Woods Bagot is lead architect on the $400m Market Square expansion of Adelaide Central Market, creating a flagship mixed-use precinct that enhances the market’s rich history while adding new retail, commercial and hospitality attractions.
In a modern interpretation of one of the city’s most popular shopping venues, this redevelopment will create a vibrant mixed-use destination that seamlessly integrates with the historic Central Market Hall—one of the largest fresh produce markets in the Southern Hemisphere—beside it.
New retail, food and beverage and educational settings will be added to the arcade, with three new towers featuring a hotel, apartments and offices built atop.
In combination with public spaces on the ground floor and biodiverse podium roof terraces, the project will also develop pedestrian links between the market and the waterfront to enhance the walkability of the whole precinct.
Talk to Alex Hall about Mixed Use
The design of the new arcade reinstates the emblematic arches of the original façade and extends them to the interiors. Made of authentic red brick, the arches lead the public through the development, reaching to the top of the podium hall to form covered laneways, frame circulation and denote key entries on every floor.
A podium is stacked on top, providing two more stories of retail, a child-care center, a variety of workspaces and a public rooftop garden. The large open volume allows for natural light and ventilation to pour into the center of the space and highlights the strong architectural forms. A new laneway along the north-south axis of the building yields dual uses—hosting food and retail activity by day and serving as a loading dock by night.
The trio of towers will be built atop the podium’s landscaped roof—the tallest of which will be comprised of about 250 hotel rooms and residential apartments. Its shaded ceramic batten façade system exudes a fine grain quality that is sympathetic to the smaller urban scale below, while its undulating form echoes the arches typology. Openings within the exterior coincide with living spaces and balconies, enabling excellent views.
The two lower towers include workplace interiors with floor plates scaled for a range of business types and sizes. Link bridges at multiple central cores further break down the floor plate for different tenancies and flexible co-working spaces. The articulated glass façade design creates simple yet elegant towers that contrast with and provide a subtle reflective backdrop to the rich public realm below.
Dallas, Texas
London, United Kingdom
Sydney, Australia