Oxford Village | Sydney

A revitalised arrival experience shaped through precise RDM oversight.

Revamp for Much-Loved Local Centre

#Australia
#Sydney
#branding
#centre guidelines
#mallscaping
#precinct design
#RDM services
#shopping centres


The concept behind Design Clarity’s design for the upgraded Oxford Village Shopping centre focuses on the success of laneway precincts around Australia. This small inner-urban centre was built in 1969 and underwent a part renovation in 2005. Design Clarity was engaged as Principle Design Architect on the project to develop the previously untouched common areas, the new Riley Street entry and food precinct. With 7 new food tenancies alongside the new ALDI supermarket, the Oxford Village Dining Precinct is inspired by creative local food venues and street dining trends, turning this corner of Oxford & Riley Sts into a buzzing local social space and meeting spot.

Opening in March 2016 the newly renovated Oxford Village shopping centre benefits from a 48-metre frontage to Oxford Street, one of Sydney’s main thoroughfares. Along with entries from Pelican Street the Oxford Village development also includes a brand new facade to the Riley Street entry, framing and activating the main access to the new Dining Precinct.

The area’s growing resident population is seeking more daytime and night time retail and food options. Locals want good coffee, quick fresh lunch options and more services within walking distance, without having to travel out of their way to Broadway or further into the CBD.

The Centre is located at the lower end of Oxford Street, just minutes from Hyde Park and the CBD. Oxford Village is surrounded by modern high rise apartment towers, including the upmarket Monument apartments directly above, with direct resident access into the Centre and approximately 50,000 residents living within a one kilometre radius.

Design Clarity was also responsible for the rebrand and new visual identity for Oxford Village, as well as undertaking the Retail Design Management role for tenancy reviews.

Design Clarity was engaged to deliver Retail Design Management (RDM) services for the Oxford Village precinct repositioning, coordinating landlord requirements, tenant fitouts and centre-wide brand controls. The brief required strict compliance management, staged handovers and proactive contractor coordination to keep trading continuity while upgrading the mall environment.

A tightly coordinated tenancy strip showcasing consistent detailing and controlled transitions.

A tightly coordinated tenancy strip showcasing consistent detailing and controlled transitions.

Strategic guidelines governing all external signage across Oxford Village.

Strategic guidelines governing all external signage across Oxford Village.

Part of Design Clarity’s RDM remit was the creation of a comprehensive signage strategy to regulate how the Oxford Village identity is expressed externally, ensuring consistency, compliance and long-term asset protection.

Refreshed entry sequence enabling coherent navigation and supporting Oxford Village’s repositioning.

Refreshed entry sequence enabling coherent navigation and supporting Oxford Village’s repositioning.

Design Clarity’s RDM scope for Oxford Village centred on orchestrating a strategic uplift across front-of-house zones, turning an ageing mixed-use centre into a legible, contemporary retail environment. The practice delivered centre-wide design guidance, shopfront controls, tenancy coordination, and mallscaping strategies, ensuring every intervention supported a unified story without overstepping the operational or budgetary realities of a working asset.

Design Clarity’s RDM remit covered the full lifecycle of Oxford Village’s external identity upgrade—from strategic brand alignment to technical coordination and final approval. The goal was to ensure that every signage move reinforced the repositioning of the centre while remaining achievable within site, planning, and landlord constraints.

RDM oversight translating brand intent into compliant, buildable external signage for Oxford Village.

RDM oversight translating brand intent into compliant, buildable external signage for Oxford Village.

RDM delivery ensuring the hero façade signage aligned with brand intent, engineering requirements and statutory constraints.

RDM delivery ensuring the hero façade signage aligned with brand intent, engineering requirements and statutory constraints.

As part of the broader repositioning of Oxford Village, Design Clarity’s RDM role centred on turning a refreshed brand identity into a buildable, compliant and commercially robust signage outcome. The main entry statement demanded rigorous coordination across façade design, structural fixing methods and illumination standards to guarantee clarity, safety and long-term maintainability.

A fully managed RDM process ensuring every tenancy frontage aligned with the centre’s upgraded visual language while remaining compliant and operator-ready.

A fully managed RDM process ensuring every tenancy frontage aligned with the centre’s upgraded visual language while remaining compliant and operator-ready.

The food court upgrade at Oxford Village required meticulous control over multiple moving parts: diverse operator briefs, legacy conditions, tight services zones and a refreshed identity framework. Design Clarity’s RDM services translated these competing demands into a coherent, buildable outcome that elevated the precinct without imposing unnecessary burden on tenants.

Hospitality tenancies at Oxford Village sit at the intersection of strict operational requirements and a carefully choreographed design vision. Design Clarity’s RDM role centred on reconciling these constraints—supporting tenants through approvals, coordinating services, and upholding the visual standards that anchor the precinct’s identity.

RDM governance ensuring hospitality operators aligned with the precinct’s upgraded architectural rhythm while maintaining smooth delivery and regulatory compliance.

RDM governance ensuring hospitality operators aligned with the precinct’s upgraded architectural rhythm while maintaining smooth delivery and regulatory compliance.

RDM oversight translating brand strategy into compliant, buildable signage solutions across multiple elevations.

RDM oversight translating brand strategy into compliant, buildable signage solutions across multiple elevations.

External identity upgrades at Oxford Village required meticulous coordination between brand intent, council constraints and complex façade geometries. Design Clarity’s RDM team ensured every signage element reinforced the precinct’s renewed character while meeting stringent regulatory and technical requirements.

A refreshed tenancy interface where Design Clarity’s RDM team aligned operators, base-build constraints and landlord expectations to produce a coherent, durable and fully compliant outcome.

A refreshed tenancy interface where Design Clarity’s RDM team aligned operators, base-build constraints and landlord expectations to produce a coherent, durable and fully compliant outcome.

Retail Design Management remit at Oxford Village centred on turning a previously fragmented lower-ground precinct into a legible, attractive and well-coordinated retail environment. Each tenancy—and each interface with the public realm—required careful orchestration: negotiating brand intentions, landlord standards, services coordination, safety obligations and a tight programme. Nutrition Station exemplifies that disciplined process.

Nutrition Station presented a microcosm of typical precinct challenges: complex services, tight circulation, variable operator requirements and the imperative to maintain a unified design vocabulary. The outcome reflects disciplined RDM stewardship from briefing through to handover.

A tightly managed tenancy delivery in which RDM coordination ensured operational functionality, statutory compliance and consistent design language across Oxford Village’s revitalised lower-ground level.

A tightly managed tenancy delivery in which RDM coordination ensured operational functionality, statutory compliance and consistent design language across Oxford Village’s revitalised lower-ground level.