Student towers enhance the skyline: official

RENDERING OF INITIAL DESIGN

They’re building it. Further to last month’s post , the Adelaide Development Assessment Panel has been over-ruled by the South Australian Development Assessment Commission , who assess differently. They say the building is good enough. It has been revised to address some of council’s concerns, and the number of apartments has been reduced from 462 to 319 (by swapping one bedroom apartments for two). Lifts and shops have been added, the restaurant has enlarged to 300 seats, and the roof shapes have changed. The council have not been asked to look at the revisions, as according to the DAC, “the changes are not considered to be a substantial variation.” Then they say they have shown the changes to council and their, “fundamental concerns remain.”

The council, in its sumission to the DAC, criticised the, “repetitious design of all three buildings… In this particular location, that is the gateway to the city, a high standard of design and architectural finish is desired.”

The DAC reported that the buildings would aid, “redevelopment of the western part of the CBD. The proposal has an acceptable scale and bulk.”

The Urban Design Unit , advising the DAC, believes that, “the uniform aesthetics lends a cohesive identity to the development as a whole, and given the target resident group, may offer some benefit, lending the group of buildings the possible interpretation of an oasis in an otherwise indifferent urban landscape.”

The planner advising the DAC has decided that, “the gull roof to buildings 1 and 3 create an interesting sky line. This is enhanced by building 2 having a parapet and therefore providing for a variety of roof form.”

And: “The proposal incorporates the use of light earthy, non-reflective tones, with a subtle variation in colours.”

And: “The design of the building incorporates both horizontal and vertical massing and is well articulated with a modelled façade, using balconies, setbacks, roof lines and a variety of colours and materials to create visual interest.”

And: “The roof enhances the skyline and contributes to the architectural quality of the building providing a compositional relationship between the upper and lower levels.”

The experts have spoken. So what say does the council have over the quality buildings on its turf? Not much if they’re worth over $10M, as the DAC has had final say over those since last year. The objective here is to house foreign students, cheaply. This building ticks most of the planning code boxes.

Minutes of the DAC meeting of 23rd July have not yet been released (try here in a few days). The seven members of the commission include just one architect and one urban planner, located at the bottom the list .

» ADELAIDE NOW 24.07.09

Posted by Peter on 26.07.09 in urban planning