NEWSLETTER
This is small retirement home for a mature couple on a plateau in Salt Hill, St Andrew, Jamaica. This house has a 360-degree view, with the Blue Mountain peak as its backdrop. It was designed within a modernist frame work with an combination/ assembly of carved, solid and void forms while integrating sustainable principles and techniques in order to make the house energy-efficient. The house is completely solar powered while collecting and reusing rainwater and maximizing internal light and ventilation. The house has balconies, roof terrace and outdoor deck spaces that allow the occupants to connect with the surrounding lush landscape from all rooms and spaces within.
The Forbes Residence is located in Montego Bay, Jamaica perched on the hills of Coral Gardens overlooking the Caribbean Sea. This house was a further exploration into the design principles of making each space ” one room wide” to maximize the lighting and ventilation within the design. Instead of using a courtyard, a pool deck was introduced to act as a design feature as well as a means of cooling for the internal spaces. All rooms within the house opens out with large sliding or swinging doors to the pool area on both levels. The pool is the main focus of the house and is accentuated by tranquil sounds of running water and waving reflections within each internal space with changing moods from day to night.
This was a housing competition put on by the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) in North Coast Georgian Heritage town of Falmouth, Trelawny, Jamaica. The site is 500 acres and situated 2 miles out of the town of Falmouth and is meant to be a housing development for the workers and staff of the new cruise ship destinations developments being carried on by the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. This design proposal comprised of over 1000 houses with supporting commercial and heritage tourism attractions for the creating of revenue and exchanges of goods and services.
The development had two housing units that not only implemented energy saving devices but were also expandable by 100% of its original sizes with 20% of the cost of the initial value of the unit without any demolition. Each unit was designed to be a “housing starter” which would be smaller in size as to allow the cost of each unit to be reduced therefore enabling an increase in the amount of persons that would be able to afford them while giving them the potential to increase the size of the units as their families and resources would grow in the future.
The Barry Residence is a single story tropical modern home nestled in the hills of Plantation Heights, Jamaica. This private low-rise home is designed to take advantage of the spectacular views towards the historic Caymanas Plantation and the nearby Bay and Caribbean Sea.