An alleyway off the Springfield Road in west Belfast is set to be transformed into a green community space.
Inspired by garden sheds, Iris Alley will be revamped after the ‘Under the Shelter of Each Other/Ar Scáth a Chéile’ competition was held to decide the best design for the space.
The winning project – The Shed: Gather and Grow – was designed by local architects Jennifer Speirs, Adrienne Campbell and William Brady and will be built in the alleyway.
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Intended to be a ‘catalyst for the regeneration of Iris Alley’, the project will act as a hub for gardening, a display for local artists and a community gathering spot.
The project’s designers said: “Through the construction of The Shed, Iris Alley will begin its transformation into a green and vibrant communal space, standing as a reminder that even in the most unexpected places, community can flourish and history can inspire new traditions.”
The design competition was commissioned by Belfast 2024 and organised in conjunction between council-backed alley rejuvenation programme 9ft in Common, the Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) and building company JP Corry.
Eleven projects entered the competition, which tasked entrants with originating creative ideas for a wall-mounted collapsible shelter for Iris Alley which could be transferable to other residential alleyways across the city.
The winning entry received £1,500 while £500 was awarded runner-up Ian Pitt from Me, Him and Her Design for their entry, ‘Stick Around and Laugh a While’.
Adrienne Campbell, one of the winning designers, said that the competition was a ‘fantastic opportunity’.
“As a group of architects, we fully immersed ourselves into the brief, exploring various uses for the shelter, while also ensuring the construction is simple and replicable,” she said.
“The competition gave us an opportunity to collaborate with each other in a more involved, faster paced way than our day-to-day working, which we found to be enjoyable and enriching.’
