| MIRVAC'S
YARRA'S EDGE 5 SELLS LIKE HOT BUNS
31.03.02 |
Less than a week after releasing the Wood Marsh designed Tower 5
to the public for pre-selling, 160 of the 190 available apartments
had been sold. That there were keen buyers for these pricier apartments
means that Mirvac could well have the confidence to build all 10
towers on the plan. So far, 725 apartments have been sold in the
development. Tower 1 is due to open this year.
MIRVAC
MELBOURNE
According to Mr Koolhaas' new book, architects don't like doing
shop fitouts. Tadao Ando would seem to bear this out when he said
this month that architects should be "giving back", not
selling on. The books suggests this reluctance of architects to
seek retail work helps explain the blandness of most shopping centres,
and was a lost opportunity to engage with a key city-shaper of the
20th century.
Within the last few months several projects have
opened suggesting that the shop fitout has regained some credibility.
Brand name architects like Koolhaas and Gehry have built new shops
for brand name clothiers like Prada
and Miyake.
But
both these shops are in gold card shopping areas, not the Mall of
America. They are media friendly one-off flagships freed from the
usual tasks of accommodating cash registers and attending to the
rather sinister rules of retail psychology.
IHT
11.03.02
| END
OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN AUCKLAND CITY
14.03.02 |
Auckland's new mayor, John Banks (ex shock jock and minister for
police) and his council, passed legislation last night to sell off
the last 138 publicly owned general houses in the municipality.
Most of these are in the popular central suburb of Freeman's Bay.
Eight outraged councillors walked out before the vote, and 17 members
of the public were arrested inside the town hall. A protest march
called "Wake Up" will be held in Queen Street on March
16.
NZ HERALD 14.03.02
NZ
HERALD BACKGROUNDER 20.02.02
| THINKING
BIG IN DANDENONG 12.03.02 |
In an effort to reduce ad hoc suburban sprawl, Victorian Premier
Steve Bracks has announced a $250M housing development around Dandenong
Station. It is part of the state government's "transit cities"
initiative which subscribes to the belief that making suburban transport
nodes denser eases the infrastructural costs associated with garden
variety sprawl. AGE
12.03.02
| OLYMPIC
POOL LISTED 01.03.02 |
Melbourne's Olympic
Pool on Batman avenue was listed by Heirtage Victoria on February
21. It is in the process of refurbishment by Peter McIntyre, one
of the original architects. Here's a great inside shot of the windows.
Roy
Grounds' house and flats in Hill Street Toorak (1953-4) have
also recently been registered. This is all good news as Heritage
Victoria still finds it hard to raise interest in the preservation
of post WW2 buildings.
REVISED
NATIONAL GALLERY DESIGN
25.02.02
|
Canberra's National Gallery has released drawings and sketches on
its website of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer's revised design for the entrance
to the facility. The previous design had been knocked back after
a skirmish involving the original building architect, Colin Madigan.
The current design was approved by the gallery in the final days
of December last year, much to everyone's surprise.
NGA
DEVELOPMENTS PAGE
|
news
archive 2002 (3)