More mediocrity for Melbourne as Myer attempt to find a few customers by putting a wart on top of their flagship store on Bourke Street.



They'll be changing the interior, including that of the adjoining historic telecom building.

A giant glass dome will be built on the roof of Myer's iconic Bourke Street store in a move that will see fashion parades hosted on the roof of one of central Melbourne's most famous buildings.

The proposed dome, which will roughly be the size of a football field and rise as high as 10 metres, was unveiled as part of a deal that will see Myer sell its Lonsdale and Bourke Street stores for a massive price, believed to be more than $550 million.

Thank God David Jones still has some sense.

Post Last Updated:22.06.2007 at 01.13

Why they don't just try and find a marketing by having a little bit of class, instead of stepping downwards towards Target, is beyond me.

As it once was;

More of the new crap

Ergh, I'm sick to death of stupid glass buildings being put up on top of ones that are historical and lovely. It shouldn't be allowed. It's true though - David Jones will do so much better having refitted their Bourke St store in a way that fits with the classic style of the building.

What the hell? Looks likes they put Ayers rock on top of myer.

i dont understand why our country doesnt do more about heritage listing our amazing architecture... :'(

Surely that building would be heritage listed. Strange that they're allowing it.

Ahhh the miracle of heritage listing haha... the catch with heritage listing is you can argue that no change is being made to the existing structure. In some cases this kind of development can take place and no harm (structural not visual) will occur to the existing building. its a very fine line. This however is good in a way. it means that in 20-50 years if they take down the "wart" the exisiting building will still be intact (possibly the roof will have been removed but other than that it will be original.

also by the looks of it... you won't even see the wart from bourke street. it sucks but melbourne is in an "icon" driven frenzy at the moment actually it always has been - approving anything that will cause a stir - positive or negative.

look at eureka.. its a vomit on the skyline. no great design the only thing going for it is that its just bloody tall
spencer street station - southern cross... its not even finished... infact half finished and it will stay like that too - the roof was meant to be twice as long and its a terrible space to use inside anyway, cold and dark.
docklands - do i need to even explain
under construction southern star ferris wheel - it will be just like the london eye

and trust me theres so many more fugly's in the pipeline. death to blobby-tecture and ugly pointless forms!

post by a passionate architecture student - haha

Phil

Couldn't agree more with you Phil.

Eureka is terrible. I know the Grollo's like to (or seem to like to) compensate for what they're packing, but it's cheap and fugly. It's the equivalent of Walmart/Ikea furniture.

Spencer Street Station is a waste of the area, and certainly doesn't meet with the existing fabric or feel. A general waste of space.

Docklands already seems to have failed, and deservedly so. I'll never understand what they've done here. It's got the longest rail platform in the Southern Hemisphere (built for the Great Exhibition) and despite heritage protect the cut it in half to put a flipping bridge through it. And the Ferris wheel is a stupid idea, ripped off London which is a city that has the distinct advantage of having something actually worth seeing.


What annoys me the most is that despite all we lost thanks to the post-War generations we're continuing to rape and destroy the city's fabric. Over 60 years those in charge have managed to learn next-to-nothing about shaping a society through architecture.

Ahh see this is the interesting thing... In Brisbane the city's landmarks were practically wiped out by Sir Joh when he was Premier. This had a very amazing effect. The community are now so against development and this kind of architecture if it is replacing anything... even a 10year old building. they doubt the intentions of the government more than any other city in Australia i would say. Thus the amazing development boom that is occurring still in brissie is actually producing some interesting architecture.

To name a few -

State library of queensland development - by Donovan Hill,
New Gallery of modern Art - Architectus
Vision Tower, still basic and bloody tall but its no Eureka and the interiors are going to be alot better
Riparian Plaza - Harry Seidler
Brisbane Magistrates Court - Cox Rayner
Brisbane Square - Denton Corker Marshall.

All these developments could be sufficiently argued that they are sensitive to the local community, environment and identity of Brisbane - they have to stand up to harsh community feedback + doubt + the backlash if it sucks.

Its probably the one positive of Sir Johs time as premier! give it a few years and when docklands crumbles into high density, high crime + neglect... people won't be happy. and who is going to pay $25 bucks to go on a ferris wheel to see nothing when you can go up eureka for $15 and see nothing as well? We should be pioneering not following in architecture and design. We have the people and the talent - why do we need to find a gimic and stick to it!


Melbourne is digging itself a hole. For many years the architectural community has proposed the initiation of an architect into government. One person to guide the direction of built form in a city as well as a government architect for the whole of Australia. Barcelona did this and the city and now spain is in a design boom at the moment.

ahh well... give it 10 years, the design industry ie fashion, arts, industrial design and such are in a boom. good architcture will hopefully follow... the last thing we need is another sydney 2000 - look how the architecture of the stadiums trickled down so quickly into these gigantic residential developments, curved roofs, feature walls... incorrectly used haha fingerscrossed we don't end up with badly made glass warts being built as a home near you!

procrastinating at work and rambling on here...

P