Railway plaza a shocker, angry architects lament

MELBOURNE'S architectural elite have broken ranks to heavily criticise a significant component of the State Government's Spencer Street redevelopment, the West End Plaza, declaring it an appalling scar on the city.
The Age also reveals that the Southern Cross Station project, designed by British-based architects Nicholas Grimshaw and Melbourne's Daryl Jackson Pty Ltd, was not the scheme preferred by a Government-appointed design panel.
The plaza, a three-level building adjoining the station's northern end, stretches almost two city blocks from Bourke to La Trobe Street and houses a new bus depot, Direct Factory Outlets, and 800 car parks. The car park entrance is a gaping hole at the intersection of Spencer and Lonsdale streets.
Although critics have hailed the achievement of the railway station, they liken the adjacent grey, industrial-like Plaza building to the former Spencer Street Station.
As part of their professional code architects are not supposed to criticise each other's work. But leading members of the profession are too angry to restrain themselves.
"I don't know who the architect is, but whoever it is they should be ashamed of themselves," said Randal Marsh, director of Wood Marsh, winner of this year's prestigious Victoria Medal.
The main architect for the plaza is believed to have been Daryl Jackson.
Mr Marsh said many architects worked tirelessly to design great buildings that contributed to making Melbourne a better city, but the West End Plaza was a "blight".
"This is a major building in the city that seems to give no consideration to the fundamentals of good planning and design," he said.
This year design doyen and RMIT architecture professor Leon van Schaik published a book Design City Melbourne that celebrated the city's architectural achievements. The West End Plaza is not among them.
"It's the worst thing I've ever seen," he said. "It's devoid of any quality at all. How could this thing have got through all the (Government) systems that we have in place that are supposed to deliver a better city. It's a shocker."
The Southern Cross project is part of a Public Private Partnership between the Government and Civic Nexus, a consortium that includes financier ABN Amro, builder Leightons, and architects Grimshaw Jackson.
Under the deal Civic Nexus builds and manages the station — the Government will pay the group $1.8 billion over 30 years — and gets to develop surrounding public property for commercial use. After it won the tender in 2002, Civic Nexus reworked plans for the area around the station, replacing high-rise apartment and office towers with lower-rise buildings.

As the station PPP was deemed a project of state significance it was not subject to the usual public scrutiny. Professor van Schaik believes the plaza would not have been approved under usual planning processes.
Transport Minister and former major projects minister Peter Batchelor proudly declared yesterday that the West End Plaza housed "the first DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) in any CBD in Australia".
But Government Architect John Denton said DFO, given the type of building it occupied, was probably more appropriate in the suburbs than the CBD.
DFO would probably not have been included under the scheme that the Government's expert panel recommended in the bid process that concluded in 2002.
High-level sources confirmed this week that the three-man panel, led by Professor Peter McIntyre, favoured an alternative design by local firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall, but the Government opted for the cheaper bid.
Industry sources said they believed the difference between the bids was about $80 million.
Mr Batchelor defended the Government's choice. "Victorians have a new, world-class railway station that has set the standards in design, engineering and technology," he said.
"What we sought was value for money. In determining value for money, all aspects of the bids were considered including bid price and design."
Daryl Jackson general manager Chris Perry said that he looked forward to reading critics' comments and "responding accordingly". Civic Nexus did not want to be interviewed.