Adelaide MYER Centre, ex HQ Nightclub and Waymouth St Atira student block among architects’ most hated city buildings

A “Disneyland” shopping centre, a “poo-brown” student block, and a failed city nightclub - 12 architects share their beloved and hated buildings.

Great architecture can inspire, bring joy, instil civic pride, foster collaboration, drive tourism and economic prosperity for cities and communities.

But bad design, such as soulless housing estates, devoid of greenery can do the opposite, depressing and devaluing neighbourhoods, attracting crime and affecting mental health.

With COVID forcing many South Australians to spend more time at home, or exploring their own city, The Advertiser invited SA architects to rank the buildings they love and loathe here and abroad.

Twelve designers, working for small and global firms, responded to the survey, with several sharing common condemnation of a couple of notably controversial CBD properties.

Read their responses below.

OUR EXPERTS

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE/HATED SA BUILDINGS? SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW

TONY GIANNONE - Tectvs

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

SAMHRI, North Tce, Adelaide (Woods Bagot) and Mortlock Library (E.J Woods)
“SAMHRI is just a beautiful expression of confidence in modern architecture, installing a new design attitude in Adelaide with its undefined boundaries and its sublime presence at night.

“The library is a space of beauty, softened by filtered daylight that embraces high drama, reflective of the intricate detailing of its high Victorian era. It commands silence, calmness and respect. The books are almost a necessary distraction.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
Duomo, Milan, Italy (multiple architects)
“Maybe it’s just my connection with this city, but it’s my spiritual reference point in Milan. Every detail of this magnificent cathedral in including the Candoglia marble roof is ‘owned’ by its people and the city.”

“SAMHRI is just a beautiful expression of confidence in modern architecture, installing a new design attitude in Adelaide.

LEAST FAVOURITE (SA)
Myer Centre, Rundle Mall, Adelaide (Buchan, Laird & Bawden)
“Disneyland in the Mall. Everything that was wrong with the 80s pop and greed-is-good culture is symbolised in the postmodern design of this building, including its fake clock tower spire overlooking North Terrace.

“I used to catch the connecting bus to Norwood Boys Tech outside the beautiful Italianate colonnade of the old Myer Emporium Building, and its loss hurts.”

LEAST FAVOURITE (INTERNATIONAL) Le Vele, Scampia, Naples, Italy.
“A housing estate which served as a backdrop to the movie Gomorrah and has thankfully since been demolished.”

Originally budgeted at $443m the cost blew out to $1bn when it opened in 1991, making it SA’s most expensive building and one of the nation’s costliest. The project was a prime factor in the collapse of the State Bank.

PHIL HARRIS – Troppo Architects

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Adelaide Oval scoreboard (Kenneth Milne)
“At five storeys sitting upon a grassy knoll, in its birth year of 1911, this was Adelaide’s tallest building (church spires excluded). It remains a low-energy proclamation board to the city, responsible for decades of joyful employment and the momentary projection of message and fleeting memories.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

The Pantheon, Rome, Italy
“It’s quintessential: of the earth, of terracotta, ceramics, pigments and stone – a man-made cave of great achievement. Man and earth together, fantastically grounded in a simple joint reality, proudly without glass, door or window.

LEAST FAVOURITE (SA/ INTERNATIONAL)
“The longstanding global pandemic of airconditioned shopping malls.”

Phil Harris in front of the Adelaide Oval scoreboard.

And his favourite international building, The Pantheon.

CHRIS ROWLANDS - RAD Studio

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Adelaide Oval / SAHMRI
“I really appreciate the care in which the Adelaide Oval redevelopment was handled (and) it’s also hard to deny SAHMRI’s contribution to our city. But sometimes a beaten up old shack in one of our National Parks is among my favourite buildings to experience…”

“It’s also hard to deny SAHMRI’s contribution to our city”.

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Therme Vals, Switzerland (Peter Zumthor)
“This building was a penny drop moment for me while studying; understanding vernacular, materiality and experience.”

LEAST FAVOURITE (SA)
“I can’t name it, as an ex colleague said when I was cutting my teeth ‘Every project has its story’, so no knives here. This project looks like it was conceived on Microsoft Excel without any consideration to much else. It might have been even built the wrong way around?”

LEAST FAVOURITE (INTERNATIONAL)
“Nothing I really despise; Trump Tower has probably lost its shine in recent events …”

Inside the pool and spa complex at the Hotel Therme Vals in Switzerland.

ANDREW STEELE – Studio Nine Architects

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

The Hawke Institute, North Tce, Adelaide (John Wardle)
“Still one of the most deftly considered elevations along all of North Tce, this building is a great example of contemporary architecture in a historic setting.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Work of architect Tadao Ando
The Japanese-born self-taught architect’s use of raw materials, purist forms and the play of light and shade demonstrate the beauty of architecture through simplicity.

LEAST FAVOURITE (SA)
“Rather than singling out a particular building, my biggest issue is with the lack of quality housing stock getting mass produced throughout the state by project home builders.”

LEAST FAVOURITE (INTERNATIONAL)
“The McMansions throughout America. A gratuitous waste of materials and space.”

Supplied Editorial Fwd: Hawke Institute

ANNE TAYLOR - Taylor Buchtmann

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Museum of Economic Botany (Interior) and Palm House, Botanic Gardens.
“A pair of buildings that I usually visit together.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
“Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC.”

LEAST FAVOURITE (SA/INTERNATIONAL)
“Mostly I despise wasted opportunity, poor buildings that should have been better and made a contribution to the public realm, particularly when important industrial heritage buildings are removed and not repurposed. We see this too often, in 2019 it was Shed 26 at the Port. Another, was the demolition of the Bridgestone Factory on South Rd, replaced by a generic Bunnings.”

Demolition of the Shed 26 buildings at Port Adelaide in 2019 to make way for housing. Environment Minister David Speirs rescinded interim state heritage listing of the building.

REBECCA RYAN ARCHITECT

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Mitcham Council building, and the Adelaide Botanic High School (Design Inc, Cox Architecture)
“I love the dynamic nature of the council building and the juxtaposition of the building in its setting. I also like the material palette for the external cladding.”

“The school – sits well within its context, allows an abundance of natural light into the internal courtyard which in turn allows an openness within the building, connecting all spaces.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
“So many to choose from, but I would say the most amazing building I have seen recently is the Napoli Afragola Railway Station near Naples, and a classic building I have always loved is the Pantheon in Rome along with the Sydney Opera House.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Myer Centre, Adelaide
“For its inappropriate use of scale and context.

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
“It’s not so much the building, but the place where I have felt most uncomfortable overseas, and that is the Vatican City, for its gross indulgence and opulence while there are beggars on the street.”

The Adelaide Botanic High School

DAVID BURTON - Williams Burton Leopardi

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

McConnell House, Kingston Ave, North Adelaide (Jack McConnell)
“It is an absolutely timeless house that shows what a simple but great planning solution, quality materials and careful but discrete detailing can do.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

The Highline, New York (Diller Scofidio and Renfro)
“It’s not really a building but I love the Highline. It encapsulates everything that is great about imaginative adaptive reuse. It brings life to a formally desecrated part of the city and it is beautifully considered and detailed …”

“I love the Highline. It encapsulates everything that is great about imaginative adaptive reuse”.

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

HQ Complex, Hindley St, Adelaide (Milne Architects)
“I really can’t think of a generous thing to say about HQ on Hindley street. It is an anonymous building; a soulless grey concrete box...but what really makes me despise it is that it replaced an intact 1890s facade of almost the exact same height and length that could have so easily been managed into the development …”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
“Perhaps the epitome of the dehumanising effect poor design can have of people is cheap high rise public housing. For every outstanding and progressive example such as WOHA’s Singaporean sky villages, there are thousands of examples of relentless construction of capsules at a mind boggling scale across Asia and Europe that collectively contribute nothing to genuine social interaction.”

The “soulless concrete box” that is the former HQ Nightclub on Hindley Street. Picture: Tom Huntley

MICHAEL HEGARTY - DWP

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

The DMITRE Drill Core Library, Tonsley (Thomson Rossi Architects)
“This is a building that houses soil and mineral samples drilled from around South Australia, so it required a very functional and practical building, Thomson Rossi managed to maintain that simplicity and in the process they crafted a very beautiful building that celebrates the substance, textures and material quality of the state.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

An Gaelaras, Derry, Northern Ireland (O’Donnell and Toumey Architects)
“A contemporary reinvention of an Irish castle made from concrete, steel and glass. The interior spaces are all accessed from a multi-level top-lit internal courtyard.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Tce, Adelaide (Design Inc/Silver Thomas Hanley)
“In principle this should be a fabulous building, with wide central circulation spaces, courtyards and individual bedrooms for patients. But the building lacks cohesion with multiple facade systems and colours throughout that don’t really help people navigate or understand one of the state’s most significant public buildings. It is disconnected from the street at North Terrace and the city.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

One World Trade Centre, New York (David Childs)
“This building is very far removed from the competition winning sketches by Daniel Libeskind and the client appointed another firm of architects to come up with this bland tall office building for what could have been a fantastic addition to one of the world’s greatest cities.”

Michael Hegarty’s favourite SA building the Drill Core Reference Library at Tonsley

But he says the One World Trade Centre, built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City, is a disappointment. Picture: Jana Frawley

SALLY WILSON - Archaea

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Harts Mill surrounds, Port Adelaide (Mulloway Studios)
“The heritage fabric of the flour shed and the packing shed combined with the urban design of the family orientated space by Mulloway is one of my favourite heritage/renewal projects.

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Kaufmann House, Palm Springs, California (Richard Neutra)
“An iconic modernist building with low horizontal plans and a simplistic floor plan. It’s a house that inspires our practice on many levels.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Atira Waymouth St student housing (Hayball)
“Brutalist architecture has a place and again I struggle to condemn another’s architectural merit. The context of this solid and void facade is what lets this building down for me. Oh, and the colour.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Chang Building, Bangkok, Thailand (Sumet Junsai)
“I find it hard to disapprove of any architecturally designed building as every building tells a story and has merit. Whilst it’s all perception based, this bulky form driven ‘elephant’ just trumps the surrounding small scale residential context.”

A grey box, bereft of balconies - the Atira student housing block on Waymouth St is a polarising building Picture: Nathan Davies

And so too is the Chang Building in Thailand, which is colloquially called the ‘Elephantt building’

AMY GRUNDY - Studio AKA

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

The Looking Glass, Hazelwood Park (John Adam Architect)
“John Adams’ holistic approach to architecture blurs the lines between interior and exterior realms, his use of floor to ceiling glazing and mirror finishes allows external elements to seamlessly enter the dwelling. The harmony created by John in his exposure of structural elements against fine detailing of a warm material pallet is truly something beautiful.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Tate Modern, London (Herzog and Pierre De Meuron)
“The Tate Modern Gallery is a conversion of the bankside power station with sweeping floorplates to create a surreal internal atmosphere over several planes. Its connection to the Millennium Bridge links this modern gallery to the heart of London. Herzog and De Meuron enriched the current building with a varied pallet of material which reflect the original building and modern contemporary addition creating a juxtaposition between light and heavy.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Atira Waymouth St student housing.
“This building creates an atmosphere which is desolate, uninviting and harsh due to its brutalist materiality. Its lack of external breakout spaces and absence of natural elements just further isolates this building from the rich Adelaide architectural fabric which surrounds it.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Picnic Basket, Newark, Ohio, US (NBBJ)
“The Picnic Basket is a classic example of architecture which is derived from novelty or pragmatic origins, recreating exact replicas in much larger scales. The building was created as an exact replica of the Longaberger Picnic Basket, with no concern for common practice, connection to place or architectural merit.”

Novel design, or just a basket case, the former headquarters for the Longaberger Company is seven storeys tall and is twice as long as an American football field.

MARIO DREOSTI - Brown Falconer

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Former Reserve Bank Building, Victoria Square, Adelaide. (Commonwealth Department of Works/Professor Rolf Jensen)
“It is elegant, timeless, is broken to a human scale at the podium and has a ground plane which is properly activated.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

The Jewish Museum, Berlin (Daniel Libeskind)
”It demonstrates how the design of space can create tangible powerful emotional responses in people, and therefore shows us the importance of the design of all spaces.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

South Rd interchanges and expansion works
“They prioritise cars over suburbs and cut a swath though our city which is a physical concrete and bitumen barrier between people.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)
“I don’t really have a specific building. More places which are not contextual and use technology and energy to work against nature, such as Las Vegas and Dubai.

Opened in 1963 and entered onto the State Heritage Register in 1997, the former Reserve Bank Building on Victoria Square has been heralded as an exceptional example of modernist design.

David Burton however finds no architectural beauty in Las Vegas.

GREG BOND - Atelier Bond

FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Faraway House, Franklin St, Adelaide (Tectvs)
“This building is so perfectly elegant and beautifully tucked into the general chaos of Franklin St. The restoration works by Tectvs have given this humble little office building a degree of class lacking in most commercial structures.”

FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, New Caledonia (Renzo Piano)
“I’ve been truly fortunate enough to visit this building. The architecture is spellbinding. From the understanding of the building as a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Kanak huts to the way the pavilions feather off into the sky above the trees, it is a breathtaking experience.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (SA)

Atira Waymouth St, Adelaide
“Putting aside the brutalist, unsympathetic and stale poo-brown blob contribution it makes to the streetscape, the basics of appropriate design seem to have been thrown out of one of the tower’s random windows. In a climate like Adelaide’s, it is unforgivable to have a series of west-facing windows without any shading protection from the summer afternoon sun. It is also unforgivable to provide people with almost no access to private outdoor space.”

LEAST FAVOURITE BUILDING (INTERNATIONAL)

Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel, Northern Territory
“I can’t go past a piece of home grown shite. This is the architectural version of a whoopee cushion.”

Faraway House is by far and away one of Greg Bond’s favourite buildings. Picture: Emma Cassidy.

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