Courtney Rice

A clachan is difficult to design with the lack of information and all the different theories around them. The brief I was given was to design a clachan settlement with five homes of three different typologies. My learning from this project has greatly influenced my final design for this year. I learnt that these small yet “random” settlements are usually one family with all generations living together.

Hilden Mill is a site full of history and natural beauty, located alongside the towpath that runs between Lisburn and Belfast. Research into the surrounding area was key to my design. There are many different people living in the area, those of all ages and backgrounds. Maintaining respect for the site’s history and the surrounding area, I developed a brief to design a truly intergenerational living complex. Having a flare for conservation architecture, I decided to reuse an existing building on the site and developed it further to fit the needs of the brief. Having studied through the many lockdowns that Covid-19 has brought us I believe that this way of living will become a lot more popular in the coming years. This design addresses many of the problems we have faced during the last couple of years.