This massive masterplanning project repairs one of Adelaide’s most important, yet flawed, urban places.
Our masterplan for the Adelaide Festival Plaza precinct, completed in 2013, strengthens connections between key city landmarks. It links Adelaide Oval to the CBD, integrates the Festival Square precinct with the city, and enhances access between the CBD and the Torrens River. The plan also improves connectivity with Parliament House and Adelaide Station.
The masterplan is being realised in stages.
With Stage 2 now complete, the precinct includes the 1973 Adelaide Festival Centre, the existing SkyCity Casino and its new development, Parliament House and Old Parliament House, an upgraded entry to Adelaide Railway Station, improvements to Station Road, and the Torrens River pedestrian bridge.
Photo: Dan Schultz
Photo: Dan Schultz
As part of Stage 2, we designed the public plaza and oversaw the delivery of the public spaces, ensuring seamless integration with the surrounding buildings. The public realm connects with precinct partners’ private developments, including the SkyCity Casino extension and the Walker Corporation car park and office tower. Our work also ties into the $60 million upgrade of the Adelaide Festival Centre, unifying the precinct as a cohesive whole.
The public realm spans over 25 hectares. Despite its significant scale, it is carefully crafted with locally sourced stone, laid in a pattern that pays homage to the plaza’s original art and geometry, designed by Otto Hajek.
Photo: Jackie Gu
Photo: Dan Schultz
Our masterplan addresses key challenges such as connectivity, site levels, and building frontages, shaping a more pedestrian-friendly precinct. It streamlines loading and service access to venues while introducing high-quality public spaces, urban infrastructure, and landscaping. These enhancements revitalise Adelaide’s arts, entertainment, and hospitality scene.
Photo: Dan Schultz
Photo: Dan Schultz
In 2022, our redevelopment of the Adelaide Railway Station entry was completed. The project provides a generous pedestrian concourse linking Adelaide Railway Station to the Riverbank. The concourse interior is designed as an organic vaulted arcade, a sculpted space inspired by the Neoclassical interior of the original Adelaide Railway Station Hall by Garlick and Jackman.
The vaults are shaped organically while also responding to the structural columns supporting the SkyCity building above. This integration allows the arches to extend down around each column, creating a rhythmic sequence of intersecting vaults and an immersive spatial experience.
“The new Adelaide Railway Station entry is both visually beautiful and extremely functional in helping large crowds of people enjoy their time in our city.”
— Sandy Verschoor, Former Lord Mayor of Adelaide