NEWSLETTER
Gwest Medical is a four story medical complex built at the Fair View commercial park in Montego Bay Jamaica. The building is designed as medical complex that is a centre for specialized medical services with rental-able commercial office spaces for persons in the medical profession. This structure of building was originally designed by HMRW Architects and we were asked to complete a number of interior spaces and fit them out with specialized medical equipment to meet internal standards and accreditation. This project required our design and project management services for the implementation for the Surgery Centre and In patient wards for the centre. The design involved working with the Baptist Hospital in the United States to ensure that the accreditation is achieved and all guidelines are implemented.
This house is one of the original model units in the community of Mona heights in Kingston Jamaica. This housing development was built in the 1960s and is the most successful housing development in the history of social housing projects in Jamaica. The size of the original rooms of this units have proven to be inadequate for modern living and the owners sought to improve the external appearance and enlarge rooms to suite the need other family. This project is a renovation and expansion to a modern aesthetic design to be executed in phases as resources become available to client.
The aim was to provide a solution to address the dated facilities being utilised by the SERVOL team at its Pembroke Street office, which is one of over 20 throughout Trinidad & Tobago. We undertook a complete technical upgrade of the facilities inclusive of both renovation and new construction works. The design rationale was heavily hinged on the programmatic requirements of the various departments, which includes a Parent Outreach Program (P.O.P), Kindergarten Classroom with amenities, Guard and Reception, Hospitality Classroom, General Assembly Hall, Toilet Block, Children’s Play Area and a Parking Lot. Other aspects of the design rationale included marrying the programme with the urban fabric of the capital city and addressing the immediate context of neighbouring Lord Harris Square and Pembroke Street; the client’s ethos inclusive of rebranding the company’s identity; and creating an environment indicative of LEED requirements. The firm’s role included architectural services, project management and LEED AP Services. The project was completed within budget and on time to meet the happy faces of staff and children starting the new school term.
Located in POS off the busy thoroughfare, Mucurapo Road, the Bethel Fundamental Baptist Church redesign and renovation reclaimed the lost presence it once held in the immediate community and environs.
The church is redesigned to facilitate an additional 20% of its congregation and added components such as a sleeping quarters, office, library and counseling room, multi-lateral spaces, and a roof terrace which overlooks the city with a view to the sea.
In the retranslation of the design, it was important to capture and reflect the fundamentals of the baptist church while paying homage to the site surroundings, street, passers-by and its predecessor structure.
The very restrictive site in a very dense area made this project unique and exciting. Some of the sustainable features incorporated are low-impact parking, rainwater harvesting, low-SRI materials, and a reduced surface water post-discharge rate.
Engaged by CRCCL, FORM Architects’ assignment was to provide architectural specifications for the Arima Hospital. The specification package included Administrative Requirements, Contractual Procedures, Sustainable Requisites, FF&E, and all architectural elements external and internal to the building.
Located in South Valsayn, Trinidad, the language of this family home is a modern take on the Mediterranean revival style which is known for its grandeur and asymmetrical visual elements. This four-bedroom home was designed to present a stately frontage along two faces of a corner lot while cradling a hidden oasis in the backyard. Employed in this design are sustainable features such as, rain water harvesting, solar water heating, provisions for solar panels, permeable hard surfaces, LED lighting, to name a few.
As with all our projects, we paid close attention to the client’s budget, wants and needs throughout the design stages to enable the clients to “Dream it Real” – R. Santo.
Located on Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Central Trinidad, the organising thought behind the redesign of Yara’s Maintenance Change and Washroom facility was centred around the company’s Visual Identity. The design recruited an approach that was “simple, optimistic, human, organized and united” – Yara, February 2017.
The facility is designed to cater for approximately 200 users with core facilities such as shower suites, a locker room, a janitor and storage component and the associated water closets and urinals. Pertinent to the design was the treatment of and approach to the façade. The site for the Washroom Facility has a strong corner presence and is in itself a landmark. It was therefore instrumental to layer Yara’s brand identity, and in particular the spiral growth, on to the main façade. The corner presence and the treatment of the façade presented an opportunity to forge Yara’s signature into the fabric of its landscape and people.
YEAR : 2017 LOCATION : Westmoreland, Jamaica CATEGORY : Residential
The Alexis residence is located in Jacks Hill in the hills of St Andrew, Jamaica looking back at the Blue Mountain range. This house is an exploration into developing a Modern Caribbean esthetic that is responsive to our Caribbean Climate while satisfying the client needs for open spaces, connection to views, efficient usage of the lands with the flexibility of building the house in two phases.
The house is nestled into the steep hillside and designed to have two distinct faces. The hard southern exterior edge highlighting the entry while signifying a protected boundary and edge in contrast to a transparent north face with two story glass curtain walls to the rear of the site which captures breath taking views of the nearby mountains plants and foliage. This design decision blurs the lines and division between the structure and nature. The insides spaces become one with nature through clear expanses of glass and the internal courtyard and connecting bridge spanning from the living to privates/ sleeping areas. we explored a wide material palette of concrete wood steel and glass, all carefully arranged to make this piece of architecture.
This project is a three storeyed, compact, four-bedroom duplex unit in Junction, St Elizabeth, Jamaica. This duplex is designed to fit naturally with the steep slope of the site while enabling every space towards the magnificent views of the island’s southern plains towards the Caribbean Sea. The units are tropical modern in its appearance and designed to be used as a vacation home for long term rentals.