So physically large in scale (in both width and height), its not hard to miss. It can be clearly seen by air, aircraft taking off or landing from the airport nearby pass directly overhead. It needed that wow factor, a sculpture simmering in the Australian sun, an emotion, a marker, a symbol. The marina is ok but it is really just a pond compared to others in Australia.
To me its a game of 'spot the difference!' Prefab meets prefab meets prefab meets... Tell me, is this design really going to stand the test of time? Can we relate with it, to it? What else could have perhaps captured our imagination and inspired us to make history like our forebears did with the Proclamation of South Australia in Glenelg? Me thinks we could have done a whole lot better.
There used to be a beach behind here. As Anzac Highway terminates this is the view that greets you.
So what could have been? Well... with such an exceptional, once-in-a-life-time location it needed to be huge. Not necessarily in scale but monumental in its significance to South Australians. Consider these famous landmarks, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, The Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, The Sydney Opera House or Federation Square in Melbourne even. These structures are iconic, original and awe inspiring. They make us proud. They make a positive statement. They enliven the urban environment.
I appreciate the argument about dollars per square metre but Adelaide always seems to suffer the excuse that we are just too small, we don't have the funds so therefore second (or third) best will make do. No it won't. We have the talent. What it seems is we don't have the vision. But who dictates this? What is the force controlling this? This really holds Adelaide back!
3 comments:
Holdfast Shores is an example of the Meccano style, building kit architecture that seems to be de rigeur now. Sure, it's cost effective in the short term but the lack of long term quality in these buildings simply means that maintenance costs after 25-40 years become so great that buildings of this kind are often pulled town. (Europe and UK have already demolished a huge percentage of similarly built 60s & 70s structures.)
I wonder how often the door and window seals will need replacing and how the sand and salt will treat the cheap balcony railings.
So, whereas we used to have a public space and a view we now have a largely 'private' space with an environmentally innappropriate building on semi swamp/sandy soil.
The development lacks imagination or inspiration and is aesthetically bland (perhaps even ugly given its situation). As a statement piece HS says only: "What once belonged to everypone can now belong to you - for half a mill."
completely agree guys. glenelg has lost its identity completely. whats worse is the horrible magic mountain was replaced by what can only be described as god knows what. now we have the rotunda and reserve completely surrounded by big prefab concrete bullies. adelaide councils are good at approving rubbish and rejecting quality design though, and knowing some of the people on the planning committees, its easy to see why. they wouldnt know design if it hit them in the face.
Completely disagree. Glenelg is so much better for this massively popular development. Who cares if they have to be pulled down in a few decades time, most buildings (including most homes around Adelaide) are in the same boat. Cheap brick veneer!
Much more on the foreshore!
Die Ken Rollands!
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