Apple Cancels Federation Square Store in Australia After Demolition Plans Were Denied

[Lozza013]

It was always going to happen. The insular conservatives won out. If it was a local property developer building a 100 stories worth of shoebox apartments they would get the nod.
I’m ambiguous about it all.
Hey Apple, how about the old City Square on the corner of Collins and Swanson?

Yeah that would be good if the Metro Tunnel wasn't being built at the moment.

 

[Music Ambulance]

I'm glad this was scrapped as I like Fed Square as is, but it's still annoying that there's no Apple Stores in the Melbourne City.

This is why there’s no store in the CBD. A big fat fail by Apple in terms of customer experience. They could have grabbed the post office / H&M building earlier, but were hatching this bizarre plan instead.
[doublepost=1554500473][/doublepost]

I was all for the new Fed Square Apple Store, simply because it would provide a place to sit and have attractions and amusements.
Fed Square as it currently stands is a heat bowl, like a desert in summer and completely boring.
An Apple store there would not only attract tourists, have a point of an attraction but also update the architecture which is currently quite ugly to look at, let alone be in.
A real shame they couldn’t come to a compromise as I firmly believe that as it stands, Fed Square is not an inviting public space to be in. People just go there because it’s there and there’s nothing else around. Sad.

Yes, it would be the world famous Melbourne Apple store. People would book an itinerary around this store. Maybe check out the opera house in Sydney it time permits.
[doublepost=1554500634][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1554500710][/doublepost]

Altruistically I’d love to see them build where no one else will—impossible and unloved spaces—and let it become a catalyst for change and improvement in the surrounding area.

Epping? Frankston? Werribee?

 

[Zadok Kin]

So is this the only available space in this entire shopping district? or anywhere else in the city? Apple has built stores inside malls and adapted to just any kind of existing footprint everywhere else with no issues.

There are already apple stores in the wider Melbourne area. They are apparently looking to build a form of flagship store in the city. These kinds of locations are rare to non existent in Melbourne city. (They don’t have a store in the city at all)

 

[MrMaxwell]

or the GPO building/ H&M on Bourke St. I’m surprised Apple didn’t pounce on those locations many years ago.

The GPO is an obvious one but I think it was just too large to be an Apple store...Bourke St Mall and Collins St are obvious locations so unless a big retailer dies and opens up a space.

 

[iTurbo]

That Yarra building is hideous. It looks like somebody molded a random/angular shape, sprayed it down with glue, and then flung random cut pieces of plywood so they would stick to it.

 

[Healer Flame]

Am happy , dont want the area be flooded with apple fan boys and girls lol
[doublepost=1554514861][/doublepost]It's my fav spot in Melb
[doublepost=1554515191][/doublepost]Docklands needs to revive its excellent spot for the store.
[doublepost=1554515313][/doublepost]Or they can lease Myers half store in Bourke st. Myer is struggling.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Well der.

Hmmm... I thought jokes were supposed to be funny?

 

[macrem]

Was expecting to at least see something 1/2 decent looking. They’d rather that eye sore over a brand new Apple Store??

 

[fairuz]

You mean the old BAMPFA?
You make it sound like they built it and then just abandon it. The building was built in 1970 and has been occupied for The majority of it’s life. Also there is still a plan to renovate it.

Didn't mean to make it sound that way. Its life was still shorter than it should've been. Plans for renovation, idk. They've been officially saying that for a while, but there's no apparent progress, and everyone claims they just want to demolish it. There's very little info online, and most of it is from Daily Cal, which I've found unreliable.

 

[chineseguy38]

I think Tim Apple should resign. Since he takes over, Apple is coming out with crap products, delays of products releases and even cancelled. iPad Air and iPad mini 5. Seriously?! iOS is full of issues and engineers are unable to resolve them since iOS 12 releases until now. Apple Care support standard is going down hill. So what's the point of opening a new Apple Store if there will be no business.

 

[ianday]

Have they(Apple) considered sourcing inspiration from indigenous Australian culture into their architecture?

It’s a little odd that they would assert such an odd architecture into Fed Square, considering what that area is all about. But I am genuinely curious as to whether they explored that option.

I'm pretty sure the original architects didn't source inspiration from indigenous Australian culture so why should Apple now? Unless they change all the buildings in Federation Square with that in mind.
[doublepost=1554544139][/doublepost]

This is great news! The Yarra looks much nicer and holds more significance than that "Pizza Hut restaurant" Apple wanted to build. Apple could've picked anywhere else in the CBD...

Great! Heritage Victoria saves one of the ugliest buildings in Melbourne!

"Federation Square, the meeting place of Melbourne, continues to split international opinion after it was rated among the world's ugliest buildings in a British newspaper. The square ranked eighth in the list of "the 21 of the ugliest buildings ever designed and built" in Britain's The Daily Telegraph."
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-ugly-fed-square-ranked-among-worst-ever-20120404-1wbum.html[URL]https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-ugly-fed-square-ranked-among-worst-ever-20120404-1wbum.html[/URL]

The Architecture of the building has absolutely no cultural significance unless you think that having a competition to design some of the worlds ugliest buildings is cultural. Yes the site is cultural because of what it facilitates but the architecture is absolutely not.

 

[Arbuthnott]

As a Melburnian, I find this extremely disappointing, and total bollocks on behalf of the council. The Federation Square monstrosity is ugly and not of the sort of quality that one would expect of the capital city of Australia's premier state. It was crap when it was first built, and still is. Not only would tearing it down not be " "unacceptable and irreversible detrimental impact on the cultural heritage significance of Federation Square.", it would be an act worthy of some sort of award.

More lunacy from the Greens, perhaps?

Some sort of lunacy about not wanting to encourage Big Business to knock down something with less cultural significance than any of the millions of derelict tin shacks across the interior of the continent
[doublepost=1554553047][/doublepost]

I think Tim Apple should resign. Since he takes over, Apple is coming out with crap products, delays of products releases and even cancelled. iPad Air and iPad mini 5. Seriously?! iOS is full of issues and engineers are unable to resolve them since iOS 12 releases until now. Apple Care support standard is going down hill. So what's the point of opening a new Apple Store if there will be no business.

Not another anti-Apple troll!

 

[Tech198]

"unacceptable and irreversible detrimental impact on the cultural heritage significance of Federation Square."

I guess I could understand that... We don't have any history.. most of it is gone and Apple wants to reduce that MORE?

An Apple store probably would have been good.

 

[chineseguy38]

Not another anti-Apple troll![/QUOTE]
Not anti Apple. It is the true and fact.

 

[Cycling Asia]

Hmmm... Interesting that apple is are so concerned what the outside of their shops look like, considering the inside of them are nothing more than a few tables with laptops, iPhones, and watch bands on display. I'm sure they could have just gutted the existing building and achieved the same.

Who really cares whether the building is made of glass?

 

[ncc1701d]

The east shard and ACMI building and the rest of federation square is hideous and to suggest that they are somehow worthy of being labeled a “heritage building” is Laughable. Design didn’t even start until 1996 and the area wasn’t finished until 2002. Whole lot should be bulldozed.

 

[Matthew.H]

From seeing pictures of the square it looks like a college art project where the student forget about it until the day before the deadline.

 

[return2sendai]

Good.

 

[Brandhouse]

Hopefully Apple can find something else in Melbourne to knock down. Can I suggest they try the Shrine of Remembrance?

You're an idiot.

 

[Devil's Exponent]

You get what you deserve. Victoristan is becoming the place not to do business.

Ha ha ha, are you kidding?
Melbourne is the fastest growing city in Australia (and has been for 17 years).

Queensland can't work out if it should curtail mining (9% of GDP) to boost tourism (8.8% of GDP) or the other way around. One of these fluctuates with resource prices, and the other coexists nicely with the other 84% of the QLD economy. Queensland's glory days as a low-taxing state are far gone, it is now 3rd behind Vic (lol) and WA.

You might not like our government, you might not like the fact that as a state we are among the most socially progressive, but don't tell us our government isn't effective. There's a reason Victoria is the only state to put more cash into the pool to be divided up between states than it takes out since federation.

 

[Brandhouse]

Ha ha ha, are you kidding?
Melbourne is the fastest growing city in Australia (and has been for 17 years).

Queensland can't work out if it should curtail mining (9% of GDP) to boost tourism (8.8% of GDP) or the other way around. One of these fluctuates with resource prices, and the other coexists nicely with the other 84% of the QLD economy. Queensland's glory days as a low-taxing state are far gone, it is now 3rd behind Vic (lol) and WA.

You might not like our government, you might not like the fact that as a state we are among the most socially progressive, but don't tell us our government isn't effective. There's a reason Victoria is the only state to put more cash into the pool to be divided up between states than it takes out since federation.

Victoria can't work out if we build roads and better transport systems, at least NSW and Qld have got that sorted out.

But what has this got to do with Fed Square and Apple?

 

[dilbert99]

Not relevant.

Still doesn't change the fact that a lot of people think the current building is ugly.

The thing is that the square as a whole was designed like that. Changing one building would make the other buildings "worse". Apple's design is good, but it would stand out way too much.

I was making no suggestion as to the looks or relevance of the Apple building in that position.

Besides, why on earth put a gigantic shrine of consumption where the plan was to create a venue for arts, culture and public events? I understand why Apple wants to be there, but I cannot fathom why the city would want that.

I guess you let the people of that City decide what they want.

 

[Bugnacious]

If Apple's design is a "Pizza Hut Pagoda" whatever is currently there now is something I call a "cluster****".

Fed square is shaped in the architectural style of Deconstructivism. If you want to get a clue about what that means, you can read about it here: https://www.archdaily.com/899645/what-is-deconstructivism

You observations that is it a cluster f##k isn't altogether inaccurate as that is the motivation of the architectural conversation which the buildings are having with the city's occupants. It's a rather wonderful and thoughtful architectural masterpiece. You don't have to like it. It doesn't care that you don't like it.
[doublepost=1554707028][/doublepost]Ummm yeah BTW Mac Rumours - Fed' Square is NOT a 'SHOPPING CENTRE'! Get ya facts straight. It's a cultural heritage centre. Melbourne we salute you for your resistance to corporate greed.
[doublepost=1554707123][/doublepost]

From seeing pictures of the square it looks like a college art project where the student forget about it until the day before the deadline.

Tisk tisk Matthew! - Judge not lest thee be...... LOL

 

[Digital Skunk]

I'm just glad that the local population and politicians stood up to Apple's demands. They could've found any other place to put it.

I wish that kind of love would happen in Baltimore, where the politicians sell city blocks to corporations at the expense of the people.

 

[Jamers99]

Back to the drawing board.