Commercial Design Awards Winner: Quarry Town

When Matt O’Reilly and his team at Green Circle Projects began working on Quarry Town, an apartment complex located in Galloway, it was clear that building in the area would come with some challenges, such as flooding issues. He and his team also needed to balance the idea of creating a space large enough to accommodate hundreds of people with the desires of the local community. With a collaborative spirit and determination to keep the area true to its roots, the team worked to create a space that showcased the history and natural beauty of Galloway.

“The idea was to figure out how to preserve the integrity of the past while reinterpreting how it could be a meaningful place for people to live in the future,” O’Reilly explains. The design team drew inspiration from historical photos of the land and buildings in the area. From the pitch of the roof to the building’s signage, the project exemplifies the historic context of Galloway. Typically, commercial buildings such as this one would use a steel frame, but O’Reilly and his team found a way to use wood frame construction to give the space a cozier feel. The mix of industrial forms relate back to the train depot that used to take up the land, and the rock used throughout the structure is from the quarry down the street.