SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE

Choosing not to be embellished with decoration which so often dominates many retail buildings, the design approach chose to rely on the building mass and form. An early decision to keep the building material palette and detailing to a minimum allows the retail tenants to express themselves.

The carpark space is cut into the slope of the land which allows the retail component of the building to hover above street level on two sides. A single cantilevered awning wraps around three edges of the building accentuating the strong horizontal building form. Galvanised steel balustrading follows the line of the awning and provides transparency to maximise shopfront exposure. The blade wall on the northern boundary is a continuation of the simple building form and anchors the building to the ground plane.

The structure was relatively simple in terms of concrete block-work walls, concrete slabs and a steel framed roof. This allowed the most effective means of providing a shell which needed to be flexible space for current and future tenants.

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