Mount Eliza Shopping Centre
The Mount Eliza Shopping Centre is in the middle of an area very much liked by the surrounding residents. When I designed it, allowing the existing cypress tree to remain, I was under some pressure to include that valuable piece of land into the building. I decided (this was before CAD) not to alter the drawings, but keep them, and redraw everything to show the amended design.
I was right - after a while, the residents defended the tree, and I could reinstate the old drawings without much ado. I am pleased it ended that way, because the design has a much more human scale with the articulation of the walls and the play of light and shade.Entrance to Eliza Plaza

The boldly shaped fascia continued in the balustrade of the stairs to the first floor space, the higher "block" of the first floor end wall, and the extra trees planted since, all helped to diminish the bland impact of the blank wall required as a functional element of the supermarket.  Overall these features fit well into the character and scale of the urban space of the wider district shopping centre.

An expansive blank wall can become uninviting, and it is important to find ways to use this to the advantage of the project.

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