Victoria Square Visions

[Ben]

They have and i'm just having trouble posting it at the moment but it's coming.

[Ben]

I can't post the article at the moment but here is the design.

[Ben]

A FUTURISTIC tower is the centrepiece of an ambitious multi-million dollar redesign for Victoria Square unveiled this week.

The proposed tower would be about the same height as the Adelaide GPO spire and it would house a cafe, restaurant and observation deck. The plans, designed by Loucas Zahos Architects, were released at a function at the Hilton International on Monday night (August 18) after two years of design work.

Grote Business Precinct vice president Bill Marles said early reaction had been positive.

[Howie]

Cheers mate. Where's that article from Ben?

[frank1]

It still looks pretty much the same though, but i guess that is better than no change. I still think they should do ESD 0019

[Ben]

Cheers mate. Where's that article from Ben?

It's from the city messenger. The article is quite large but I can't post anymore then I have for some reason maybe someone else can try.

www.citymessenger.com.au

[Will]

Cheers mate. Where's that article from Ben?

It's from the city messenger. The article is quite large but I can't post anymore then I have for some reason maybe someone else can try.

http://www.citymessenger.com.au

I too cannot post articles

[Norman]

The article is here:
http://city-messenger.whereilive.com.au ... sq-vision/

Howie, there's some problems with the UTF converter or something.

[Wayno]

I'd imagine this is simply the first of several "professional" VSQ design submissions. The ACC will end up with a dozen submissions and the subsequent project will be run like this:

Initiation -> Excitation -> Consultation -> Deliberation -> Petition -> Prevarication -> Procrastination...

[AtD]

Here you go. I emailed it to myself and copy-pasta'd the email.

Bold Vic Sq vision
A FUTURISTIC tower is the centrepiece of an ambitious multi-million dollar redesign for Victoria Square unveiled this week.

The design (see artist's impression, left) presented by the combined Grote Business Precinct-Gouger St Traders Association would involve: excavating the entire square to a depth of at least two levels; re-directing some traffic; building an east-west road bridge; a 350-space underground car park; and a sunken public plaza.

The proposed tower would be about the same height as the Adelaide GPO spire and it would house a cafe, restaurant and observation deck. The plans, designed by Loucas Zahos Architects, were released at a function at the Hilton International on Monday night (August 18) after two years of design work.

Grote Business Precinct vice president Bill Marles said early reaction had been positive.

"It's a fairly ambitious plan and there seems to be a bit of excitement about it," he said. "What we're trying to do is open up people's minds to something that's quite radical and different."

Mr Marles said the proposed tower, which would stand on the same spot as the Queen Victoria statue, would become an instant Adelaide landmark.

"If you look at any major city around the world Paris, Toronto, Sydney they all have a tower, people seem to love going up a tower," he said.

"It would be a centrepiece that would bring people into the city."

Detail in the design includes: Shifting all north-south traffic to the western or Hilton side, with one lane remaining on the eastern or State Admin Centre side, for emergencies; Keeping the east-west traffic route through the square's middle it would become a bridge over the excavated square; The excavated area would become a sunken ampitheatre available for live performances; A kiosk at the southern end of the sunken plaza; Retaining the John Dowie-designed fountain; Installing a travelator linking the Central Market to the square.

The City Council and State Government have both committed to revamping the much-maligned square.

Last month, the council and State Government held a $20,000 public competition calling for designs to revamp the square.

The process has now opened up to professional designers and this is the first professional submission to emerge.

Mr Marles said the plans would be submitted to the City Council and State Government for formal consideration this month.

He said the group was also in discussions with the Federal Government about contributing to the revamp.

Can't really pass a judgement with that teeny-weeny render we've got. Altho it does look like Vic Square suddenly gained several acres of land!

[joshzxzx]

Does any1 have any ideas on the height of the tower? The render makes it look like a 10m stump.

[frank1]

Retract statement from before, it sounds good. However, it does sound costly and i don't think the ACC are willing to fork out for that, but i hope they do. A car park there would be sweet as it is so close to markets, new tram line, etc.

[AtD]

Adelaide's CBD has more car parks than Sydney's. I think we have more than enough.

[cruel_world00]

Adelaide's CBD has more car parks than Sydney's. I think we have more than enough.

This is what I was thinking. Adding more carparks to the Adelaide CBD is not a step in the right direction tbh.

[Joely]

Nooo more carparks please! But I have to say I am impressed with this design. Even though the render of the tower looks like more of a 1950s vision of what 1995 might look like, the nature of it sounds fantastic, with a restaurant, observation deck, etc. It probably needs to be quite a bit taller for the view to be anything special though. I love how the render shows beautiful green trees on either side of the wide pathway. It bears some resemblance to some of the huge public gardens in Paris. Then again, trees and plants tend to be considerably greener in renders than in real life