[COM] Victoria Square Upgrade - $24m

[mattblack]

Shouldnt all these posts be in 'vision' rather than in here?

[monotonehell]

Shouldnt all these posts be in 'vision' rather than in here?

Only if they have any.

[Wayno]

Heard a rumour that Taylor Cullity Lethlean (http://www.tcl.net.au) will be providing a design to the ACC for VSQ in a few weeks time.

Looking arond their website, TCL have been responsible for many recent public space developments Australia-wide, including the park in the NW corner of Hindmarsh Square.

[Shuz]

TCL have a very impressive resume; their consultancy has been used in the following projects.

• North Terrace Streetscape, Adelaide
  Birrarung Marr, Melbourne
  Sidney Music Myer Bowl, Melbourne
  Mobara Park, Mawson Lakes
  Manly Corso, Sydney
  Grattan Plaza, Prahan
  Victoria Harbour, Docklands
  Geelong Central, Geelong
  The Australian Garden, Cranbourne

The common theme of all these projects are noted for their striking simplicity and balanced composition of natural features which constructively contributes to achieving modern elegance, a rarity seen in urban planning solutions of today. I will be expecting a proposal of a very high calibre.

[Wayno]

I will be expecting a proposal of a very high calibre.

We know

[UrbanSG]

With today being the last day of August I don't see any plans released for public consultation. Did I miss an updated press release pushing the date further into the future?

Can any Council members on this forum update us on what is going on?

[Wayno]

i'm hoping any delay relates to a 3D model being created for the proposed design I heard a couple of weeks ago that the public release was only a few weeks away.

[Wayno]

Soon...

City messenger

Hip to be square - new vision for Adelaide’s Victoria Square

VICTORIA Square is set to become a hub for major events, following a Town Hall investigation revealing that’s what people want.

The City Council has surveyed hundreds of visitors, residents and business owners around the city, as it works with designers Taylor Cullity Lethlean on a $24 million masterplan for the city’s heart.

Taylor Cullity Lethlean director Kevin Taylor told the City Messenger that events would drive people to the square.

“People really feel as though they need a pretty solid reason to go there,” he said.

“People who work and own buildings around the square said ‘we don’t have a reason to go there and it’s difficult to cross the roads’ that’s why there’s so few people there at the moment.

“People are saying if you put on these types of events then that will give us a reason to go there and we’ll do that.

“The top five or six things that people said they wanted were all event-based.”

While he was tight-lipped on specifics, Mr Taylor said the new design would ensure the square could hold larger events.

Town Hall has also been in preliminary discussions with event organisers, including Tasting Australia, which runs the Feast for the Senses, in a bid to lure them to the revamped square in the future.

Council and Taylor Cullity Lethlean staff have been holding invitation-only briefings with key city stakeholders in the past week to update them on the revamp’s progress and run through the results of the market research, which is yet to be publicly released.

Taylor Cullity Lethlean are set to present a draft masterplan to the council next month. The plan will then be publicly released for a four-week consultation period.

Mr Taylor said he was confident the project was still on track and works would start mid-next year.

“I think the key thing is to get the whole masterplan approved before Christmas, which I don’t think there’s been any deviation from that, and as long as that’s done there’s every chance they’ll be able to meet that deadline by June next year.”

[Shuz]

*fingers crossed*

[frank1]

hmmm could be good, but i don't know how far 24mil will go. If it was at least 50mil then we would see some real changes.

[adam_stuckey]

These stories seem to get run every 12 months or so i'll believe it when i see it i'm afraid.

One thing that i think would have worked is instead of buidling the 2,500 seater theatre at the entertainment centre why not build something like that in Vic square. I think it would be a good start at least.

Then you don't have to build a tramline out there!

[Wayno]

I have it on good authority that the design for VSQ is complete. Lots of input from Laura Lee (Thinker In Residence program) and various others groups (i'm not sure who). It's now awaiting State Govt approval/sign-off. Nothing can be released for public consumption til Rann gives the nod.

[rubegoldbergdevice]

This better be awesome. I'm dubious, but time will tell.

Thing is if they fuck this up now, it will remain that way for decades to come. Again. Probably would be better to spend the cash on the more urgent necessity of Rundle Mall. It doesn't take much to make a pedestrian mall look impressive. And looks are everything for a retail precinct! The modest model for that could be Elizabeth St Mall in Hobart (that's right I said Hobart). Pisses on Rundle Mall from a great height. Plus we've lived with a shitty Vic Sq all our lives so far.

Something like Victoria Square (potentially the greatest civic space in Australia - it is FIFTH biggest public square by area in the world!) needs some powerful stuff behind it to make it work in a modern city. Most town/city squares are centuries old and were market places originally, and therein lies the problem: Vic Sq's function has never been identified. It's always just been there because of "Light's Vision".

Other cities would come up with something different to do with all six squares. I'm afeared Adelaide lacks the imagination (ref. art and architecture of Adelaide) to pull this off even in one square. The best design so far was the one that got sunk through Harbo's election. A few tweaks and we would've been there. But people lacked the imagination to see how that design would've worked and how it would've changed the city. Gotta keep da cars a-comin.

[ChrisRT]

Probably would be better to spend the cash on the more urgent necessity of Rundle Mall.

What's wrong with Rundle mall? There is very limited scope with what you could do to improve Rundle mall but almost limitless scope for what could be done to improve Vic square.

Rundle mall is just a place for consumption. At Vic square you can have sporting events, cultural events, temporary markets or just laze about and enjoy the sunshine (if they make it a more pleasant place to be). With Vic square, the designers are almost limited only by their imagination.

[ralmin]

Victoria Square (potentially the greatest civic space in Australia - it is FIFTH biggest public square by area in the world!)

That didn't ring true to me - and a quick check on Wikipedia backs me up. According to the List of city squares by size, Victoria Square (58,000 m2) is at most the 32nd biggest public square, and it will probably move further down the list, as the list gets longer.