"Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria with a population of over 4.8 million which accounts for 19.05% of national population."
800 dislikes out of 4.8 million people is not even close to "overwhelmingly". They must have nicer Pizza Huts in Australia than we have in the US.
Here is what is there now:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.81...qtKf5YhnpGxL8MUylobp9VC808!2e10!7i8000!8i4000
Actually, you need to do a little more research, the 800 written submissions were 1) made within very short 72 hour period, 2) a record for the Council. The submissions are extremely overwhelming when put in the context. (Simply quoting a population and using that as a comparison missed the point.)
Combined with more than 75000 petitions against, this one Apple store that is NOT acceptable on both the DESIGN and LOCATION.
Both the DESIGN and LOCATION are terrible.
Apple is not welcome at Federation Square according to the people in Melbourne. There are many other retail locations Apple can consider instead.
I think Apple needs to determine whether it wants to fight a city or realize it's not welcome at that particular location and find another place in a different area altogether.
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I've been in Melbourne a couple of times but last time was too long ago, what I remember from Melbourne was there were plenty of old buildings, if that's the case then why not have a store similar like the ones below.
Apple has decided it now wants to appropriate and take over public spaces in various countries instead of staying put in retail locations. Like malware, Apple seeks to infect public areas. It's a very bad look for a company I half respect.
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I would suggest build it like the Apple store in New York City on 5th avenue. All underground with the glass cube as the entrance above ground. That NYC store is simple but elegant on the outside and immense on the inside. The glass cube would be a much closer fit with the design of the other buildings at Federation Square too.
The trouble is this is public cultural space that Apple wants to set up in. It's not retail space. The area in which Apple wants to set up is not the right area. So even a glass cube is not acceptable to the people there in Melbourne.
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Only, it’s cureently a public square opposite a train station and the river. The new building will replace an existing building and if I recall correctly, would actually have provided more space around the building than currently.
I truly like Melbourne as a place and federation square is lovely, but the double standard right now is hilarious as a lot of the complaining is about a multinational corporation opening a store in a space that isn’t designed for that... well I guess they forgot about the 7-eleven that already exists in the square and looks a lot worse than an Apple store ever will!
Maybe when they remove the convenience store I’ll rethink my stance on a company like Apple spending money to design a new building.
That said, it could do with some work, some public consultation wouldn’t go amiss. But the public seems very misguided right now.
Melbourne is a very ‘green’ as in politics city.
I’m not certain, but the building next door might contain a gallery under the square already as it’s the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI). That would face an even bigger backlash if they were asked to move for Apple.
It's completely different. 7 Eleven, is commercial, and offers food and beverages, true. But moving an Apple store in, completely corporatises the space with little to no added value.
FYI, here is an image of 7 eleven. It's completely discrete and fits within the original architecture.
The Apple store is a complete monstrosity in comparison
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I walk through Federation Square every day as I work in the city.
Looking forward to providing up to date pictures for you guys as it progresses
It's not happening in Federation Square.
Demolishing a cultural building that houses an Aboriginal community group. The people there have banded together to stop it. You'll have to take photos of it somewhere else in the city.
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Given how many people were horrified at Federation Square's current design when it was first proposed, and now everyone seemingly loves it and wants to stop them changing anything, could it not be that the people currently objecting to Foster and Partners' design for the new Apple store simply don't understand how it will look and fit into the square once it's actually built?
The lead architect of Federation Square, Donald Bates, wrote a very interesting piece highlighting his support for the store design and why he thinks it's a suitable replacement for the existing building:
https://architectureau.com/articles...an-apple-flagship-store-at-federation-square/
He also notes that it's less obtrusive than the existing building and opens up the sight lines to the river:
"The proposed building has a reduced footprint relative to the existing building and will expand the public space of the plaza. It will allow for a new relationship to emerge between the plaza and the river – one that we were never able to achieve within the budget limitations of the original competition."
The entire last paragraph of his article is worth quoting, but rather than do that and create a wall of text here, I'd recommend going and reading the page instead - it's an interesting read!
It's a very poor read. The article Don Bates has written that you link to is very luke warm and not convincing anybody.
Actually, Don Bates 5 years earlier was talking up the success of the Square! From 20 seconds:
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I think it looks very cool. People are notoriously conservative when introduced to something new in the concept stage, but quickly get used to things when they become a reality.
It is an interesting design, but the
LOCATION is what is wrong here. The
location is not acceptable to the people there in Australia Melbourne not the design per se.
