[COM] SkyCity Adelaide Casino Expansion | 55m | 12 Levels | Hotel

[Nort]

Yup, I think most people on here would recognize that the Riverside center was a bad decision, and any office development on the plaza will be a repeat of that mistake. The area needs to be redeveloped, but in a way that is complimentary to that area being an entertainment and recreation precinct.

[monotonehell]

If the ground and first levels are to be used as public spaces as per the original plan, I see no problem with several stories of office space above. Adelaidians have shown their inability to think three dimensionally (ie go upstairs) and it will add pedestrian traffic and population during the week, which will give economic activity for the area. Win - win.

[Nort]

If the ground and first levels are to be used as public spaces as per the original plan, I see no problem with several stories of office space above. Adelaidians have shown their inability to think three dimensionally (ie go upstairs) and it will add pedestrian traffic and population during the week, which will give economic activity for the area. Win - win.

I'll agree with that.

[how good is he]

I think Iconic would be the key... Roll out another design competition haha. I am thinking a Federation Square-like design (I know - I hate copy-cats also) but it works well there... Any suggestions for existing buildings as a comparison that would look and work well here?

[Patrick_27]

I think Iconic would be the key... Roll out another design competition haha. I am thinking a Federation Square-like design (I know - I hate copy-cats also) but it works well there... Any suggestions for existing buildings as a comparison that would look and work well here?

Anything that does exist in this plaza should be Arts based. Offices, no.

Fed Square is all arts based, even the presence of the SBS in the square is interactive. modern art galleries, cafes, restaurants, exhibition rooms for interstate or international exhibitions.

IMO, they should move the Adelaide Central Bus station under this area amongst car park. If they go deep enough they should be able to fit it in. Then the bus station isn't in such a stand-alone area and that land can be better used.

[ml69]

I think Iconic would be the key... Roll out another design competition haha. I am thinking a Federation Square-like design (I know - I hate copy-cats also) but it works well there... Any suggestions for existing buildings as a comparison that would look and work well here?

I'm passionate about this site ... There is no better location in Adelaide for an iconic building which says that Adelaide is really going places. We should be aiming to build the tallest building that is permissible (100-120m high?) .... Similar to that state government vision of a tower which came out around June/July.

I believe the state government must take the lead to ensure we don't waste this site on a mediocre development which doesn't add any vitality to the area ... Vitality is the key.

Hence I don't have a specific building as an example, but my thoughts are that this building should be mixed-use (to create vitality) and include the following components:

Ground & L1: Restaurants, cafés, bars. Visitor Information Centre. Possibly relocated SA Sports Museum.

L2-L4: Media offices and studio spaces. Encourage Ch 9 or ABC to relocate to this hub. High profile location with convenient access to Parliament House and Adelaide Oval.

L5-L12: Offices. Most probably government departments and parliamentary offices. Eg Relocated Dept of Premier and Cabinet.

L13-L29: 5 star hotel. However with the hotel lobby, restaurants/bars, function spaces and recreational/pool deck located on the top levels of the hotel to take advantage of the views. I reckon the function rooms and restaurants/bar will become extremely popular if well managed, simply because such a view is not available anywhere else in Adelaide.

L30: Public observation deck, possibly with further restaurants/bars at this level.

I think such a diversity of uses will provide an innovative architect with an interesting brief to create an inspirational building.

[Will]

I think Iconic would be the key... Roll out another design competition haha. I am thinking a Federation Square-like design (I know - I hate copy-cats also) but it works well there... Any suggestions for existing buildings as a comparison that would look and work well here?

I'm passionate about this site ... There is no better location in Adelaide for an iconic building which says that Adelaide is really going places. We should be aiming to build the tallest building that is permissible (100-120m high?) .... Similar to that state government vision of a tower which came out around June/July.

I believe the state government must take the lead to ensure we don't waste this site on a mediocre development which doesn't add any vitality to the area ... Vitality is the key.

Hence I don't have a specific building as an example, but my thoughts are that this building should be mixed-use (to create vitality) and include the following components:

Ground & L1: Restaurants, cafés, bars. Visitor Information Centre. Possibly relocated SA Sports Museum.

L2-L4: Media offices and studio spaces. Encourage Ch 9 or ABC to relocate to this hub. High profile location with convenient access to Parliament House and Adelaide Oval.

L5-L12: Offices. Most probably government departments and parliamentary offices. Eg Relocated Dept of Premier and Cabinet.

L13-L29: 5 star hotel. However with the hotel lobby, restaurants/bars, function spaces and recreational/pool deck located on the top levels of the hotel to take advantage of the views. I reckon the function rooms and restaurants/bar will become extremely popular if well managed, simply because such a view is not available anywhere else in Adelaide.

L30: Public observation deck, possibly with further restaurants/bars at this level.

I think such a diversity of uses will provide an innovative architect with an interesting brief to create an inspirational building.

I completely agree. To think we are going to waste such an important site on a 13 level building infuriates me. What a complete lack of vision. Have we not learnt anything from the Riverside Centre?!

[rev]

That whole plaza area should be demolished along with the festival center. Start from scratch and build something iconic that will still be seen as iconic(and not outdated and dilapidated from decades ago) well into the future. Taking it further, a stage 2 could involve demolishing the riverside center and intercontinental and putting a new sleek hotel. Even incorporate the intercontinental with skycity and the convention center. Unless I'm mistaken they plan on demolishing the old building of the convention center.

An overall vision and plan for the entire area is needed, not bits and pieces here and there. You want to say to the rest of the country that Adelaide is moving forward, you want to make a statement, well that entire riverbank area should be redeveloped. Everything should go except the parliament, old parliament and casino. The rest is a disgrace. This is going to be another missed/wasted opportunity.

[Nathan]

That whole plaza area should be demolished along with the festival center. Start from scratch and build something iconic that will still be seen as iconic(and not outdated and dilapidated from decades ago) well into the future. Taking it further, a stage 2 could involve demolishing the riverside center and intercontinental and putting a new sleek hotel. Even incorporate the intercontinental with skycity and the convention center. Unless I'm mistaken they plan on demolishing the old building of the convention center.

An overall vision and plan for the entire area is needed, not bits and pieces here and there. You want to say to the rest of the country that Adelaide is moving forward, you want to make a statement, well that entire riverbank area should be redeveloped. Everything should go except the parliament, old parliament and casino. The rest is a disgrace. This is going to be another missed/wasted opportunity.

I completely disagree about the Festival Centre. It's an important building, still has architectural merit, and easily one of the most iconic buildings in Adelaide. It just needs some funds to clean up the more tired parts (i.e. recladding the buildings, and revisiting the ground level areas.(

[Dvious]

That whole plaza area should be demolished along with the festival center. Start from scratch and build something iconic that will still be seen as iconic(and not outdated and dilapidated from decades ago) well into the future. Taking it further, a stage 2 could involve demolishing the riverside center and intercontinental and putting a new sleek hotel. Even incorporate the intercontinental with skycity and the convention center. Unless I'm mistaken they plan on demolishing the old building of the convention center.

An overall vision and plan for the entire area is needed, not bits and pieces here and there. You want to say to the rest of the country that Adelaide is moving forward, you want to make a statement, well that entire riverbank area should be redeveloped. Everything should go except the parliament, old parliament and casino. The rest is a disgrace. This is going to be another missed/wasted opportunity.

That was one of the worst statements i have ever read on this forum, apart from that pleb who's always going on about roller coasters.

Im sorry but the Festival Center was Adelaides most iconic building up until the new SAHMRI. It is architecturally brilliant and many years on it was still our best looking building. The only building that needs to be demolished is the Riverside Center.

[Vee]

.....
Im sorry but the Festival Center was Adelaides most iconic building up until the new SAHMRI. It is architecturally brilliant and many years on it was still our best looking building. The only building that needs to be demolished is the Riverside Center.

Agree. The Adelaide Festival Centre is an iconic building with a rich connection to a passionate arts advocate, former SA Premier, Don Dunstan who was instrumental in putting Adelaide and SA on the map as the festival state.

The Festival Centre and plaza occupies a prize location on the Riverbank, replacing a collection of fibro huts, the Elder Park Migrant Hostel, which housed migrants temporarily during the post-war migration boom.

The Adelaide City Baths on King William Street, where a young Dawn Fraser did some of her Olympics swimming training with her coach, Harry Gallagher, were also demolished to make way for the new construction. The ugly Migrant Hostel was no loss, having served its purpose. Sad to see the City Baths building had to make way but the then new Aquatic Centre was designed to better meet the needs of swimming, diving, competition, recreation.

Photo of City Baths via SAlife7
http://www.salife7.com.au/adelaide/plac ... city-baths

Adelaide Festival Centre

The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House.
In the 1960s, the Adelaide Festival of Arts started to outgrow the city's existing venues. The Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Robert Porter, supported by Labor Premier and arts advocate Don Dunstan, launched a public appeal to raise funds to build the Centre and the appeal raised its target within a week.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide_Festival_Centre

One week!!!

[rev]

The Festival Center, along with the old part of the convention center, the Interconinental and riverside building all look like crap and should be demolished. That was my statement, that is my opinion, that's what I'm sticking with. I'm not arguing about the history of the festival center. I do not care about it's history.
Iconic? Ask people around the country what building they know of in Adelaide, and they'll say that tallish brown one that's dominated the skyline for decades. They wont say the festival center, and they certainly wont mention the SAHMRI which almost nobody in Australia knows about except the few dozen people who regularly use sites like S-A and SSC.

That was one of the worst statements i have ever read on this forum

Should I join the circle jerk to the mediocre rubbish Adelaide mostly gets, and moan "SA HEAPS GOOD"?
In future I'll try and conform to your tastes and ideas. Hopefully if we work together we can avoid any more situations where you have to read other peoples opinions.

[monotonehell]

Who are you asking Rev?

Here's an empirical survey instead of what is in your head.

Go to Google Images, search for Adelaide.

[rev]

Who are you asking Rev?

Here's an empirical survey instead of what is in your head.

Go to Google Images, search for Adelaide.

What was it I was supposed to see? The fact that Adelaide has changed very little compared to the east coat capitals? Were you trying to highlight the fact that Adelaide continues to lag behind and change happens at a snails pace?

Ah well, I don't see any point in continuing to argue about it and distracting from the thread topic. Some of you like the festival center, I think it's ugly. Everyone has their opinion.

[cruel_world00]

Who are you asking Rev?

Here's an empirical survey instead of what is in your head.

Go to Google Images, search for Adelaide.

What was it I was supposed to see? The fact that Adelaide has changed very little compared to the east coat capitals? Were you trying to highlight the fact that Adelaide continues to lag behind and change happens at a snails pace?

Ah well, I don't see any point in continuing to argue about it and distracting from the thread topic. Some of you like the festival center, I think it's ugly. Everyone has their opinion.

I think the point they were trying to make is that when you google Adelaide, the most iconic shot of the city usually involves the Festival Centre...it's out postcard shot.

Skyline change isn't everything you know. I'd much rather have a better ground level culture of bars, restaurants, galleries, cafes, etc first and then work on changing the 100m+ buildings. Look at Perth, sure they've got tall buildings but in terms of city vibe, they're considered a similar "back water" to Adelaide (not my personal opinion, but they have the same inferiority complex we suffer). When it comes to naming cities, I reckon skyline has very little to do with a person's experience of that city.

On a development forum, I'd hazard your average forumer knows a lot more skyline shots but out in the real world, you'd be hard pressed to hold up a range of cities and have any one name them correctly. Show them the lights and bustle of Times Square/Picadilly Circus, the crossing in Japan, Machu Picchu in South America, the Champs-Élysées in Paris etc etc.. and they're more likely to identify.

In the last 2 years, Adelaide has been working hard to cultivate its own identity and if national and international press, combined with local attitude, is anything to go by, it's working. We might not have many tall buildings, but they all count for nothing if you've got nothing to offer at ground level.

Maybe you don't like the Festival Centre, obviously that's your opinion, but bulldozing a key part of our history that has particularly iconic significance is not something that is going to happen in the foreseeable future.

Focus on what is happening and work with that.