This project was to design a Youth hostel at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. The park is located at the base of a steeply wooded South East facing slope adjacent to an access road within the park. The brief required visitor accommodation of different sizes, kitchen and dining areas, washing facilities, communal areas, a reception area and two learning spaces/multipurpose rooms. The aims of the project were to help us analyze the site, respond to the brief, address difficult topography and to produce a sustainable building.

After the preliminary site visit, I attempted to integrate the design within the landscape and use the steep slope as part of the design. After the initial site analysis, I began developing access routes through the site in order to develop and understanding on the orientation of the building. The primary driving points of this design were passive solar orientation, access routes, and unobstructed views down onto the park from all parts of the development. The final shape of the building derives from the gradient in the landscape that is reflected onto the design.