• • 21 April 2015
  • 
  •  Michael Mathenge
• Residential , Apartments , Contemporary African Directory , Contemporary ,

Located in the suburbs of Lagos, Glover 57 Apartments are a superb manifestation of contemporary residential living. Domaine Public Architects responded to the specificities of the climate of the city and its lush landscape with a keen intent to create towering structures that prioritize views. All these features had placed the Glover 57 Apartments in the limelight with a nomination in the World Architecture Festival 2014.

As is common in the city, large scale residential developments are solely based on maximizing profitability to the client with complete disregard to the context and climate and all the design possibilities these parameters might offer. In response, Glover 57 Apartments has broken the mold and integrated the individualistic apartment layouts into a harmonious U-shaped complex.

The building occupies the minimum footprint possible and retreats to the perimeter of the site. It hence privileges the landscape that lifts above the public component of the program. Circulation is concentrated at the peripheries of the master plan, providing an open public garden space in front of the apartments. The vehicular traffic is separated from the pedestrian traffic by locating the road on the outer boundary walls.

In response to the tropical climate, a series of voids of various sizes and heights punctuate the building, breaking the mass and creating intermediary spaces between the exterior setting and the interior units. The openings span the whole width of the building based on the direction of the wind flow, allowing for natural ventilation. The climate, vegetation, wind and sun are the key components that create a new local vernacular for this residential typology.

Spatially they offer a series of varying outdoor extensions to each apartment and sweeping views of the surroundings. As a result each unit becomes a “sky villa” with its own private garden, creating a new residential typology: the stacked urban villas. Through this concept, it avoids endless repetitive housing units and gives the development a distinctively homely aesthetic.

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    © 5 Glover 57 Domaine Public Sectional Elevation

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    © 4 Glover 57 Domaine Public Schematics

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    © 3 Glover 57 Domaine Public Night Render

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    © 1 Glover 57 Domaine Public Floor Plan

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    © 6 Glover 57 Domaine Public Day Render

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    © 7 Glover 57 Domaine Public Exterior Render

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    © 2 Glover 57 Domaine Public Community Garden