Mt Ommaney, Brisbane

Mt Ommaney Shopping Centre is a typical single-level shopping mall elevated above carparking, and without any interface with its surrounds.

The project generates a stronger engagement with the main arrival street to the Centre. While the design had to cope with the closed form of a cinema complex above, it extends an armature out from the existing mall that is contrastingly organic and transparent.

The contrast is accentuated by conceiving the cinemas as a cluster of crystalline forms angled and intervened by parts of the serpentine façades. These façades are part glazed/part open, framing a garden bridge back to the existing mall.

Open to the sky, as distinct from the neighbouring air-conditioned mall, the garden bridge forms a journey of varied passive and interactive experiences. Designed in conjunction with Lat27, the spaces reflect upon a theme derived from community consultation, of ‘my best backyard’.