A VERY interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald ("From bleak to beauty: Grand designs to transform an unloved city block") talked about repurposing empty city blocks in ways that reimagine spaces for accessibility, function and, dare I say, beauty.
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It got me thinking about the proposed integrated medical centre on the Howick Street site.
The building design is, in my humble opinion, totally inappropriate to the streetscape, height and style of Bathurst - first inland city, proud of its heritage buildings.
The author of the Sydney Morning Herald article, Sydney Editor Michael Koziol, quotes Milly Main, founder of Street Level Australia.
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Ms Main says there should be conversation about better ways to construct places - particularly better in-fill redevelopment of existing areas.
She said that "part of the holdup and the tension is that new density is 99 per cent of the time horrifically ugly".
"Imagine if we could take our cues from Paris or cities that have actually planned beautiful places at a precinct level," she said.
"If we want density to happen we cannot keep opening up the vacuum to this crappy development. We need to think about beauty to solve sprawl."
My opinion is open to conversation. It seems many people want the integrated medical centre to succeed in Bathurst, providing services to our town.
However, we need to consider the design and style of this building, which is presently over-height, not conducive to Bathurst heritage and disrupts the streetscape.
I say if it will be built, it needs a profound redesign.
