Phase 1 Intervention

The Pillars of Hilltown

Dundee, Scotland

Mitigating the death of the Multi: An Investigation into a better alternative to demolition through the vehicle of an architectural retrofit intervention into Dundee’s Hilltown Multi’s.

The Multi as a housing typology is a dying breed, and this is particularly evident within Dundee. The city has changed dramatically as these Multi’s have risen and fallen between 1960 and 2022. There once stood 44 high rise blocks scattered across the city, now only 11 remain standing. Sitting Prominent within Dundee’s landscape, an upgrade to these blocks would be an upgrade to the wider city.

The ambition of the intervention retains the existing DNA of the Hilltown Multi’s but revisits the Corbusian principles of the vertical neighbourhood and upgrades the blocks for contemporary living through the provision of diverse flat types and community programmes. All with a focus on building performance, leading to an environmentally & socially sustainable typology.