Photo: John Gollings

The Wintergarden Shopping Centre in the heart of Brisbane, Australia, has received three new facades by Studio 505, an architecture practice based in Melbourne and started in 2003. The facades have been inspired by the building’s name, ‘Wintergardens’, to create an exciting, entertaining and engaging urban retail experience. The design intersects in-depth studies of nature, geometry, layering and architecture to form an attractive and complex composition. It is not, however, an ‘illustration’ of nature nor is it merely an abstract pattern. The depth of engagement with these façades lies within the irresolvable ambiguity of its form and structure, the penetration of light, blurring of 2d and 3d and especially the relationship the facade has with the surrounding trees and environment. Every panel and layer in the 4,000 square metre façade has a unique design that is fully expressed through the dynamic, experiential interplay between a considered but expansive palette of colours and a rich language of cutting, scoring, folding and lighting. With butterflies that flutter across the facade, these new facades have been a welcome and almost unrecognisable lesson in architectural transformation.

Photo: John Gollings

Photo: John Gollings

Photo: John Gollings