[COM] 269 North Terrace | 119m | 36 Levels | Student accommodation

[A-Town]

What 'character' on the southern side of North Terrace is this 'concerned government architect' referring to?

Is it the beige concrete monstrosity that is the David Jones building, or its afterthought add-on Tiffany & Co?

The Adelaide Central Plaza, with its six-lane car park entry and poorly tacked on apartments?

The heavily vandalised and long-vacant remains of Club 199?

The mid-century brick and concrete office building on the corner of Gawler Place?

The hideous Myer Centre, with its tall blank walls hiding behind four butchered heritage facades?

The awfully dated University of Adelaide building on the corner of Pulteney Street, or the run-down two-level Wilson car park next door?

Or, perhaps, is it the bland, single-level brick church building this development is expected to replace?

Spare me.

[Alyx]

What 'character' on the southern side of North Terrace is this 'concerned government architect' referring to?

Is it the beige concrete monstrosity that is the David Jones building, or its afterthought add-on Tiffany & Co?

The Adelaide Central Plaza, with its six-lane car park entry and poorly tacked on apartments?

The heavily vandalised and long-vacant remains of Club 199?

The mid-century brick and concrete office building on the corner of Gawler Place?

The hideous Myer Centre, with its tall blank walls hiding behind four butchered heritage facades?

The awfully dated University of Adelaide building on the corner of Pulteney Street, or the run-down two-level Wilson car park next door?

Or, perhaps, is it the bland, single-level brick church building this development is expected to replace?

Spare me.

This post looks familiar...

[Mr Smith]

What 'character' on the southern side of North Terrace is this 'concerned government architect' referring to?

Is it the beige concrete monstrosity that is the David Jones building, or its afterthought add-on Tiffany & Co?

The Adelaide Central Plaza, with its six-lane car park entry and poorly tacked on apartments?

The heavily vandalised and long-vacant remains of Club 199?

The mid-century brick and concrete office building on the corner of Gawler Place?

The hideous Myer Centre, with its tall blank walls hiding behind four butchered heritage facades?

The awfully dated University of Adelaide building on the corner of Pulteney Street, or the run-down two-level Wilson car park next door?

Or, perhaps, is it the bland, single-level brick church building this development is expected to replace?

Spare me.

You have nailed it A-Town. North Tce . The southern side could really do with some major upgrading. The Myer centre - what an utter disgrace and nearly bankrupted the state into the bargain.

[Mr Smith]

Deferred:

The State Commission Assessment Panel resolved to defer consideration of the development to allow the applicant to explore in more detail the following issues:
• In association with the Associate Government Architect and the State Heritage Branch, consider the introduction of pedestrian protection at ground level on both street facades.
• Demonstrate that external materials and finishes will deliver the stated architectural design integrity.
• The provision of more realistic streetscape imagery from Frome Street and North Terrace that includes existing and approved developments.
• Provision of lift access to the basement.

And it's a good thing. Lots of development going on in our CBD right now. Cranes dotted everywhere..... and most pleasingly all from private investment.

However, happy this one got deferred. The day we start approving buildings based on some cartoon drawings, is the day we start on the slippery slope to becoming a smaller version of Brisbane.

What is so offensive about the Brisbane CBD? It;s not perfect sure but it leaves this joint for dead when it comes to many of its well designed office towers.

We are more comparable to Hobart CBD than Brisbane

[noted]

What 'character' on the southern side of North Terrace is this 'concerned government architect' referring to?

Is it the beige concrete monstrosity that is the David Jones building, or its afterthought add-on Tiffany & Co?

The Adelaide Central Plaza, with its six-lane car park entry and poorly tacked on apartments?

The heavily vandalised and long-vacant remains of Club 199?

The mid-century brick and concrete office building on the corner of Gawler Place?

The hideous Myer Centre, with its tall blank walls hiding behind four butchered heritage facades?

The awfully dated University of Adelaide building on the corner of Pulteney Street, or the run-down two-level Wilson car park next door?

Or, perhaps, is it the bland, single-level brick church building this development is expected to replace?

Spare me.

Apart from your point about the four 'butchered facades' it is difficult to disagree with any of what you wrote. However, someone could write an equally lengthy post highlighting all of the genuinely character enhancing heritage buildings that also occupy the strip.

There have been mistakes made in the past (the David Jones car park with its massive street frontage is one of the ugliest constructions in the cbd). It is for that reason I see the next phase of development as all the more important in determining whether this becomes just like any other run of the mill cbd street, or somewhere which deservedly claims to be a cultural boulevard. This building is fine, but definitely fits in to the run of the mill category.

[Joelmark]

The great thing about this forum is that there's usually two types of strands - modern development good vs retention of heritage good. That's a big generalisation so please don't have too much of a go at me about that sentence (!) but as others have said it makes this forum interesting and thought provoking and hence why I add the odd photo and update when I return to Adelaide.

With that, I think the State DAC made the right decision - this building is too tall and overbearing for this location. It wouldn't be a problem on Grenfell, Waymouth or even say Wakefield Streets but right on the corner of North Tce and Frome is the wrong location.

We shouldn't forget how great and unique such a streetscape as North Terrace is, at least on the northern side (which is stunning and unique in Australia), and I think a case could made for it to be treated as a special zone and even reverse and restore some of mistakes on the southern side of the street - there's also plenty of gems still from Ayres House to the facades part of Myer to the terrace buildings near East Terrace.

Plenty of other streets in the world from the Champs Elysees in Paris to Whitehall in London to Unter Den Linden in Berlin have a streetscape plan and North Terrace is unique in Australia and should have the same consistency too - this isn't about stopping change - the tram line extension is great - or development; quite the opposite it's about creating the right atmosphere for it to continue to be cultural destination.

[[Shuz]]

I agree with the idea of a streetscape plan. Maybe in the next development plan update for the CBD they should introduce "overlays" - which is a form of zoning controls that can be applied to a particular area, or in this case, street.

North Terrace, Rundle Street and Gouger Street should have streetscape overlays whereby strict controls are applied on height, bulk and setbacks.

Usually I'm of the belief that less regulations the better. But in this case, I think Adelaide could stand to benefit from applying tighter controls in key localities so that optimal development outcomes are delivered.

I note that we don't have many (if any) regulations concerning setbacks, floor-height ratios and shadowing, whereas Sydney and Melbourne CBD do and they still have produced good quality developments.

Would love to see this building go up, but not in this location. Or at least revisit the design at a shorter height (70m) or so that is more consistent with the streetscape.

[Ben]

Amended plans on DAC site for upcoming meeting for which it is expected to be approved this time.

https://www.saplanningcommission.sa.gov ... hments.pdf

New renders including Adelaidean.

[Pikey]

I really like it! The design actually compliments Adelaidean, with the copper working well against the charcoal/blue cladding. Although I do feel that the render does "dumb down" Adelaidean a touch.

No wonder those with a Northern facing apartment would be pissed!

[HiTouch]

Is it just me or does it look the same (or similar) size to the Adelaidean. Has there been a height modification?

[Plasmatron]

I'm still pretty iffy about the location, but I do love the "twin towers" vibe going on there.

[Dvious]

That will be a nice sight if it gets out of the ground, exciting times ahead!

[Nort]

I've definitely warmed a lot to this proposal, although what HiTouch said, it seems weird that in the renders this only looks a couple of metres shorter than the Adelaidean.

[Ben]

Adelaidean is 16.8m taller but the top two levels are set back a bit. I'd take the renders with a grain of salt as they are indicative only. I'd think the height difference will be more noticeable in real life.

[SBD]

Adelaidean is 16.8m taller but the top two levels are set back a bit. I'd take the renders with a grain of salt as they are indicative only. I'd think the height difference will be more noticeable in real life.

Based on the photo of the model, I'd say the top two floors are missing from Adelaidean in these pictures. That model (in the display centre last June) also looks much more brown than the blue rendered here.