Sensational-Adelaide.com

ChillyPhilly wrote:A tower there will assist in defining the physical boundaries of the new public space, as well as create a new focal point. There could also be new opportunities for ground floor activation, such as retail or other commercial property.

Matt wrote:I'm also supportive of the tower, providing:

- its architectural merit befits the location (definitely NOT another box) - this needs to be something special
- there's some sort of rooftop bar/restaurant open to the public (the views that such a spot are afforded should not be exclusive to tenants of the building)
- any ground floor tenancies work to activate/enhance the area

Matt wrote:I'm also supportive of the tower, providing:

- its architectural merit befits the location (definitely NOT another box) - this needs to be something special
- there's some sort of rooftop bar/restaurant open to the public (the views that such a spot are afforded should not be exclusive to tenants of the building)
- any ground floor tenancies work to activate/enhance the area

Nathan wrote:Yep, ignores the Festival Centre's plans. Well done riverbank authority, let's not collaborate on anythi g.

ml69 wrote:

Nathan wrote:Yep, ignores the Festival Centre's plans. Well done riverbank authority, let's not collaborate on anythi g.

I don't see a problem at all with this change, as the new concept plan is a significant improvement on the original festival theatre plan.

With the festival theatre plan, the main pedestrian axis into Riverbank (Station Road) terminates at a dead end. Under the new plan, there is now a wide set of steps providing a better connection to Elder Park and the River Torrens.

Second, the new plan has a much wider pedestrian promenade on the Northern side of the festival theatre.

And finally, the new plan has a better shape for Elder Park with the semi circular grass terraces facing the river.

Architecture | Adelaide’s Festival Centre, designed by South Australian architect John Morphett, is a state icon, appearing in promotional images of the city since 1973 when the centre’s geometric domed Festival Theatre was completed.

But this postcard view is set to be radically altered.

The South Australian government has turned to property tycoon Lang Walker to co-finance a massive change to Morphett’s Festival Plaza at a cost of $610 million. The redevelopment will introduce a 24-storey office block to the space that fringes Parliament House and the Plaza; run a two-storey retail space along the rear of Parliament House (which will necessitate the removal of Czech artist Otto Hajek’s unloved and fading ‘City Sign’ sculpture); and expand the Adelaide Casino and Railway Station building at its northern end.

Morphett, 83, is keenly interested in the redevelopment proposal but notes that he is yet to be given a detailed overview of the design for the centre.

“I’ve got a bit of a problem in that I haven’t seen it – I mean the whole redevelopment,” he says. “But I know in principle what’s happening with the plaza.”

While it might strike some as odd that the architect who designed the Festival Centre is yet to be formally contacted about its redevelopment, Morphett says he has been told that he will get asked his views “at some stage”. And he notes that the likely reason he hasn’t been asked yet is that there remain a number of issues that are yet to be resolved.

However, while the proposed new multistorey buildings that will spring up around the redeveloped plaza are currently represented as shadowy blocks on artists’ impressions, they are defined enough to allow Morphett to speak about them.

Perhaps surprisingly, Morphett isn’t opposed to the creation of the proposed 24-storey office tower on the southwestern fringe of the Plaza.

“In broad terms, the positioning of the office tower doesn’t look too bad to me,” he says, noting that it would not interfere with his existing design nor cause issues with shadow.

“In principle, I don’t object to the need for office towers. They are going to help fund the whole redevelopment of the plaza. It’s been neglected for such a long time and badly needs some funding spent on it,” Morphett says.

“It’s most important that the new buildings are well designed and look good, because it’s a fairly iconic view of Adelaide when you look at it from the north and see the Festival Centre with the city skyline behind it. That view is still on the ABC News every night – has been for the past 40 years. It’s the view of Adelaide. These two towers will change that shape forever, the scale is something that’s going to make them very important on the city skyline.”
plaza

But while Morphett is relatively sanguine about the towers, provided they are well conceived, the smaller of the two proposed buildings, the multistorey casino expansion, concerns him because it could impact on his original design for the centre.

“As far as the extensions to the Casino are concerned, that appears to be very close to the Playhouse. It’s forward quite a long way, over what is now a big hole in the plaza. And without having seen the final designs, I’d say that in principle it might be a bit too close.”

In the mid-’70s, when the plaza was being created, Morphett struck up a close friendship with Czech-German environmental artist Otto Herbert Hajek, who was working on a large sculpture for the plaza space.

Morphett travelled to Germany with the artist, visiting the Hajek home. Yet he is not sentimental about the proposed removal of Hajek’s sculpture in the centre’s plaza to make way for a retail space.

“Putting shops and activities along behind Parliament House I think would be a good thing. They’re helpful to help activate the plaza. Part of the sculpture was removed when some upgrades to the plaza were done a few years ago [2003-05]. The integrity of the sculpture has already gone.

“So, if it’s going to interfere with what I think will be a good development with shops and activities on that plaza – which badly needs it – I wouldn’t kick up a big fuss about keeping the Hajek.”

And what does Morphett think of the new bridge connecting the Festival Centre with the Adelaide Oval?

“It seems to work pretty well I must say. It looks good. However, I was having dinner at the Playhouse bistro the other day and I must say one disconcerting aspect of the bridge is that at night they’ve got these lights under the balustrade all the way along the bridge. And they’re not on all the time or off all the time, they switch on in sequence, so it looks like waves of light at night going across the bridge. When you’re sitting in the bistro having a meal it’s a bit intrusive.

“But that’s nothing that couldn’t be easily fixed by flicking a switch,” he says with a mischievous laugh.

Festival Centre facts
* Built on time 1973-1977 and on budget: $10 million for the Festival Theatre and $21 million for the entire Festival Centre)
* The Plaza redevelopment comes with a price tag of $610 million: $180 million of it supplied by the taxpayer, $430 million from property developer Lang Walker.
* Half of the $180 million from the SA government will be spent on repairing and improving the Festival Centre buildings
* Work on the Plaza will take 20 months and will be completed by late 2017.
* A 1500-space car park will be created below the plaza