Sensational-Adelaide.com

stumpjumper wrote:One issue I see: will Adelaide shoppers get over their peculiar reluctance to shop over several floors unless in a department store? That idiosyncrasy was discovered when Adelaide Arcade was built in the 19th century and it doomed the upper floor tenancies in the Myer Centre.

Nathan wrote:

stumpjumper wrote:One issue I see: will Adelaide shoppers get over their peculiar reluctance to shop over several floors unless in a department store? That idiosyncrasy was discovered when Adelaide Arcade was built in the 19th century and it doomed the upper floor tenancies in the Myer Centre.

That's one thing I've never understood. Same goes with going anywhere which isn't the "main strip", such as down adjoining streets or lanes.

• Most of the specialty shops were made too small to be of much interest to most good major retailers
  
  The fact you could see right the way from terrace level to level 5 and vice-versa was a major attraction and also allowed natural light to flood the whole centre through the atrium. Unfortunately a few years after it opened they were forced to install safety glass and safety fabric sheets across several levels due to a couple of fatal incidents involving people jumping and being pushed from the higher levels. Effectively whilst this made it safer it also blocked the view and light flow between levels, hence making it much less attractive for shoppers to go to the higher levels as it felt a bit more dull and clostraphobic. What this really comes down to is in my opinion poor design.
  
  Part of a good design process is to think of all reasonably foreseeable contingencies and make sure the original design accounts for them. The designers of the Myer Centre ought to have foreseen that people might jump from the higher levels (sad, but true) and implemented adequate safety measures into the original design. Instead they didn't which means a few deaths could possibly have been prevented, and the "band-aid" measures they've retro-fitted post-construction to improve safety have destroyed one of the major attractions of the building.
  
  Dazzleland was, in theory, a brilliant idea and a major drawcard to get people into the centre and up to the higher levels. Sadly it failed due to poor management, over-pricing, and partly due to poor timing as it's first few years of trading were right in the middle of the 1990s recession, when most people were not spending much on luxuries such as entertainment (as is the case again at the moment).
  
  The Myer Centre was built to a unique and quite specific internal style (unique except for the other Myer Centre in Brisbane that is) and unfortunately in a misguided effort to "modernise" it, the current owners have removed the victorian lamp style lighting and re-painted the pillars and ceilings in bland colours which pretty much destroy the original concept of the interior design, but fail in their attempt to make it look contemporary. The Myer Centre was never intended to look contemporary and it doesn't. What is looked like when it opened was a unique, stylish, fun place to be. What it looks like now is a poorly patched up, half empty, struggling shopping centre with many examples of poor design and poor planning throughout.
  
  Same thing goes for the London Tavern. When it first re-opened as part of the Myer Centre it was made to look somewhat like an actual traditional old tavern in London, complete with a London street-scape and old style British telephone box. Now it looks like a slightly dull contemporary bar. Fairly ok but not very interesting because it's just like most other contemporary bars in Adelaide!
  
  If Rundle Place can avoid these sort of mistakes by ensuring they design it well, with all reasonably foreseeable future uses and events properly considered and catered for, then it should be able to be a thriving and profitable centre for many years.

skyliner wrote:The new 'red' section in Grenfell st needs an awning - look at the number of people catching buses there - cover for customers needed as well.

The new 'red' section in Grenfell st needs an awning - look at the number of people catching buses there - cover for customers needed as well.

It appears the red section is effectively an awning, sitting out from the building (and by the looks of it, handing out further than than the awnings of the retail frontage).

Application Number: DA/562/2008/2/C
Lodgement Date: 8/09/2011
Location: 77-91 Rundle Mall, ADELAIDE SA 5000
Description: Vary previous authorisation to demolish existing buildings and construct a 19 storey building comprising 4 storeys of retail (including basement) and 15 storeys of office accommodation - VARIATION - internal and external alterations - STAGE 2 - SUPERSTRUCTURE STRUCTURAL WORKS TO PODIUM LEVEL
Applicant Name: PACIFIC SHOPPING CENTRES C/- Synergy Project Management, Level 3 66 Wyatt St, ADELAIDE SA 5000 ALTEMAN (SA) P/L 158 City Rd, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006