Queen Street Village, Queensland Mixed-Use Development, Australian Architecture Images

Queen Street Village on the Gold Coast

Retail, Dining, Entertainment and Residential Development in Queensland design by The Buchan Group

21 Mar 2018

Queen Street Village, Gold Coast

Architects: The Buchan Group

Location: Southport, The Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Queen Street Village

A vibrant $550 million retail, dining, entertainment and residential precinct set to transform Southport on Queensland’s Gold Coast is being designed by Australasian architecture firm The Buchan Group.

Construction is expected to begin on ‘Queen Street Village’ following the Commonwealth Games in April. It will be built on a 3.2 hectare site bound by Queen, Nerang and Little High streets in Southport.

Buchan’s experienced team of architects and master-planners were engaged in 2014 by Brisbanebased developer Property Solutions to design the urban village’s masterplan.

The Buchan Group Gold Coast Principal Brett Saville said ‘Queen Street Village’ was a large-scale project featuring at least seven mid-rise towers.

“Queen Street Village will be an integrated master-planned community, featuring showrooms, food and retail tenancies, offices, childcare and medical centres, high-rise living and a cinema,” Mr Saville said.

“Buchan is a global architecture firm with experience working on major hotel, retail, residential and mixed-use projects nationally and overseas.

“While the project is primarily designed in our Gold Coast office we have drawn on the broad expertise of the whole group at all stages of the projects’ design.

“A key element of our design brief was to ensure the village could include a wide range of uses to keep the precinct active and vibrant over extended hours, and that it can be built in stages to suit the market demands of the Gold Coast.

“The overall design will complement the site’s physical characteristics and the wonderful Gold Coast climate while acknowledging the surrounding land uses.”

Mr Saville said building heights will be taller at the eastern end of the site with slightly shorter towers to the west, and the Gold Coast Light Rail stop on Nerang Street will be a focus for the pedestrian movement patterns through the precinct.

“The main pedestrian spine – ‘The Promenade’ – runs from a new signalised crossing at Queen Street through the site and down stairs and escalators to Nerang Street adjacent to the light rail,” he said.

“At the centre of the site is the central plaza – a large landscaped space that includes convenient parking and is surrounded by activated shopfronts and building entries.

“This project will really cement Southport as a place where people can work, live and play within a village-style precinct.”

Buildings have been architecturally designed to maximise the views from the site across Southport and the Broadwater, as well as to Surfers Paradise at night.

“Careful attention to the planning and the placement of windows ensures that overlooking between buildings is minimised,” Mr Saville said.

“The proposed material palettes for the buildings are curated to provide each part of the overall development a distinctive character that each sits comfortably with the others.

“The materials on the towers are crisp and modern while the colour schemes maximise the impacts of light and shade on the external walls.

“There is a richer and more textured palette for the podiums and ground levels – the part of the buildings that people can more readily touch and feel.

“Internal finishes for the residential apartments offer two colour schemes – one that is reflective of the light coastal colours of the region and one that is subtly more intense.”

The Buchan Group has recently finished projects on the Gold Coast at Harbour Town Shopping Centre, the Oasis at Broadbeach (awarded a Commendation in the 2017 City of Gold Coast Urban Design Awards) and Robina Town Centre at Robina, which was named Retail Property of the Year in the Property Council of Australia’s 2017 Queensland Retail Property of the Year Awards.