[SWP] Lot 14 (Old RAH Site)

All high-rise, low-rise and street developments in the Adelaide and North Adelaide areas.
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pushbutton
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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#136 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:44 am

There's certainly no backwards thinking from me. Actually designing the look of the site before you even know what it will be could be described as backwards thinking!

My proposal is that it should be a place dedicated to fun, because South Australia is sorely lacking such facilities. How about a huge free playground, suitable for people of all ages (and I don't mean brightly painted swings and roundabouts! Google adult adventure playground if you have never seen a playground adults can enjoy. A high ropes course could be next to this. This could be complemented by a zorb park with a gentle hill to zorb or water-zorb down, and a segway circuit. Several spacious cafes with ample outdoor seating, and a few nice restaurants,and a beautiful resort style day spa. All this could be set around amazing manicured gardens, a large lake, and a lagoon for swimming in, featuring waterfalls and a natural looking lazy river in one section of it, where you can relax on inflatable rings and float gently around.

Does this all sound horrible so far?

A large beach by one side of the lake could feature a high quality outdoor food court, space for beach sports, space for sunbathing and for playing in the sand and building sand castles, and informal performance space where singers could perform all day and into the late evening. Gentle music only so as to enhance the relaxing yet energetic atmosphere. Regular sand sculpting contests could be held on the beach. These could very quickly become a major international attraction in their own right.

All this would be masterplanned and beautifully designed, with breathtaking landscaping and amazing water features, plenty of shade, nothing tacky. Spectacularly lit at night. A place of relaxation and recreation for all, and to fit in perfectly and integrate perfectly with the parklands. A place to make Adelaide sensational to live in or visit. A place to put Adelaide on the international tourist map. A place to enjoy and to make you proud.

The entire complex would use intelligent design features to recycle water, capture and use rainwater, and use solar power. It would be extremely well managed by a company expert in running this sort of facility, and would be immaculately maintained and profitable. In other words, the council would not be involved.

The heritage buildings of the hospital would need to be unlisted and demolished as they wouldn't fit the ambience of the new development. No backwards thinking! They're nothing special so it would be no loss. If there isn't enough land for all this, simply extend into the adjacent parkland. Shouldn't be a problem as all this enhances and improves the adjacent parkland and attracts people to use it more.

Don't suppose anyone other than me would want such a place in Adelaide, so perhaps we should just build yet more boring offices. However to me it would be somewhere I would visit often, and that in turn would also make me far more likely to use city shops more often than I do.
Last edited by pushbutton on Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:39 am, edited 5 times in total.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#137 Post by Nathan » Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:15 am

Yes, let's bulldoze those pesky heritage buildings so we can put in a zorb park and a segway circuit!

Really pushbutton, are they really appropriate uses for the site? There's acres of other parklands where those kind of activities can be located.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#138 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:49 am

I wouldn't be against building such a place in another part of the parklands, but anytime anyone suggests even a far more modest development in the parklands, it goes nowhere because people just want the parklands to stay as they are and never change. The beauty of the RAH site is it's already developed, and so the obstacle of pushing back further and encroaching on the parklands next to it would be easier to overcome compared to developing on untouched parkland.

Are the hospital buildings really of any merit, or worth keeping?

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#139 Post by Nathan » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:34 am

pushbutton wrote:Are the hospital buildings really of any merit, or worth keeping?
The blocks and wings in the centre and along the north and east edges, no, but the heritage ones facing North Tce and Frome Rd? Yes, they are definitely worth keeping.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#140 Post by Dvious » Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:12 pm

pushbutton wrote:There's certainly no backwards thinking from me. Actually designing the look of the site before you even know what it will be could be described as backwards thinking!

My proposal is that it should be a place dedicated to fun, because South Australia is sorely lacking such facilities. How about a huge free playground, suitable for people of all ages (and I don't mean brightly painted swings and roundabouts! Google adult adventure playground if you have never seen a playground adults can enjoy. A high ropes course could be next to this. This could be complemented by a zorb park with a gentle hill to zorb or water-zorb down, and a segway circuit. Several spacious cafes with ample outdoor seating, and a few nice restaurants,and a beautiful resort style day spa. All this could be set around amazing manicured gardens, a large lake, and a lagoon for swimming in, featuring waterfalls and a natural looking lazy river in one section of it, where you can relax on inflatable rings and float gently around.

Does this all sound horrible so far?

A large beach by one side of the lake could feature a high quality outdoor food court, space for beach sports, space for sunbathing and for playing in the sand and building sand castles, and informal performance space where singers could perform all day and into the late evening. Gentle music only so as to enhance the relaxing yet energetic atmosphere. Regular sand sculpting contests could be held on the beach. These could very quickly become a major international attraction in their own right.

All this would be masterplanned and beautifully designed, with breathtaking landscaping and amazing water features, plenty of shade, nothing tacky. Spectacularly lit at night. A place of relaxation and recreation for all, and to fit in perfectly and integrate perfectly with the parklands. A place to make Adelaide sensational to live in or visit. A place to put Adelaide on the international tourist map. A place to enjoy and to make you proud.

The entire complex would use intelligent design features to recycle water, capture and use rainwater, and use solar power. It would be extremely well managed by a company expert in running this sort of facility, and would be immaculately maintained and profitable. In other words, the council would not be involved.

The heritage buildings of the hospital would need to be unlisted and demolished as they wouldn't fit the ambience of the new development. No backwards thinking! They're nothing special so it would be no loss. If there isn't enough land for all this, simply extend into the adjacent parkland. Shouldn't be a problem as all this enhances and improves the adjacent parkland and attracts people to use it more.

Don't suppose anyone other than me would want such a place in Adelaide, so perhaps we should just build yet more boring offices. However to me it would be somewhere I would visit often, and that in turn would also make me far more likely to use city shops more often than I do.
A playground? Lol.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#141 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:03 pm

Playground. lol?

Why is that funny?

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#142 Post by Patrick_27 » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:28 pm

pushbutton wrote:There's certainly no backwards thinking from me. Actually designing the look of the site before you even know what it will be could be described as backwards thinking!

My proposal is that it should be a place dedicated to fun, because South Australia is sorely lacking such facilities. How about a huge free playground, suitable for people of all ages (and I don't mean brightly painted swings and roundabouts! Google adult adventure playground if you have never seen a playground adults can enjoy. A high ropes course could be next to this. This could be complemented by a zorb park with a gentle hill to zorb or water-zorb down, and a segway circuit. Several spacious cafes with ample outdoor seating, and a few nice restaurants,and a beautiful resort style day spa. All this could be set around amazing manicured gardens, a large lake, and a lagoon for swimming in, featuring waterfalls and a natural looking lazy river in one section of it, where you can relax on inflatable rings and float gently around.

Does this all sound horrible so far?

A large beach by one side of the lake could feature a high quality outdoor food court, space for beach sports, space for sunbathing and for playing in the sand and building sand castles, and informal performance space where singers could perform all day and into the late evening. Gentle music only so as to enhance the relaxing yet energetic atmosphere. Regular sand sculpting contests could be held on the beach. These could very quickly become a major international attraction in their own right.

All this would be masterplanned and beautifully designed, with breathtaking landscaping and amazing water features, plenty of shade, nothing tacky. Spectacularly lit at night. A place of relaxation and recreation for all, and to fit in perfectly and integrate perfectly with the parklands. A place to make Adelaide sensational to live in or visit. A place to put Adelaide on the international tourist map. A place to enjoy and to make you proud.

The entire complex would use intelligent design features to recycle water, capture and use rainwater, and use solar power. It would be extremely well managed by a company expert in running this sort of facility, and would be immaculately maintained and profitable. In other words, the council would not be involved.

The heritage buildings of the hospital would need to be unlisted and demolished as they wouldn't fit the ambience of the new development. No backwards thinking! They're nothing special so it would be no loss. If there isn't enough land for all this, simply extend into the adjacent parkland. Shouldn't be a problem as all this enhances and improves the adjacent parkland and attracts people to use it more.

Don't suppose anyone other than me would want such a place in Adelaide, so perhaps we should just build yet more boring offices. However to me it would be somewhere I would visit often, and that in turn would also make me far more likely to use city shops more often than I do.

Pushbutton, why by any means do we need a beach or beach-like area? We have a tram-line just down from the site that takes people to a beach, and not to mention that this area would sure enough be dead in the colder months which seem to be getting longer.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#143 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:48 pm

An inner city beach is forward thinking and would attract people who live in the city. Many others who come for the other attractions might stay to have a meal and listen to music on the beach, or just to play sport or relax on it.

So if you don't like the beach idea, what would you replace the beach with?

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#144 Post by Will » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:53 pm

pushbutton wrote:An inner city beach is forward thinking and would attract people who live in the city. Many others who come for the other attractions might stay to have a meal and listen to music on the beach, or just to play sport or relax on it.

So if you don't like the beach idea, what would you replace the beach with?
You have to understand the reasons why places like Brisbane and Darwin have artificial beaches. Brisbane lacks any good beaches nearby and whilst Darwin has nice beaches, there are multiple creatures in the waters just waiting to eat/bite/sting you. Hence, this is why artificial beaches are successful in those city's - because people have no alternative.

Now, consider Adelaide. We have 80 kilometres of beautiful beaches just minutes from the CBD. Why would people go to an artificial beach when you've got the real thing so close?

Your idea is akin to building the Bicentennial Conservatory in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#145 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:56 pm

Alternative ideas then please? The beach was merely one small part of my overall proposal, and would complement the other attractions to make an overall very high quality inner city recreation and leisure park.

On a side note, some people seem to have no idea what I mean when I say a playground for all ages. So having experienced it several times myself I can tell you it's not only fantastic fun for all ages, it's also great exercise!

Here's the one I love best, in Sea World. Something similar could be a part of the development as I described earlier.

I should point out this photo only gives you an idea what it looks like from outside. It's much more than you see here though!
sea world playground.JPG
sea world playground.JPG (311.74 KiB) Viewed 2889 times

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#146 Post by Matt » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:10 pm

Seaworld? Argh.

Adelaide, thankfully, is not, and never will be the Gold Coast or Brisbane.

We won't ever have theme parks, we won't have a mall riddled with palm trees and we certainly won't have a tacky faux beach in the city.

Continually suggesting Adelaide should strive to emulate the 'wonders' of the Gold Coast is ridiculous.


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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#147 Post by Will » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:53 pm

I can see some merit in a large adventure playground, but please, not on North Terrace. North Terrace is our elegant, cultural boulevard. Having Disneyland on it would ruin it.

I would like the RAH site transformed into an extension of the cultural precinct. I would like a new Australian museum of modern art or a museum dedicated to Indigenous cultures developed, and if there is space, I would like the National Motor Museum relocated to the CBD - and turned into a truly national motor museum, not the parochial museum we currently have.

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#148 Post by serca » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:15 pm

Will wrote:I can see some merit in a large adventure playground, but please, not on North Terrace. North Terrace is our elegant, cultural boulevard. Having Disneyland on it would ruin it.

I would like the RAH site transformed into an extension of the cultural precinct. I would like a new Australian museum of modern art or a museum dedicated to Indigenous cultures developed, and if there is space, I would like the National Motor Museum relocated to the CBD - and turned into a truly national motor museum, not the parochial museum we currently have.
+1

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#149 Post by pushbutton » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:26 pm

Matt wrote:Seaworld? Argh.

Adelaide, thankfully, is not, and never will be the Gold Coast or Brisbane.

We won't ever have theme parks, we won't have a mall riddled with palm trees and we certainly won't have a tacky faux beach in the city.

Continually suggesting Adelaide should strive to emulate the 'wonders' of the Gold Coast is ridiculous.


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I could only assume from that you've either never been there, or you just don't like to have fun.

If you do like to have fun, but have never been there, please do so and spend at least a week there, with a VIP card, and grab lots of tourist brochures and do as many of the activities as you can (you won't be able to do anywhere near all of them though).

If after that, you don't have a different opinion, fair enough I suppose.

It's life on a completely different dimension than you get in Adelaide. Hard to describe, but the gold coast will absolutely blow your mind.

One thing Adelaide does do much better though is architecture. There's no reason at all why we can't have both great architecture, AND the sorts of amazing experiences you get in the Gold Coast. It really is mind-blowing!

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[SWP] Re: #PRO: Former RAH Site (Design Competition)

#150 Post by Nathan » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:58 pm

The Gold Coast certainly blows something, but it's not my mind.

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