Barangaroo: Thalis vs Foster vs Rogers - Which concept is the best?

B/Foster & Co

C/Rogers & Co

Thalis one is complete shit

Fosters is good, love the look of the buildings
but Rodgers has the towers right up against (and on) the habour, which I prefer.

I'd go for Rodgers Both Richard and Norman are in my top three favourite architects (Renzo is the other)

I like the buildings in Fosters most but the layout is conventional and it looks sterile and cold at ground level. Rogers is a bit better at ground level but conversely the building are a bit cut and paste. The first proposal is devoid of any points of interest.

My issue with all these is that there is a lack of vision or big ideas, there's no wow factor. I'd make them all go back and try harder.

I'm sticking with the winning concept. Rodgers has designed an iconic hotel, which is being welcomed by the hotel sector. While it doesn't reflect the earlier 213 metre plan, it still sticks out in Sydney Harbour and takes full advantage of the location.

I feel confident that there will be a change to designs for each tower because it's a concept plan that will offer different styles and shapes for each building to make them unique. There is a good mix of commercial and residential development and the lowrise residential buildings don't take the focus from the commercial aspect but also tries to make life at street level more lively.

Lend Lease also make good use of the harbourfront location but also the canals make it more lively but also improve access to the harbour itself.

^^

If you look at the plan for the Multiplex scheme, it too has canals that run from Hickson Road back towards the harbour, as opposed to the LL scheme which has one canal that links both the northern and southern coves.

I like Fosters' fake beach/small pools, they would be very unique for downtown. The Rogers scheme makes better use of the waterfront though with bars, cafes and restaurants, rather than just open space that would be semi-deserted at night.

I like Fosters' podiums more and his variation of architecture (even just for the concept) is much better. I like the tallest tower (~225m?), it is bold, it is different, it is eyecatching. That said, so is Rogers' hotel which is the centrepiece of the LL scheme. Realistically, if LL was not given approval to build the hotel out into the harbour and was forced to change the bulk and height of the remaining towers, there would be no resemblance what so ever with LL's original winning plan. Without the hotel, I think I would prefer Foster's concept, but with it, I'll stick with Lend Lease.

Really, the Foster design is pretty good and includes a lot of features that I feel are missing on Roger's design. Can't decide between Roger's and Fosters, they both have their strong points. I chose Rogers on the poll simply for the sake of the hotel. As for Thalis? :no:. He should be ashamed of himself :lol:

IMO the Rogers design is the most coherent of the lot. It's not exactly groundbreaking but it's a helluva lot better than Thalis. Although the Fosters proposal has more variation in the design of its towers, especially the tall centrepiece, the layout is conventional and the beach thing is ridiculous for a city as beach-blessed as Sydney.

Here are model shots of Thalis concept from 2006.

IMG]http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1029/pb100413mz5.jpg[/IMG]

I like Fosters design, it has more respect for the water front, which if the Northbank proposals of Brisbane showed me, people really care about. Most people couldn't tell you the difference between a 100m building and a 200m building, but make it stick out in the middle of the water and all of a sudden you hit issues. And now that design is going to keep getting watered down, and hotel is going to be negatively affected.

Would have been nice to see something similar to Chicago's Millennium Park planned for the green areas of Barangaroo.



Some grass and a few trees would be such a let down.

I appreciate Foster's proposal (even though RR one is better, especially the original version), but Thallis is a hopeless wanker and low life. He doesn't deserve to be acknowledged as a serious contender. Thallis v Foster v Rogers?? C'mon, he is out of that league hno: You can put him in charge of Adelaide Buses depot development but not Barangaroo :lol:

city_thing said:

Would have been nice to see something similar to Chicago's Millennium Park planned for the green areas of Barangaroo.

Some grass and a few trees would be such a let down.

Click to expand...

I want that for our grass
at Langley Park, then people might actualy use the grass!

Though people in their apartments would whinge if they have concerts there (N)