Wassail Place forms part of the Copr Bay masterplan and consists of active ground floors; affordable south facing homes and a parking structure to consolidate the currently dispersed surface parking.
LOCATION: Swansea, Wales
CLIENT: City and County of Swansea
DATE: 2018-2021
STATUS: Construction
SIZE: 21.000 sqm GIA (33 Residential units, 600 Parking spaces, 500 sqm Commercial / Retail Space)
Swansea is a coastal city in Wales. It grew extensively in the 19th century following the discovery of coal and the construction of Swansea's docklands. Since the demise of coal mining, the harbour area has been in slow decline and disconnected from the city centre by a large road forming a physical barrier. The new masterplan increases the density of the urban fabric, introduces new uses and creates a defined pedestrian level. Wassail Place, located on the north side of the scheme combines active ground floors with affordable south facing residential units and a parking structure to consolidate the currently dispersed surface parking.
The car park design provides activity along the pedestrian route and interest to passing motorists through a twisting aluminium fin facade wrapping around three elevations to the car park above. The fins provide the free area required for natural ventilation.
The residential cladding is made from eight coloured ceramic tiles, more copper tones where it meets the car park fading to more red and green tones where it faces the coastal park. The podium level continues the material palette established by the south podium for Swansea Arena, using blue pennant stone punctured with asymmetrical apertures.
