Study Street

Highfield is a recently-completed complex of student housing beside TUD’s Grangegorman Campus. The urban-infill site is bordered along one side by the LUAS line, and by residential houses on the other. As the site was formerly the location of a grand manor set amongst mature trees, a key aspect of the design was to protect these trees throughout the design and construction process - a challenging task but one that was richly rewarded by an almost ‘ready-made’ environment for the buildings and landscape interventions at completion.

Location
Highfield

Site

The masterplan was arranged to create a new urban linear link between the North Circular Road and the Grangegorman Campus. The main route is a 430 metre-long street, zig-zagging along its length, and at each turn a retained tree terminates the view, creating a successful balance between the volume of the blocks and the massing of greenery. This street is fronted by a combination of residential accommodation, communal facilities, and outdoor activities.

Street winding through the angular southern blocks
Mature trees carefully preserved along the route, softening the rigid order of the architecture
Street widens out to form a flexible events space

There also are a series of ancillary routes and spaces that branch off the main street, offering a wide variety of activities including basketball, jogging trail, table-tennis, chess, picnic, seating, sun-lounging, and open lawn area.

Active Zone + Bespoke Communal Table
Sunny south-facing Lawn
Redbrick Terrace softened with underplanted Street Trees + 110m-long Raised Planter

Bernard Seymour /
Managing Director
Bernard@bslarch.com

Derek Naughton /
Senior Landscape Architect
Derek@bslarch.com

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