Planning approval has been granted for the Studio Nine-designed Otello Tonsley, a “wellbeing-focused” commercial and retail precinct in South Australia.
According to the developer, the mixed-use project has been designed to promote healthy living, with food and beverage offerings, retail space, and health and wellbeing facilities onsite, as well as a supermarket, retail and recreational facilities. The precinct will support South Australian government’s Tonsley Innovation District, a 20-year project to transform a 61-hectare site, formerly occupied by a Mitsubishi Motors assembly plant, into an integrated employment, education and residential precinct.
Studio Nine said the architectural response is driven by “biophilic design, connectivity, transparency, apporoachability and inclusivity,” and these principals are manifest from the overall masterplanning to the design response of each building.
“Our involvement in this project […] has given us the opportunity to work together to challenge what the future of a mixed-use building can offer its end users, and acknowledge the wider responsibility the built form can provide to the community and state as a whole,” said Studio Nine director Andrew Steele.
The built form of the mixed-use development responds to the site-specific orientation to create a well-lit floor plate, using passive considerations that minimise unwanted heat gain, glare, and reliance on mechanical systems.
Render of Otello Tonsley commercial and retail precinct, South Australia, by Studio Nine Architects.
Image:
Treehouse 3D
Centred around a generous atrium at its nucleus, the interior creates visual connectivity with plentiful natural light and a linking internal stair.
The precinct includes a landscaped ground plane public realm and a range of external terraces with differing scales, providing a mix of “experiential offerings” with varied opportunities for activation and intimacy, the architects said.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
