Bradley Street: Woden’s new local

Posted on 29 May, 2019

With the development of its new Bradley Street dining precinct, Westfield Woden is now so much more than a shopping centre—it’s the new local.

Westfield Woden’s much-anticipated Bradley Street dining precinct opened last month, marking the occasion with 500 free hotdogs from The Bavarian, entertainment and free-flowing Chandon. And while Canberra has become accustomed to new eateries popping up, this is something quite different.

The ground floor of a multi-storey carpark has been transformed into a vibrant and active streetscape through a mix of urban architecture, bold street art and lush landscaping. A curated mix of cuisines and styles across six new restaurants—from relaxed family-friendly pub fare at Fenway Public House to cocktails and traditional Vietnamese dishes at North East—signals Woden’s arrival as a dining destination in its own right.

According to Elise Challenor, Designer on the Westfield Woden project, the aim was to create a vibrant destination that would be a place to gather, relax and enjoy with family, friends and colleagues during the day and into the evening.

“We wanted to complement the urban context of the area and develop a streetscape that creates an ambient dining experience,” she says.

“It was also important that we created a space that was welcoming and inclusive to the broader community, with pet-friendly features, bike access and parking, and a green respite zone for families to gather and people to relax and enjoy the outdoors.”

Designed to be a hub for surrounding suburbs, the dining precinct has been brought to life with an injection of greenery, edgy artworks and rich natural textures, making it a vibrant and welcoming place for locals and visitors.

Two years in the making from inception to completion, the design process for the precinct included an extensive phase of customer and community research and consultation.

“It was important to develop a destination that was unique to Woden, and something that the local community could be proud of and feel a sense of ownership over,” says Elise.

The end result is the opposite of cookie-cutter—each venue having its own distinctive look and feel, but working together to create a colourful and lively eat street.

“Retailers and their designers were briefed on the conceptual direction for the overall precinct to create a ‘high street’ feel, but were encouraged to create a strong branded identity for their own food offering,” says Elise.

“Our team then worked with the retail designers to integrate urban elements of street art, neon and greenery to tie in with the precinct, as well as styling that reinforced their brands.”

Avoiding the typical design language of a shopping centre by introducing raw natural textures—and opting for playful neon and quirky graphics rather than standardised signage—has given the precinct a lively personality.  Edgy artwork from some of Canberra’s best Indigenous and street artists invigorates the area and creates a connection to place, while the retention of the existing mature trees, along with the traditional brickwork, makes the development feel as if it has always been there.

“We created a multipurpose, inclusive environment with the integration of bike parking, dog parking hooks, a dog-friendly water fountain, and a family friendly landscaped area,” says Elise.

“The cold, barren laneway is now a lush green respite zone, with a soft lawn for families to dwell, a street library to share a story, and a space that provides opportunities for entertainment and event activation.”

Lunchtimes and weekends, the precinct is teeming with diners enjoying the new offerings; after work, Fenway Public House is packed with nearby workers grateful for a post-5pm drinking hole. Westfield Woden, it seems, is now so much more than a shopping centre—it’s the new local.

Discover more about the precinct at westfield.com.au.

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