Sensational-Adelaide.com

I don't hate it. I think it's probably quite a poor render in the sense that it doesn't show any of the textures that a masonry facade will have and hence the whole thing looks like a beige box, but it has some merit. The plinth looks rather nice indeed, especially the ground floor with its lovely big windows opening onto North Terrace, and I'm quite a fan of introducing 'bronze tones' to the skyline - especially if its a proper, rich bronze and not just a washed-out brown or somethng equally drab.

MIght I say, however - 16.4 square metres?? Are these poor students forced to endure communal bathrooms, or must they hide a chamber-pot under the bed?

Unfortunately, the developers were forced to make the following changes to get the support of the council planners and/or heritge dept. to try to get an approval.

Below are the changes and the authorities reasoning:

1)There is the possibility that another 18-storey building could be built adjacent to this building in the future ie the Gallerie site [behind it's heritage listed facade]. Therefore all the glass windows on the Easterly boundary may ultimately face into a concrete wall.
Further it was also a fire safety concern as potentially a fire could move across from building to building/between floors. Therefore solid concrete walls on the side instead of glass.

2)The first five floors to have no overhanging balconies to continue "the wall effect" on North Tce.
Heritage dept were totally against the curved facade as not in keeping with the streetscape etc.
All other balconies to be a max. of 50% of the width of the facade and limited overhang to minimise visual impact.

3)Couldnt use green or blue glass on the building as there is no green or blue glass in that part of North Tce. Therefore only bronze glass. Facade basically had to be stone-like [vs metallic] to complement the other heritage buildings.

4)The ACC planners wanted the building set back from both the rear and front boundaries [and it is already a tight site] meaning that all the apartments had to be made smaller. If the original larger size apartments were kept [35sqm+] on the new reduced footprint, approx 50 apartments would have been lost, making the whole project unfeasible.

Comments?

how_good_is_he wrote:
1)There is the possibility that another 18-storey building could be built adjacent to this building in the future ie the Gallerie site [behind it's heritage listed facade].

Yes thank you.

I don't mind it.

how_good_is_he wrote:1)There is the possibility that another 18-storey building could be built adjacent to this building in the future ie the Gallerie site [behind it's heritage listed facade]. Therefore all the glass windows on the Easterly boundary may ultimately face into a concrete wall.
Further it was also a fire safety concern as potentially a fire could move across from building to building/between floors. Therefore solid concrete walls on the side instead of glass.

Very unfortunate. When I first saw the new render, I thought the gold along the west was just very reflective coloured glass.

I wonder if the ACC's dislike of balconies, as showin in how-good's post, is a fear of replicating the Gold Coast look? Not many balcony-clad buildings seem to date well.

how_good_is_he wrote:2)The first five floors to have no overhanging balconies to continue "the wall effect" on North Tce.

Interesting, I hadn't thought of something like a "wall effect" as something that you would want to preserve. The name has some funny connotations (China? Hadrian? Berlin?), but perhaps if it's in a broader context of providing an interesting street level ...

BTW, the image seems to show that the footpath along there is perhaps 20m broad - is that right? And are there any examples of cafes that are spreading al-fresco style over the path with tables under umbrellas? That would be cool to see along the terrace.

I think they want to keep the "wall effect" as it frames the North Terrace cultural precinct as distinct from the CBD. It promotes a contrast between the dense, built up southern side and the open, green and low rise northern side.

The width of the foot path in the render is... artistic licence. But it is one of the wider foot paths in Adelaide, especially around that area. And yes, there's two or three coffee shops / cafes / fast food with tables on the footpath but nowhere near the continuous line of tables found along other streets.

Google Street View: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=e ... 2748921409

It would be timely if the Gallarie Arcade buildings were refurbished along with this project. It'd be nice to see someone put good use to those heritage facades.

Lord knows, I'd love to see cafes lining the terrace. But seeing that street-level view does remind you how unappealing the idea of sipping a machiato next to six lanes of traffic would be.

How about next to four lanes of traffic and two tram lanes?

That section of North Terrace is generally dominated by heritage facades that either have no possibility for any substantial street interaction or are vacant.

Prince George wrote:Lord knows, I'd love to see cafes lining the terrace. But seeing that street-level view does remind you how unappealing the idea of sipping a machiato next to six lanes of traffic would be.

That section isn't that bad actually, the view of the Museum/Library/Art Gallery/Uni/Etc is very nice. I doubt it would be so good at peak period, but during the day I've sat at the UCB there a number of times and enjoyed the ambience.

Matt wrote:A choice of two modern, attractive, eye-catching designs, and shock horror - neither are good enough, and instead - any unique features are removed to leave yet another building to blend into the background.

Bravo.

God, this city frustrates the fuck out of me at times.

My thoughts exactly!

I hate having to whinge, but this city is really doing it to me atm.. another yellowish/ brownish building designed to fade into the background. Don't we have enough sandstone coloured shite from the 70's? The building reaks of backwater..which pretty much sums up things for Adelaide. Shame shame shame. :wank:

People have to put things into perspective.

This stretch of North Terrace is probabaly the most historic and visually attractive street in Adelaide and one of the best in Australia. As such I can understand why the ACC would be quite conservative with the type of architecture allowed along there. Although, were you to ask me which style I prefer at the moment, I would say the curved facade one. However due to such an avant-garde design who is to say that it will date well? We could reach a point 20-30 years in the future where the curved facade would look tacky.

Take into account that the fomer Adelaide House (the Rendeszvous Allegra Hotel) when it was built in 1971 was considered a magnificent example of brutalist architecture; the style in fashion back then. However it dated very badly and prior to its conversion into the Rendeszvous it was easily in people's top 5 most ugly buildings.

As such, although the new design is conservative in style, its postmodern style will ensure that it ages well, even if it never stands out.

does anyone have any pics it before it was turned ^^^

sorry in advance for going off topic!

Will wrote:People have to put things into perspective.
[...]
Take into account that the fomer Adelaide House (the Rendeszvous Allegra Hotel) when it was built in 1971 was considered a magnificent example of brutalist architecture; the style in fashion back then. However it dated very badly and prior to its conversion into the Rendeszvous it was easily in people's top 5 most ugly buildings.

As such, although the new design is conservative in style, its postmodern style will ensure that it ages well, even if it never stands out.

Adelaide House, when built, had a panel across the top of the podium covered with lots of breast-like objects, that
were later removed. It was a shocker, but looks much better as the Allegra.