Calivigny Garden Guest Houses International Architecture Ideas Competition
Honorable Mention
The design is directly shaped by the unique climatic and terrain of Calivigny and results in an architectural proposition that incorporate sound sustainability design strategies to achieve passive building standard.
Basic site orientation considerations and the architecture’s stacking and shifting massing maximize natural ventilation, harbor view, sun shading, and effective daylighting to reduce cooling and lighting loads.
The concrete driveway connecting the Calivigny Gardens Road serves as the entry way to the property. Sitting on concrete piles, basic guest services are provided at lower level, including five covered parking space, the office, the laundry room, the pool pump room, an electrical room, and a water pumps room. These services are distinctly separated from the guest houses above, to ensure the latter will be safe, quiet and private environs.
Exterior staircases and an accessible elevator serve as the primary means of vertical circulation. They pass through and around the outdoor hallways surround by the trees, making the experience of this outdoor space central to the guests’ sense of the place.
Steel structures are proposed for these upper residential levels to minimize construction work on site. Mechanically operated high windows between steel posts introduce controllable ventilation and daylight. Together with ceiling fans, they help to achieve good thermal comfort without mechanical cooling. At the south and west sides, cantilevered eave and shades further cool down the air entering the room. Stack effect directs the airflow upward through the circulation space, generating cross-ventilation thru the stories.
An infinite pool is placed at south corner of the property facing the harbor bay. It cools the prevailing wind flow prior to entering the houses. The common space around the pool functions as social space, providing areas for gatherings and informal interactions.
Besides passive design approaches, low angle solar panels are also provided at the accessible roof to harvest the amble sunlight of Calivigny.
Responding to the Grenada climate and the hillside location, a series of terraced spaces and unconditioned outdoor hallways supplement the guesthouse’s living spaces. Panoramic views of the harbor bay are harvested thru the full height sliding-folding glass doors. These large areas of glazing illuminate the interior spaces and provide direct views of the harbor bay and infinity pool.
The distinctively separated units design presents privacy for the guests, while also allow encourage natural ventilation thru and around the units, and reduce wind pressure at the façade during hurricane seasons.
Wood grain finishes, including exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) cladding, wood strip ceiling and wood grain tiles, are introduced to provide a warm and welcoming feeling, and to better fit in the vegetated hillside location.
Parameters
Guest Houses (residential complex) at Galivigny Garden Road
Location: Calivigny Garden Road, St. George, Grenada, West Indies
Developer/Organizer: Novara Design & Construction
Facilities: 4 story 10 guest house units with swimming pool, 5 carparks, loundry and recitions
Site area: 1,330 sqm
Gross floor area: approximately 600 sqm
Status: Conceptual design submitted Aug, 2020
Award: Honorable Mention, www.archiconceptdesigns.com
