St James Living
A microcosm of countryside living in the heart of the city
History of the Building
The property was prior the Church of St James the Great, as one of the four churches in the Parish of Central Cardiff it was built to serve the districts Adamsdown and Tredegarville. St James was constructed 1890 to 1894 in late thirteenth century Gothic style after the plans of local architect Edwin Montgomery Bruce Vaughan. It was originally built as the “chapel” of St John - the church in the city centre. A carving of St John Baptiste can be found above the tower entrance in tribute to its mother church.
Since the 1960 its regular congregation has decreased from 250 to under 20. This is most likely due to the migration from the inner city to the suburbs and the decrease of strongly religious christians. The number of atheists and other religions in Britain have increased. The church was unable to support itself and closed 2006.
Brief
The proposed concept for the St James conversion will open to a diverse range of citizens. The aim is to establish a multi-generational apartment complex which encourages community feeling and building. It is therefore aimed at students, families, elderly and physically disabled.
The proposed design should look to transform the space into a unique property that incorporates areas for communal entertainment as well as apartments fit for different target audiences, including disability friendly living on the ground floor. It’s aim at a large demographic is one of the unique selling points.
Concept aspect "Living for help"
A unique selling point for the apartment building will be the inclusion of the "Wohnen für Hilfe" (literal translation: "Living for help") concept.
It brings students and the elderly closer together. A student pays a lesser amount of rent but therefore agrees to spend a certain amount of time per week with the elderly or disabled. he rule of thumb is that the hours per month the student spends with the elderly are equivalent to the m² their accommodation is.
They will help with any tasks that might not be possible or hard for the elderly/disabled alone, for example cleaning or grocery shopping. If no help is needed, they just spend time together doing enjoyable things, such as playing games or going for walks for example. However, these students are not responsible as carers. The idea is not just beneficial for the elderly, but the students can also learn a lot from the experience and knowledge the elderly collected over the course of their life.
The concept has been successful in Germany since 1996. It can be found in more than 30 university cities all over Germany.
Key Users
Physically Disabled
Elderly
Families
Students
User Profile
To achieve multi-generational living, the design has to reflect different needs.
The ground floor will be completely wheelchair friendly. 4 flats will be designed to fit the needs of elderly or disabled residents.
The first and second floor will be 2-3 bedroom apartments to be fit for families with children. A lift will also ensure barrier-freedom on these floors, this will be beneficial for families, as it will ease life with children. Especially with prams, but also in regards to food shops or heavy suitcases.
In addition to barrier freedom, a further priority for the design is child friendliness. It is important for the building to be safe for children.
The top floor will be divided into two shared apartments for students. Each apartment will have 3 en-suite bedrooms and a small kitchen/living area.
A large barrier-free communal area on the ground floor with a communal kitchen will encourage a community feel and contact between the residents. By providing a variety of different social areas - i.e. communal kitchen, communal living area, communal dining area, communal laundry room, communal gym - encourages further contact. The initiative “Wohnen für Hilfe” will also help to ensure contact.
As the proposed user groups includes a range of users, including children and wheelchair users as well as able adults the design has to take into account different height implications. Switches, handrails and sockets should be easily reachable by all.
Key Moves
Barrier-free Ground floor
Enabling elderly and disabled living
Multi-generational living
Keeping and integrating original features
Encourage community building
Creating microcosm of countryside living
