Sensational-Adelaide.com

It's a pathetic facade that looks like they just didn't try very hard at all. It could have been quite impressive.

It's shite.

arki wrote:Classy? Lol. It looks cheap and bland.

Have a look at wintergarden in Brisbane

P4290381 by Nathan Murray, on Flickr

Or Westfield Sydney


Westfield Sydney by Airakaz90, on Flickr

Playing it safe by putting up a bland wall and hoping it wont date doesn't create interesting or diverse streetscapes, it actually has the opposite effect.

Tacky.

I like the simple sandstone facade of Rundle Plaza.

There's always potential for advertising or video screens to go up in future.

Yawn. If you calling those interstate facades tacky (especially Westfield Syd) is meant to make you feel better about the snoozefest that is Rundle Place then I really feel sorry for Adelaide and its people.

[Shuz] wrote:I like the simple sandstone facade of Rundle Plaza.

There's always potential for advertising or video screens to go up in future.

Exactly. It can easily be changed into something better. We needed a good high-rise, we got it. I'm happy.

I must say that advertising and billboards don't count as good architectural design.

If you modify a brand new building, soon after construction people laugh at you. I think its safe to say that what we get on opening day, will be what we will be stuck with until its first major refit in say 10 years time.

Vjkdigital wrote:I must say that advertising and billboards don't count as good architectural design.

Yep.

I don't like it. If you want a sandstone look, fine, but don't have a massive blank wall broken up only by tacky advertising in perhaps the most important landscape in the city. I don't buy that they were lazy, as they put some thought and money into design elements in the tower, I just think it was a boring decision. They could have broken it up with different tones or more windows or ideally, been a bit bolder and carried through some of the red feature in the office tower.

I think that for the entire retail component (in and out) they've borrowed heavily from Queens Plaza in Brisbane...



...but while that's no architectural shining light, at least the exterior facade's broken up.

I also don't much like the fact that there are about 5 or 6 different types/colours of glass in the development, without appearing like it was a look they were trying to achieve.

arki wrote:Yawn. If you calling those interstate facades tacky (especially Westfield Syd) is meant to make you feel better about the snoozefest that is Rundle Place then I really feel sorry for Adelaide and its people.

Yes the interstate façade is tacky. Yes the blank sandstone is a snoozefest. Why do you insist that there are only two options here? They both suck, give us a third option that doesn't.

I'm yet to see Wintergarden in person, but from the photos I've seen it looks good. Westfield Sydney though is simply outstanding and puts every other Westfield complex to shame. Ofcourse that complex is located in the heart of Australia's biggest city and costed well into the hundreds of millions.

In regards to Rundle Place, I agree with others it looks cheap, boring and doesn't match the high end retailers it will house. Hell even the Adelaide Central Plaza looks better.

Let's just hope they have put more effect into the interior, though from the latest video it's look like just another typical shopping complex. Fingers crossed they have changed the plans.

I have seen Wintergardens Brisbane during daylight but have only seen photos of it at night. I would say during the day it may not be beautiful, but it is certainly at least interesting and unique. At night, it is beautiful as well.

As for Rundle Place, the best I can say for it is the Rundle Mall facade is at least neat and tidy and reasonably smart, spoilt only by the fact that the Apple store part of it is different from the rest, and it's obvious that that part of the building was not intended to look the way it actually does. Building owners should never compromise the integrity of their design concept for the sake of accommodating the wishes of a particular tenant. The Grenfell Street facade looks terrible, as if they have modified it several times very poorly. It is a completely incoherent design.

"Incoherent" is a perfect way to describe the whole building really. They seem to have borrowed design cues from all over the place. Some of them are okay in isolation (I think the red feature on the office tower will end up looking great), but they really don't work well together or even look like they're intended to, even though they probably are.

It kind of reminds me of the IAG (?) building next to Santos in Flinders Link in the way it's absolutely all over the place and not in a good way.

its still not finished and the advertisng on the 2nd levels windows looks temporary while they are fitting out the interior. Im quite confident the finished product will look fine

oh and edit: there seems to be some sort of balcony on the 3rd level facing the mall. I wonder if this is for the office tower or maybe something interesting for the public and associated with the retail, anyone know?

I think it's a car park, with the black panels to hide the cars from view. I could very well be wrong on that. If I'm not, a car park fronting the mall is unreal.

Casting my mind back to the plans posted in this thread; there is a deck on top the podium retail part which on the eastern side was part car park and on the other sides was just a service roof for mechanical plant and sunroofs to pop out of. Someone else with the time to go back through the thread might like to verify my (bad) memory.