Malone Square

The site was formally under the ownership of the Royal Irish Regiment and is situated on the corner of Malone road and Windsor park in South Belfast. Malone road is a major route in and out of Belfast city center. Windsor Park branches off Malone road and is a leafy street with large residential properties. The site is in a prosperous residential area of the city with a mixture of private houses with large gardens, apartments and student accommodation. The character of Windsor Park is that of an old and established tree lined street. The suburban grain of this part of south Belfast is laid out with deep narrow plots. The original Victorian villa’s are built with decorative red brick, and are a good example of the historical vernacular of suburban Belfast.

Malone Square

Our brief was to provide a mixture of high quality apartments with secure underground car parking and private landscaped gardens. The design had to respect the qualities of the surrounding conservation area. The design developed from our interpretation of the site and it’s unique boundary conditions. The two public frontages of Malone Road and Windsor Park and the existing trees that fronted onto Windsor Park were an integral part of the streetscape and provided an enclosure and scale to the site. The plan layout encouraged a physical and visual permeability into and out of the development. By setting the building line back from the trees, and presenting gables as the principle frontage to Windsor Park, this reduced the massing of the buildings. The longer elevations ran into the site in a similar way to the original historical suburban grain. Private south facing courtyard spaces were created between the buildings.

Malone Square

The character of Malone Road was more urban due to its public exposure, and was in contrast to the quite suburban nature of Windsor Park. The design for this building was to consider it as a separate entity, a stand-alone building, which did not attempt to turn a corner between the two streets.  The design concept took its inspiration from the abstract development of an 18-century country house. This concept had a historical reference to the site, as Derryvolgie house, an 18-century country villa, was the original building on the site. 

Malone Square

Credits

Private Apartments
Belfast, Ireland
2005-2008

Client: McGinnis Group
Gross floor Area: 8000m²
Architect: Guido MacLellan
 at Cooper Cromar
Structural Engineer: Arup
Contractor: McGinnis Developments
Photography: Lawson McCulloch