The Buchan Group has completed their refurbishment of the Toowong Village Shopping Centre, in Brisbane.
The Buchan Group was engaged by Retail First to provide architectural, interior and graphic design services to the $50 million refurbishment project, the first for the shopping centre since its opening in 1986. Following the redevelopment, the shopping centre offers 32,895sqm of shopping space and a new Sherwood Road restaurant precinct.
Some of the design highlights of the Toowong Village Shopping Centre project include new finishes throughout the complex, a reconfigured retail plan, new centre entry statements and an external restaurant precinct as part of the facade refurbishment.
The Buchan Group Senior Associate Anthony Tai said the reconfigured retail layout had transformed the centre and significantly improved sightlines and pedestrian circulation flow. The design brief sought a complete internal revamp of the centre and create a more lively ‘street presence’ externally.
The design firm energised the previously blank facade of the shopping centre with a new restaurant precinct; this increase in casual dining options on offer for nearby apartment dwellers has helped urbanise and integrate the centre into the existing Sherwood Road streetscape.
The focal point of the shopping centre’s design is a three-storey atrium with profiled edges, while new finishes have been applied to all existing elements with recessed strip lighting further accentuating the volume and height of the centre. The interior has been given a contemporary edge that aims to redefine Toowong Village as a premium shopping experience. All parts of the interior, from the bespoke carpet pattern and food court joinery, to ceiling recesses and lighting, complement the design language of the atrium to create a visually rich, but coherent retail environment.
Anthony Tai adds that the centre, with over 10.6 million annual shoppers, will become a new social hub without losing its local feel.
