Whitewell Rd, Belfast
This was an open design competition winning entry judged by Habinteg Housing Association with the task of designing ten apartments on a site with an existing art deco building that required demolition.
Our successful design sought to respect the rich history of the site and restore a sense of 1930’s Californian Art Deco chic to North Belfast. A symmetrical aesthetic was adopted including a flat roof, horizontal corner feature windows and streamlines. Vibrant, bright colours were complemented with a palm tree- lined street frontage.
The site is located in an established residential area mainly comprised of semi-detached and terraced dwellings. The buildings have been designed to repeat the character and form of the housing found in the immediate context of the site.
By providing a vehicular/pedestrian pend through our building we have maintained the streetscape along the Whitewell Rd. The parking and hardstanding areas are hidden from the street and located behind our building.
All the physical constraints are considered and incorporated into the layout and the proposed buildings are laid out and designed to meet prevailing planning policy requirements and the design guidance set out in the Housing Association guide, Secured by Design requirements and Lifetime Homes guidelines.
We optimised the layout of the proposed dwellings to ensure that they meet the minimum floor area requirements set out in the Housing Association guide but provide maximum efficiency in terms of space planning and design.
The scheme was designed to work within the existing site contours & omit the requirement for retaining structure & cut/fill groundworks.
We have carefully considered the areas of glazing and windows along the south elevation to maximise the daylight into the internal spaces whilst restricting solar gains to avoid unnecessary overheating & reduce energy consumption & operating costs. Our simple modular structure of stacked units make this a relatively simple building to construct.
“Collins Rolston managed to respect the rich and varied history of this site. The team’s sensitivity and imagination made this scheme a major success and somewhere our tenants are proud to live.”
Jason Hardy, Habinteg Housing Association
