“Wintergarden is the lifestyle hub at the heart of Brisbane CBD, where a multiplicity of brands and experiences inspire people to shop and live with creativity and individuality."

The Buchan Group design architects have elegantly remodelled this landmark retail centre with the introduction of two parallel malls which visually connect Queen and Elizabeth Streets, inviting pedestrian and customers alike to freely explore within.
A series of internal secondary malls seamlessly join these primary links and create an ensemble of distinctive precincts that are positioned to captivate various fashion mixes.

The main feature mall cuts a void through the building, exposing the retail levels and offering the customer a point of reference while exploring the use of natural light to highlight a playful and innovative food court, glazed bridges and natural surface treatments. The introduction of gently graded walkways and high street flagship stores have replaced the awkward entry stairs of old and further compliments the CBD’s highstreet, the Queen Street Mall. Once completed this iconic development will morph effortlessly into the urban fabric and commercial nucleus of the city, furthering Brisbane’s reach to achieve world city status.

FaCade and Awning Architects: studio505

Facades
The facade design for the Wintergarden enhances recognition and identity across three street frontages, signalling a clear welcome to the public to utilise the Wintergarden. The facade is designed to provide a coherent identity and unique exuberance to the Wintergarden, whilst allowing the distinct retail and lifestyle offerings of the rejuvenated centre to be celebrated and differentiated.

The proposal creates the Garden of the Wintergarden. This Garden is presented in a double layer cut metal facade screen suspended in front of the building's facades. The facade is populated with myriad swarms of flora and fauna, and informed by geometry from biological, geological and mathematical origins. Pattern themes within this mega order are developed to enhance and reflect the elegance and simplicity, the beauty and complexity, and ultimately the rich diversity of life.

The facade lighting scheme is developed as a holistic, integrated activation of the screen. The lighting design is able to create a continuously, and very slowly changing light mood to the project, with animated content like a large coloured butterfly fluttering across the facade, or a school of fish, or rainstorm and sunset. The lighting is able to generate an ever changing experience for the public, one that allows entertainment to be written into the fabric of the architecture, and not seen as a bolt on second thought.

Awnings
Studio505 have designed the Wintergarden awning as a restrained and rigorously simple glazed cantilever. At the Queen Street Mall primary entry the canopy twists smoothly and gently upwards to the full double height, marking and inviting entry and opening views between the first level balcony spaces and the main mall. This sweeping form expands the volume of the entry between the interior and exterior malls, thereby creating a distinct, iconic and yet subtle form.

*Artist impression "Queen Street Mall - Night View" supplied by studio505.