The Adelaide Convention Centre is a large

convention centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

on North Terrace,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It was the first purpose-built convention centre to be built in Australia.

History

Adelaide Convention Centre, West Building

The convention centre was designed by John Andrews and constructed over part of the

Adelaide railway station Adelaide Railway Station is the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. All lines approach the station from the west, and it is a terminal station with no through lines, with most of the traffic on the metropolitan network eithe ...

, together with the

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Regency Hotel (now the

InterContinental Hotel Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG ...

), Exhibition Hall and an office block in the 1980s as part of the Adelaide Station and Environs Redevelopment (ASER) project. It has been rebuilt and extended upon a few times since its original construction in 1987. In 1999 an extension was planned and in late 2001 it was unveiled. It was designed by

Larry Oltmanns Larry Oltmanns (born 1951, in Rockford, Illinois, United States) is an American architect. He has achieved recognition for his work as an architect and master planner of large-scale mixed-use developments worldwide. Oltmanns is Design Director ...

who was a design partner with SOM at the time.Adelaide Convention Centre Expansion
. Retrieved 9 August 2011. The project won the

Royal Australian Institute of Architects (United we advance architecture) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , extinction = , status = Professional body; members association , headquarters = L1/41 Exhibition St, Melbourne , leader_title = CEO , leader_ ...

2002 Awards of Merit: BHP Colourbond Steel Award, Interior Architecture and New Building. SOM's expansion and renovation of Adelaide's Convention Centre reconnected historic parts of the city to the waterfront. Built on space assembled from

air rights Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others. This legal ...

over a rail yard, the new facility shares a site with the Old and New South Australia State Parliament Houses, the Adelaide Exhibition Hall, the

Festival Centre Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the 1970s, designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 with the rest of the cent ...

, and the Adelaide railway station -

Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

. The SOM project, was completed with Adelaide architects

Woods Bagot Woods Bagot is a global architectural and consulting practice founded in Adelaide, South Australia. It specialises in the design and planning of buildings across a wide variety of sectors and disciplines. Former names of the practice include Woo ...

.,and conformed to the Adelaide Riverbank Master Plan. Its "rational cooking system", the largest of any convention centre in the world, is equipped to serve 4,000 dinners in 20 minutes. The centre's main Plenary Hall can house up to 3,500 people in full convention mode. Looking over

Torrens Lake The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

, the centre is home to most of Adelaide's major conventions. It has also been the location of some significant commemorations of Australian icons.

AVCon Avcon is a company that manufactures charging interfaces for battery electric vehicles (EV). The lettering convention is Avcon for the company and AVCON (capitals) for the EV charging connector. History Avcon belonged to the Maréchal Electric ...

, an annual anime and video games convention was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 2009 until 2019, before it indefinitely went dormant in 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Timeline 2020 On 11 March, the SA state government announce ...

An expansion was announced in 2011. Making the announcement, the

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

at the time,

Mike Rann Michael David Rann, , (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and Australian am ...

, said that work would begin that year on the first stage of the $350 million expansion abutting the

Morphett Street Morphett Street is a main street in the west of the Adelaide city centre, city centre of Adelaide, South Australia, parallel to King William Street, Adelaide, King William Street and numbered from north to south. At its northern end it is part ...

Bridge and be completed in 2014. Stage 1 would include a multi-purpose concert space, meeting spaces and a 1000-seat ballroom over the railway tracks. Rann said Stage 2, scheduled to be completed by mid 2017, would feature a distinctive high-tech glass "arrow" structure capable of seating 3,500 people.

and

of Vx3 Architects.Strategists.Urban Designers were appointed as the design team for the $350 million expansion in February 2011.

References

External links

Adelaide Convention Centre
{{Coord, 34, 55, 15, S, 138, 35, 41, E, display=title Buildings and structures in Adelaide Tourist attractions in Adelaide Convention centres in Australia Buildings and structures completed in 1987 1987 establishments in Australia Event venues established in 1987 Adelaide Park Lands

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links