While pavers, plants and street furniture have been the focus of the Rundle Mall redevelopment, interior designer Andrew Wallace argues that it’s what is inside that counts.
Every year I take my students for a walk from West Terrace to East Terrace along Hindley Street, Rundle Mall and Rundle Street. This is our city’s prime commercial axis. I ask them to reflect on how the street feels. How does its character change from one end to the other? Does it feel safe? Would you start a business here? Would you pause and kiss your loved one here?
I recommend you do the same.
The first obvious difference, to me, from one end to the other, is that Rundle Street ends with the charming Stag Hotel and Rymill Park; Hindley Street on the same side ends with the back of a car showroom and an eight-lane highway and some part of the Parklands with a name no one knows.
Rundle Street has new paving, new trees and new wider footpaths which is all very nice. However, what really makes the street stand out in the city is the quality of its tenants, and the quality of their shop fit outs. The interior spaces are well-considered, well-lit and engage with the street. Rundle Street feels active and attractive – not solely because of the new black paving and street furniture, but because of the evidence of life and vitality in the interior spaces.
Rundle Mall is, as I write, undergoing a facelift of its public realm. Certainly new paving, more trees and more places to sit are an important part of its future. In recent commentary – perhaps deflecting attention away from the relocation of the Mall’s single most iconic object, the Mall’s Balls – the Lord Mayor has also spoken of the new master plan allowing the beautiful buildings in the Mall, including the dark glazed brick of Young’s Shoes and the glowing white edifice of the David Jones Building, to be more visible. It is certainly worth looking up while walking along the Mall. It’s a treat, and soon you won’t run into pesky fruit kiosks.
However, the fact remains that the human cone of vision is somewhat limited to viewing things at eye level meaning the future quality of the mall will be underpinned by the users of the buildings and how their interior spaces connect with the street.
A very good possible outcome of the new master plan may be through relocating physical things to the edge of the Mall it may encourage a slower pace and more browsing, which again demands that the interior spaces are of the highest quality. No one really just wants to be confronted with a mass of merchandise immediately at the front door in a premium retail space. You need time to stop, look and importantly be engaged enough to go inside.
Unfortunately, Rundle Place, the largest new development in the Mall since the relocation of David Jones, repeats the patterns of every development in the shopping strip since its inception. It is an impenetrable box with no activity over-looking the Mall with a basement food court. Surely there has to be a new paradigm for city retail environments or are we condemned forever to attempt to imitate suburban shopping centres in terms of design strategies?
The Mall needs to stand apart from the suburbs as a retail destination and if it has difficulty in establishing a unique retail offer then it can through setting higher standards in terms of design. This should be a core responsibility of the Rundle Mall management authority working with City Council to ensure as part of the development approval process that every retail space is well-designed space. This does not always mean a high budget space but rather a thoughtful and engaging space and the careful drafting of guidelines, good practice examples and continuing support in enabling good design practices by the RMMA.
Hindley Street is another matter altogether and it would certainly benefit from a central authority to attract good tenants and encourage good design. It seems dark and foreboding as you cross King William Street. With the exception of the street’s two beloved bookshops – and McDonalds – much of the interior spaces are concealed behind filmy glass, phone posters and thick darkness. The street feels inactive and unattractive despite its rich and beautiful building stock; the ground floor spaces simply are not inviting places, and that leads to the street being equally uninviting.
In considering the qualities of the public realm, discussions usually centre on paving, planting, lighting, street furniture and public art. Rarely does the role of private interior space feature as a contributor to the quality of public space. What makes a good street is more than just what happens building front to building front; we should think of a street as starting from one back wall to the other back wall across the street. It’s time we realised that interior spaces are not hermetically sealed from the city as a whole but a key contributor to the vitality of successful places.
Andrew Wallace is president of The Adelaide West End Association and Lecturer in Interior Architecture at UniSA.
