Orana Mall, Dubbo

This extension to a regional New South Wales Shopping Centre takes due consideration of its prominent highway context.  Bold, legible forms create a strong identity for the centre at a scale and language consistent with the roadside context . Atypically for a contemporary retail development the external user experience was considered as important as the internal experience. Taking cues from the language of traditional regional shopping streets attempts have been made to engage with the streetscape and mitigate the elements through recessed entry porticos, awnings and landscaping albeit on a scale more relevant to the highway setting. Entry features in particular negotiate the competing requirements of legibility and signage at both a macro (vehicular) and micro (pedestrian) scale. 


An identity for the centre is also defined by the use of colour which references the warm, earthy tones of the Dubbo landscape. Tonal changes within the colour palette are used to further increase legibility, for example the application of colour is most intense in and around entries. Colour is also used to create a consistency between the new and existing centre as well as interior and exterior experience.