RAH site solution: close Frome Rd
The old Royal Adelaide Hospital site is perhaps the most vexed and vexing question Adelaide faces today – this fortnight on InDaily Design, SA’s design luminaries will weigh in with their views.
Nick Tridente – immediate past president, Australian Institute of Architects SA
The old Royal Adelaide Hospital site will be one of the last large development sites available on the northern boundary of North Terrace. So what is the best use for it?
Certainly, it’s not a high-density residential block, as some have proposed.
The South Australian Government’s 30-Year Plan anticipates an increase in our population and has developed a strategy to accommodate this pending demand with increased densities on infill sites. Studies undertaken have shown that if the city square mile was developed to seven levels the demand could be accommodated within this area. That doesn’t even include areas like Bowden and the Port Road Corridor to Port Adelaide which have been identified for higher densities.
Frome Road should be closed between North Terrace and Victoria Drive to allow the cultural/higher education precinct to extend from Kintore Avenue through to Dequetteville Terrace
The City of Adelaide and its adjoining neighbours have so many underutilised infill sites. Why would consideration be given, as a best-use scenario, for private housing for this site?
Why do we need any more? Should we not make a concerted effort to make these areas work, in the first instance, before developing more of the same – which South Australia cannot adequately support due its relatively small population, even with anticipated growth.
The North Terrace boulevard is being consolidated into a number of precincts. To the west, the medical and research zone is currently being developed; the riverbank precinct with extensions to the Convention Centre, the redevelopment of the Casino, the Festival Centre Plaza redevelopment, the new footbridge and the new Adelaide Oval will all provide a cohesive entertainment hub which will cater for a broad spectrum of the community.
Large investments are being made in the riverbank precinct as the primary entertainment precinct, and with the redevelopment of Victoria Square there are already other areas being developed for festivals and large gathering spaces.
Other Options for the Royal Adelaide Hospital Site
The State Library, Museum, Art Gallery and the two universities co-exist in what is considered as Adelaide’s cultural precinct. There exists potential to consolidate, expand and link this precinct to the Botanic Gardens and Wine Centre once the RAH site is vacated.
Frome Road currently defines the border to the cultural precinct and in many ways has been a barrier in the continuation of North Terrace. Colonel Light, in his planning of Adelaide, never envisaged Frome Road, which currently directs a high volume of traffic through the residential areas of North Adelaide.
The redevelopment of the former RAH site offers the opportunity to build on what will become the city’s premier boulevard. The existing older buildings on the south-west corner of the site should be retained for their significant heritage value and urban character, with possible adaptive re-use by the two universities, and the remaining more contemporary buildings should be demolished to allow for the redevelopment of the remaining areas.
Frome Road should be closed between North Terrace and Victoria Drive to allow the cultural/higher education precinct to extend from Kintore Avenue through to Dequetteville Terrace, and to allow the east-west pedestrian routes within the heart of this precinct to extend through the Botanic Gardens to the Wine Centre, without interruption.
Nick Tridente is the director of Tridente Architects in Adelaide
