Reviving the margins
Donal Colfer (IE)
architect
Europan 10 Galway
runner-up
The aim is to propose a strategic approach for the suburbs and encourage greater efficiency of land use, setting standards for sustainable developments in terms of scale, density, materials and energy. Clusters are an ideal model and for the overall site strategy the idea of the “infield” and the “outfield” are incorporated. Dwellings, gardens communal, cultivated land, commonage and landscape equally contribute. A single road connects to the site and small blocks produce courtyards which give a sense of privacy and enclosure. A sense of place is created which permeates into adjacent neighborhoods. The change incorporates a new sustainable philosophy for occupying an area by its inhabitants. Within the group of 5 to 9 houses, the individual character of each one is defined by topography and orientation. The whole scheme avoids hierarchy.
This project is connected to the following themes
Housing - Community
By its treatment of the shared gardens, places of encounter and interaction, and of the condominium housing, the project emphasises the importance of the community issue on this site.
Housing - Morphology
The morphology of the buildings, reinterpreting the traditional forms of local housing, proposes an innovative type of urban planning where small groups of houses form a focal point within a complex of planted spaces.
Nature - Proximity / Horizon
The island arrangement of the buildings gives a sense of living in the wider landscape, at territorial scale, while retaining a more intimate scale through the inner courtyards.