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a centre for place-making
Discussion pieces are submitted by our staff, board members, expert panel members and guest contributors. Add your comments and join in the discussion.
Revealed recently during the Introduction to Design Review event, here are the top ten comments from MADE design reviews over the past year. Take a look and let us know your thoughts in the comment box below. What would you choose as No. 1?
10. Avoid inappropriate massing
9. Architectural and structural honesty
8. Keep it simple
7. Make use of the existing
6. Improve key public space
5. Set ambitious sustainability targets
4. Reduce dominance of car parking
3. Continuity and enclosure
2. Break with conventional highways thinking
and at in at the top spot:
1. Create strong pedestrian links
You can view David Tittle's presentation in full here.
James
Maybe a bit simplistic, but I initially wondered why there wasn’t a ‘Make it look nice’ point here. Going through the slides though it’s easy to see how any of these points can contribute to both form and function.
Really like Point 9. [Architectural and structural honesty]. As a non-architect it’s not something I’ve probably been that conscious of, but it really makes sense. In most cases you don’t have to be a structural engineer to know that the mass of lightweight steel work glued to the top of a lot of shopping centres isn’t there for structure integrity. It’s just helping to differentiate it from the box next door. Like any design process prettifying shouldn’t just be a bolt on - or at least seen to be.
So for those shopping centres that do rely on a scale replica Eiffel Tower on their roof to hold everything together, might looking more honest be the key to their beauty?