AREA [FROM GOSPEL OAK COMMUNITY] better to OPEN SPACES

quality and afforadable homes better connected areas, improved cycle and walking routes. better health and sustainability outcomes. initial design Concepts

New and improved green spaces and community facilities.

Residents to feel respected listened to. And have a sense of ownership.

Initial Sketch Designs

Design Drivers

concept one | expanding green

The very first design ambition was to extend the green spaces into my site and create a green link. This also helps in bringing a ‘new life’ to the Grade 1 Listed Church adjacent to the site, by avoiding the erecting of buildings on the eastern boundary [directly in front of the church].

concept two | linking routes

The next design decision was to reinforce the created green link by also linking cycle and pedestrian routes along the established green link. This will make for better movement along green spaces from Lismore circus gardens [park] to the north, and Queens Crescent to the south.

Linked Pedestrian Route Junction

Linked Cycle Route Junction

concept three | main vehicle access

The main vehicle access point will make use of an already existing ‘turn in’ point where the road has already been constructed to go into the site [make use of the existing]. It would be most logical to have the main vehicle access point from Vicars Road, however, if this was done, the road would be uses as a bypass from 2 main primary roads [north & south] and would result in busy traffic build up through the site [no-one wants busy traffic outisde their front door].

rooftop & roof | no overshadowing

To combat not all buildings facing south, rooftop terraces were added as part of the vertical circulation points to ensure that residents would have a safe space to relax at any time.

The drawing [section AA, drawing on opposite page] shows that the [blue] building has a higher building height than the others, with [pink] being higher than [red]. This ‘step’ design allows for the sun to penetrate south faces of each building [with an exception of the floors below] which in an attempt to combat this, adding a side terrace.

The roofs were designed with a 15 degree pitch on the north side to ensure that the roof did not overshadow the building behind it.

Design Drivers

bio-diversity | creating habitats

“the variety of plant and animal life in the world, or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable”

My design seeks to boost biodiversity through implementing strategies such as wildflower gardens, habitat ponds, bee bricks and more green areas. These strategies were learnt during research into sustainability and also during my precedent studies.

modular construction | designing for deconstruction

A key factor that drove this design, was the method of construction. With this being a Passivhaus social housing scheme and creating a ‘sustainable community’ the method of construction was to be ‘sustainable’. I wanted to select my method of construction at the early stages to move forwards with design decisions.

One of my main ambitions was to use Modular Construction and pre-fabrication to my advantage. By selecting modular construction, it ensures the future use of the site by designing for the ‘de-construction’ of a building. This was heavily influenced by designing for whole life carbon.