Above Left : Typical entrance from car park into the shopping mall
Above Right : Bridge detail with precast balustrading and piers consistently appear throughout the scheme
The fact that this is a regional store environment , rather than a neighbourhood shopping centre , has resulted in the concentration of a whole shopping experience , instead of the rapid arrival , shopping and departure , that is the usual target experience of the shopping centre devotee .
External Architecture Shopping centres in the present day environment are usually vast boxes - inward looking and unwieldy - which require a great deal of manipulation to maintain interest in the mammoth space used . The architects have had to attribute a human scale to everything they plan , in order to reduce the enormous expanse to manageable proportions , both visually and practically .
Canal Walk has been designed symmetrically , balancing the line shops and the anchor or ‘ magnet ’ tenants . Two 8-storey office towers fix the axis of the centre which has been designed in the form of a figure of eight to reduce the scale of the complex . The neo-classical entrance arches can assist in the understanding of the ‘ inside from the outside ’ as well as aiding orientation .
Construction The client ’ s brief with regard to the design and construction of the complex required a neoclassical approach , in keeping with the style already associated with other developments in Century City . As responsible architects , they had done a great deal of research , both nationally
18 Canal Walk