Rooftop Retail Precinct
An invited competition to design a new retail, entertainment & office precinct. This scheme presents a rooftop place that is less uniform, less structured and more organic in industrial form and character.
It is inspired by the faded and redundant existing roof elements; a raw, yet comfortable – distorted and durable – fuzzy feedback form that evolves and responds to the metabolism of the place – and aims to create zero waste.
The Rooftop Retail Precinct presents a mixed use destination with unique identity. It is a curated & genuine retail space unlike any other shopping centre. The project takes precedent from the cultural identity of Melbourne’s laneways & creates a series of larger spaces, with residual nooks intended to:
- inspire a sense of discovery;
- possess the flexibility to offer a diversity of retail uses; &
- enable its masterplan to evolve over a longer term.
Plant rooms & their existing operational services are retained. Redundant plant rooms are converted into new retail, hospitality and public areas. Recycled shipping containers are upcycled to become new retail, hospitality, circulation, planter beds & undercover areas.
The shipping containers are efficiently packed around existing plant rooms, over three floors. Each redundant plant room is transformed into a blossom encrusted jewel nestling within the scheme.
The existing light well is retained & raised to enable the heat rising to its surface to heat the containers.
The project offers shoppers a series of community gardens to hang out in. Each uniquely presents the opportunity for shade or sun, relaxation or play.