88 O'Connell Street is set to breathe new life into North Adelaide.

Once completed, the development on this large, centrally located site in North Adelaide will offer residential apartments, commercial office space, a Sheraton hotel and a vibrant retail and dining precinct.

PROJECT SCOPE

The project includes 130+ apartments in three different buildings – premium apartments in a curved 16-level landmark structure on the corner of North Adelaide's two main streets, a tiered multi-storey apartment building along the western edge of the site, and a range of smaller apartment types over four levels on the Tynte and Centenary street corner.

The development is a collection of individual buildings, each with its own character, but integrated into a strong mixed-use lifestyle environment.

Included in the development is commercial floor space at the first level and 3,000sqm of retail and dining at ground level, framing a large, landscaped public piazza that is designed to act as the beating heart of the development.

A six-level, 160-room signature hotel fronts O'Connell Street, and a basement of over 400 spaces provides easily accessible parking for all users of the site.

Central to the project is the dedication of some thirty-five percent of the site to the creation of open public spaces and lane ways leading from the streets into and through the site. These, along with external street dining, will be the focus for both restaurant, cafe and alfresco dining, and passive recreation activities for everyone.

DESIGN

North Adelaide is an inner suburb of mainly low rise residential buildings, with many heritage dwellings and a number of larger historic public buildings. The two most historically important commercial streets, O'Connell and Tynte, intersect on the north-west corner of the 7,500sqm 88 O'Connell site, which has stood vacant for 25 years.

The site was designated a Catalyst Site under the Adelaide Development Plan, and this development is designed to act in just that way, to provide a focal point for North Adelaide and a revitalisation of the commercial precinct.

The design itself acknowledges its urban context. Building forms step down from the western commercial edge to the eastern side of the site to reflect the lower residential buildings in Centenary Street and beyond. The larger buildings relate to the established commercial zone, while materials and finishes are used to both visually partner with heritage buildings in some areas, such as the Tynte Street and Centenary corner, and in others, notably the Archer and O'Connell street corner, to enhance them through a contrast of design approach.

Overall, the design creates visual variety through buildings of differing mass and height, rather than one big single-height mass across the site.

The 16-level landmark residential building is clad in a skin of perforated panels, which provide solar and wind control to the east and west facades. The panels are designed to be opened or closed by individual apartment occupants depending on the weather and their own activities. Thus the facade becomes an ever-changing, dynamic element. At night it can become a lantern on the skyline.