Southern crane is going to be moved. The boom was being removed today (oddly enough) unless there is a really unorthodox way of attaching a collar?

I wonder if the crane will be relocated to the footpath?

We'll soon see!

[crawf]

Despite being stumpy, the office tower looks good.

However Rundle Plaza has alot to be desired, I still can't understand why they are going for a beige colour for this and the carpark when the city is already full of beige buildings. While that Apple Store just ruins the whole design of the Rundle Mall frontage, it looks terrible. Glass windows on the second level with a large Apple logo attached would look much better.

I could see a giant long LED screen ALA the Entertainment Centre running along the bare second level section of the Rundle mall frontage. (you can see part of it on the right hand side of the image below)

Great idea Pikey.

[Nathan]

The facade of the Apple store looks more like their standard mall style store, rather than their stand alone stores. Perhaps they haven't been given as much freedom as they usually get, which restricts them to the more conservative style.

[bm7500]

It seems sanity pevails!

Will Adelaide's Apple store be totally iBoring?

APPLE'S flagship shop on New York's 5th Ave is a giant glass cube with a spiralling staircase.

The company's Shanghai outlet is a towering cylinder, made from the largest curved glass panes in the world, and in Chicago, the roof of the Apple store is carpeted with lush green grass.

But designs for a new Rundle Mall shopfront widely believed to be the location for the company's first stand-alone Adelaide store have been described as "unimaginative" and "slavish".

While Apple is refusing to comment on whether it's opening a store in Adelaide, the Sunday Mail found leading property and business owners strongly believe the entertainment and technology giant is earmarked for the Mall.

The state's peak planning body has rejected a revised ground-floor design for the new $384 million Rundle Place shopping centre - on the old Harris Scarfe site - after it was changed to fit specific shopfront requirements of an "international brand tenant" who will "be a significant drawcard to Rundle Mall".

Jensen Planning & Design, acting on behalf of developers the Pacific Group, wrote in its submission: "The changes have been requested in order to respond to specific requirements of the tenant within their branding guidelines and design philosophy."

The designers could not release the name of the new tenant but said it would reinforce the Mall as the "central retail location for metropolitan Adelaide". The architects had asked to remove a balcony and canopy from the original design but the Development Assessment Commission last Thursday ruled it did not fit with planning rules for Rundle Mall that state all buildings must have balconies. The DAC said the changes lacked "identity".

In his own submission to the DAC against the changes, the state Planning Department's chief architect Philippe Mortier criticised the building design as putting "the manicured world image ahead of local amenity" and that it was an "unimaginative and disappointing slavish application of generic corporate style".

With more than 300 stores worldwide and 13 in Australia, Apple has stringent requirements on shop space and storefronts.

Pacific Group and Apple declined to comment on strong speculation the highly popular technology firm was in negotiations for the shopfront on the former Harris Scarfe site.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au

[Will]

Just to prove that I have a point, look at how the above article is introduced on the news.com website:

ADELAIDE expected their Apple store to rival New York. But it's Adelaide. The plans have been dubbed "unimaginative".

But it's Adelaide! WTF is that supposed to mean?! As I said on another thread, every article about Adelaide always starts with a put down. No other city in Australia has to put up with such sh#t. I'm sick of it.

[cruel_world00]

Alice Monfries should be ashamed. That was a terrible article that could've reflected more on the lack of imagination rather than comparing much bigger cities with Adelaide. Ugh. The Tiser strikes again.

[Vee]

Alice Monfries should be ashamed. That was a terrible article that could've reflected more on the lack of imagination rather than comparing much bigger cities with Adelaide. Ugh. The Tiser strikes again.

The 'Tiser strikes again! They can play a pivotal role in talking up the city ( and the state), showcasing our best, brightest, most innovative etc. They can set the tone, influence public opinion, rally for a cause, ignore or talk up issues or skew perceptions, especially with headlines, photos and features.

I would like to see more advocacy instead of putdowns and illogical comparisons to much larger cities with grand budgets. Sure, there are times when valid criticism is deserved but too often a negative aspect is stressed at the expense of the more positive side. This only feeds the negative brigade, including the scribes, comedians and interstate 'journos' who pick up their rare snippets and news about SA from such items.

By contrast, the 'Tiser's hype and positive support surrounding the decision to race the outstanding race mare, Black Caviar, at Morphetville for its 20th and record breaking win did add to the sentiment and state pride. The coverage and interest here, interstate and worldwide was huge! It was a trending topic on Twitter and I was amazed at the level of interest worldwide - London, Dublin, Korea, USA etc. And the crowd and racetrack and positive commentary did us proud.

Rundle Mall will benefit greatly from an Apple store - centrally located and fitted out to a high standard.

[Wayno]

Will & Vee, i'm going to start a thread called ' Adelaide Bashing - What to do about it?'. Hoping you and others contribute ideas & strategies usable in our everyday lives to combat this nonsense. We have a bright bunch of people in this forum and i'm sure we can make inroads.

[vozdra]

Maybe someone should send this link to Alice Monfries so she can have a look at how many apple stores there are like New York, Shanghai etc.

http://applestorefronts.appspot.com/

[Sadelaide]

Lets be realistic about things. We are a small city and more comparable to a town (when looking at large towns elsewhere in the world). Why would Apple invest millions into an Adelaide store when we have a small population which is not growing at a fast rate. Until we have fast population growth we will never have large 'flagship style' stores from Global companies. This is the same reason we have no global head offices here in Adelaide.

[cruel_world00]

And

Maybe someone should send this link to Alice Monfries so she can have a look at how many apple stores there are like New York, Shanghai etc.

http://applestorefronts.appspot.com/

Here's her twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/alicemonfries

[russo92]

Adelaide, the so called 'backwater/big country town' is getting an authentic Apple store, can't that be enough ? No we have to go on about its design or lack of it. Crazy.

[taktix]

I've got a feeling that the Southern crane is going to be moved. The boom was being removed today (oddly enough) unless there is a really unorthodox way of attaching a collar?

I wonder if the crane will be relocated to the footpath?

We'll soon see!

just being relocated to level 3