Client: Housing Charity / Status: Planning Stage / Location: Ireland

 

 

Kilbride Lodge

In our design strategy for this project, which involves 18 no. dual-aspect apartment units on a prominent corner site, we were strongly aware of the general housing situation in the community while also seeking to produce an exemplar of a residential social housing development in the wider local area.  As a result, the design and layout of the buildings strive to accommodate both young families and the elderly, with accessibility a central aspect of the design strategy. 

​

The building’s form is angled to the parameters of the site boundary using landscaped planters and benches at ground level, which help to enliven the connection with the streetscape. The walls are modulated with recessed porches and terraces to give a depth and complexity to the building’s edge and enhance the interface between the private world of the house and the neighbourhood. 

 

The building is bedded into the slope of the site, allowing for an increase in the building heights onto the main road while also providing basement car-parking for each apartment.

 

The building reaches a high-point to the south side around the large oak tree, creating a focal-point at the junction. To the quieter residential side of the site, the building adjusts to the smaller scale of the surrounding two-storey houses. 

 

The new buildings are clad in brick, with a cedar clad dormer roof and timber screens to terraces. The windows are offset from each other in the walls to work with the complexity of the residential accommodation within, and to emphasise the continuity of the brick surface.