The State Government has announced the team of judges who will decide on the winning concept for the current Royal Adelaide Hospital site, with the chief judge saying it should become a “landmark precinct”.
The competition was launched today, with entries now open from registered architects and landscape architects.
The judging panel for the competition will be led by Shelley Penn, the former National President of the Australian Institute of Architects.
Only one South Australian is on the panel – former Integrated Design Commissioner Tim Horton.
“[I see] the enormous potential in the relationship of the site to the city and the fantastic spaces and uses along North Terrace while the adjacency to the Botanic Gardens and the river provides wonderful opportunities,” Penn said.
Penn said the site should be a “fantastic” landmark site with the competition able to attract local, national and international designs, but it would unlikely to focus on one new iconic building.
“Sometimes you get one building that is iconic but not necessarily great. I’d probably prefer to think of a memorable series of spaces and buildings – something that is resonant and enduring that people will love for a very long time.”
The competition will have a “pop-up” office at 292 Rundle Street, which will be open this Friday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm for people to come and have their say.
Planning minister John Rau said the Office for Design and Architecture SA had received “a huge amount of interest from members of the public, and design teams from around the world”.
“Over the next five months we will be listening to the community and stakeholders, who we know have a wide range of ideas for potential uses for the site,” Rau said.
“It’s important to ask people directly what they would like to see the site become, why the site is special to them and to genuinely welcome the sharing of ideas.”
However there was no guarantee that the winner would be awarded a contract to develop the site.
“There is no way the government would, sight unseen, say we will give a contract to whoever wins this. We don’t know what that is going to look like – we’d have to be crazy,” Rau said.
He said the Government would consider the top designs from the competition for the site.
“It might be that the Government looks at designs one and three and says we love bits of this and that and we would like someone to go away and re-craft it into something else.
“Then we might go to the market and seek a commercial partner who would work with the government to deliver that and at that point we start to get into commercial agreements and contracts.”
As part of the rules of the competition the Government would be able to use the design, while the competitor retained ownership of the intellectual property.
Penn said the ideas would be respected and remunerated if used.
“There will be no stealing of ideas.
“There wouldn’t be a willy nilly cobbling of ideas together by someone else; there would be respect to make sure the best ideas can be developed in an appropriate way to get the right outcome.”
The judging panel comprises:
• Shelley Penn (Chair), Architect and former National President of the Australian Institute of Architects
• Tim Horton, Architect and former Integrated Design Commissioner
• Catherin Bull, National Landscape Architect
• Marcus Spiller, National Urban Economist and Planner
• Timothy Hill, Architect
• Bob Nation, Architect
• Catherine Slessor, Architecture Review (UK), Editor
The competition website includes the competition’s terms and conditions and design brief.
