The newly launched redevelopment of The Glen Shopping Centre represents a significant opportunity for urban renewal. It also marks a generational change in retail thinking and presentation, for the loyal and local shoppers who have patronised the centre for the last forty-seven years.
The Glen Shopping Centre has shifted the focus towards the northern end of the Glen Waverly Activity Centre. It also acts as a catalyst for future reinvigoration of council-owned sites in the precinct. Importantly, the new design thinking which embraces the urbanity of mixed uses, creates an elegant yet convenient shopping centre, a new style of apartment living and a vibrant public place for the people of Glen Waverly.
The redevelopment of the area began in 2012 which then initiated the town planning. The urban renewal is reflected in the street presence of the courtyard, which spills out into the Town Square as a pedestrian scaled, re-emergence into the local urban fabric.
The new dominant frontage consists of three linear ribbons running in a semi-discordant, parallel relationship. The copper veil acts like a piece of long decorative fabric, symbolic of the fashion world within, as well as a statement of the structure’s ethereal quality.
The undulating veil is a key feature of the façade, it weaves itself from the exterior to the interior, forming a visual connection by puncturing the frontage – equally, it acts as an urban link to the surrounding precinct.
The honeycomb façade sweeps across the expansive perimeter to border the streetscape. With movement, the curvature of the white, metallic skin becomes dynamic and oscillating. The 450m stretch of Springvale Road evokes a response at the scale of the highway, where building and ground combine as a giant constructed landscape to form a monumental image along this busy thoroughfare.
The repositioning of the retail mix and the bold proposal for over 500 apartments ensures that The Glen attracts the savvy shopper, whilst contributing positively to the emergence of Glen Waverly as a vital activity centre. The new Town Square is a bridge between the hustle and bustle of Kingsway and the southern entrance to the revitalised shopping centre.
The panoramic glass façade offers context to the food gallery, with expansive views of the surrounding landscape. Monolithic, clean, soft counter lines of the interior enhance the smoothness of textures for customers as well as emphasising the continuous form of the circulation paths.
The lower ground floor area is designed with the aim of emulating the sensory experience of a traditional marketplace. The labyrinthine layout of the stalls bleeds out into the pedestrian area, obscuring any defined boundaries of the market’s edge.
The double void space is illuminated by the extended skylight which diffuses the daylight and gives a sense of vertical scale amongst the intimacy of the marketplace.
The mobile merchandising units enhance the interactive nature of the marketplace. Exposed fruit and vegetables create a visual vibrancy as well as reducing the use packaging materials for display. The open style tenancy brings the shop to mall floor and product directly to consumer in tangible form.
