VISION 42 — CIVIC STAR
The client, Adelaide Convention Centre, was very specific
in their requirements for flexibility and recognised the
advantages that both the rotating drum concept and the
hinged seating provided. Our challenge was to combine
these together on a difficult site. The East Building is the
first building in the world to combine hinged seating,
operable walls and rotating drums, making the ACC truly
one of the world’s most flexible convention centres.
Did the project give you sleepless nights?
The most difficult component was replacing a building
that was 30 years old and sitting on top of a 30 year-old
car park and Adelaide Central Railway Station. There are
platforms with trains on them still running during the
construction process while you’re trying to build a
building. We couldn’t shut them down. You can’t shut
down the entire city’s transport network. There were
sleepless nights about how we were going to do it safely
and how we were going to get this built on time and not
disrupt everyone else’s lives.
Your billboard-scale inclined glazing is pretty much the
climax of your composition.
The days of creating civic or entertainment facilities
where you can’t get that sense of excitement or interest
about what’s occurring inside are over. We have a higher
expectation for knowing there’s entertainment and
excitement going on in our most exciting buildings,
so this facade and the glazing was critical to get right,
and that visibility in both directions.
“One of the great
accomplishments here is
an enormous glass wall that
draws visitors attention to
a beautiful view, something
that only the latest and best
high performance glazing
systems can achieve.”
SIMON TOTHILL, ARCHITECT