Victoria Square Visions

[SRW]

It's called a vista, people. A tower may not be the only way to achieve it, but it certainly is an efficacious way.

Any successful design for the square should make it identifiable to all four approaches.

[Queen Anne]

Wayno, I'm considering writing to the ACC and State Gov about consulting PPS for Vic Square. Would that be the best thing to do? I don't really know, and am a bit out of my depth, tbh, but I feel very strongly that we the citizens are going to need to grasp this issue or we might end up with a lemon..

I wonder if the ACC might not welcome the idea of consulting PPS on Vic Square with open arms: http://www.adelaidereview.com.au/archiv ... ory4.shtml It's all a bit political by the looks - Jan Gehl is a PPS supporter and they share a philosophy - through traffic could be a sticking point (someone let me know if I have misunderstood this ).

Does anybody else have an opinion on the PPS approach? Would it be worth pursuing this? I support the PPS approach because the idea of taking the time to first really study our square and find what will work, appeals to me a lot more than what is going on currently. But I'd be interested to hear other views..

I'm not sure how best to approach this. Queen Anne, would you be willing to send a PM to Councillor Yarwood? find out what interaction the ACC has had with the PPS in the past, and whether the ACC would consider partnering with the PPS going fwd.

I searched the ACC's website, but could not find any reference to the VSQ project (apart from the recent community ideas competition)

Yes, I'd be glad to PM Councillor Yarwood. I'll get onto it now.

Hiya, just posting an update on my PM to Councillor Yarwood - no reply as yet. SRW and Wayno, thank you for your replies to my post about PPS. Do either of you (or anyone else for that matter ) have any thoughts or suggestions as to a next move? I'd like to keep exploring the PPS meets Vic Square idea.
Cheers, Caroline

[pushbutton]

All I can say about Victoria Square is that, to state the obvious, there has already been FAR too much public consultation, studies, surveys, ideas, talk, proposals and plans.

It's time someone finally took the bull by the horns and actually DID something, instead of wasting yet more time and money on thinking and talking about it.

I'm sure that if all the money that has been spent on thinking about and planning Victoria Sq had instead been spent on actually doing something with it, we'd have had the worlds best public square easily by now!

[Wayno]

Hiya, just posting an update on my PM to Councillor Yarwood - no reply as yet. SRW and Wayno, thank you for your replies to my post about PPS. Do either of you (or anyone else for that matter ) have any thoughts or suggestions as to a next move? I'd like to keep exploring the PPS meets Vic Square idea.
Cheers, Caroline

Perhaps you could call the PPS people direct and let us know how they work. Do they get involved in projects by invitation only? do they require us to act as a introductory service? or are they happy to take the initiative and contact the ACC themselves?

Appreciate your efforts Queen Anne!

[Queen Anne]

OK Wayno, I think I will go ahead and contact PPS. Thanks for your input.

Pushbutton, I understand your frustration but I completely diasgree with your post's last sentence. A great public square is not the natural result of lots of spending. A great public square is about more down to earth factors, imo..

I just went to Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and saw one of the best public spaces I have seen in America. It was simple and modest and well filled with people on a wednesday morning. I think the key to its success, first and foremost, is it was a pedestrian friendly area with no large roads to negotiate, and secondly, the square was surrounded with what people want - shops and restaraunts. In addition, it was bright and airy and not sunken under the road! Great square. No stubby obs tower required.

And anyway, the act of building something necessarily requires thought and planning..

The question is where will those thoughts and plans lead us? This square needs to be attractive, imo, first and foremost to the people who are most likely to use it - the people of SA. A vibrant square which is used and loved by the people of Adelaide will do far more for Adelaide's reputation and future than a seemingly flashy square that does not meet the needs of the people who live there. I really worry that the proposed obs deck, for instance, is a "no man's land" - of no lasting interest to Adelaide residents and not interesting/big enough to attract tourists.

I know we have all waited and waited for Vic Square to evolve and it's time something was done, but the latest design to pop up has me in horrors. The issues facing Vic Square seem really complex to me - it's not been developed for people but we want to insert people into it: tricky. I think we need help from some people who devote their careers to the issues facing public places. But that's just my personal opinion and when I approach PPS I will do it of my own accord and wouldn't presume to speak for S-A. But I'll let everyone know how it's going.

[pushbutton]

I agree completely with your points Queen Anne, but I still struggle to believe that after all these years of thinking and talking about Victoria Sq, and all the time and effort and money that has been spent on doing so, nobody has yet managed to come up with a plan that would actually work, and nothing has actually been done!

[Queen Anne]

I agree completely with your points Queen Anne, but I still struggle to believe that after all these years of thinking and talking about Victoria Sq, and all the time and effort and money that has been spent on doing so, nobody has yet managed to come up with a plan that would actually work, and nothing has actually been done!

Yes, you start to wonder if anything will ever happen, I know the feeling...and I think that is part of what worries me - are we, as a city, all getting so sick of this issue that we will accept something dodgy? After all this time, why are we not seeing plans of real vision (imo)? Around the world, public place making seems to be moving into a new era, we can't afford to sleep through this. It's all very perplexing and frustrating.
OK, off my high horse now

[Wayno]

i still really like public design ESD019 (the one that is essentially a clone of parliament house in canberra). It works on soo many levels, and would not cost much to build...

[Queen Anne]

Hi all,

I've exchanged emails with PPS and they are quite forthcoming, which makes sense for an organisation whose mission is to collaborate with communities They sent me some examples of work they've done in other places that had a similar situation to Vic Square. They particularly highlight the processes that they use. It's a process that starts well before the design gets drawn up.

I've attached three of them to this post, but the best of the lot was too big to post. It's a study that they did for Monument Circle in Indianapolis that goes into more detail regarding the factors that they consider, and the benefits that can come from this "place-making" process. It also finishes with a series of benchmarks to aspire to. One thing that jumps out from that part, Victoria Square is much bigger than any of them.

I'm happy to email the Indianapolis study to anyone that wants to see it. Just send me a PM.

Cheers, Caroline

[Wayno]

I'm happy to email the Indianapolis study to anyone that wants to see it. Just send me a PM.

well done QA, truly interesting stuff. Maybe one of the S-A members can host the large Indianopolis file for you - any volunteers?

[Norman]

I'm happy to email the Indianapolis study to anyone that wants to see it. Just send me a PM.

well done QA, truly interesting stuff. Maybe one of the S-A members can host the large Indianopolis file for you - any volunteers?

How big are we talking?

[cruel_world00]

I'm happy to email the Indianapolis study to anyone that wants to see it. Just send me a PM.

well done QA, truly interesting stuff. Maybe one of the S-A members can host the large Indianopolis file for you - any volunteers?

How big are we talking?

We're gonna need a bigger boat big?

[Queen Anne]

I'm happy to email the Indianapolis study to anyone that wants to see it. Just send me a PM.

well done QA, truly interesting stuff. Maybe one of the S-A members can host the large Indianopolis file for you - any volunteers?

How big are we talking?

It's 3.3M (the limit for an attachment was 2M)

Cheers, Caroline

[Norman]

It's 3.3M (the limit for an attachment was 2M)

Cheers, Caroline

Send it to me via E-Mail (it's the same as my MSN address) and I'll upload it for you guys

[Queen Anne]

It's 3.3M (the limit for an attachment was 2M)

Cheers, Caroline

Send it to me via E-Mail (it's the same as my MSN address) and I'll upload it for you guys

Thanks very much Norman, it's much appreciated