mother & child drug rehabilitation centre

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‘An exploration into the role of architecture in dealing with special human needs and problems.’

Mother and Child Drug Rehabilitation Centre - a design dissertation by Niall FitzGerald

Submitted for assesment for ARCH3102 Architectural Design Studio School of Architecture, DIT

May 2012

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ContentsIntroduction 07

Project A_Reflection 09

Project B_Architecture & Place 25 Site 28 Exemplars 45 Further Exemplars 57 Research & Inspiration 65

Project B_the Brief 70

Project B_Design Development 73

Poject B_Design Architecture 89 Materials, Environment & Landscape 107 Summary Apologia 113

References 117

Bibliography 119

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Introduction

This design dissertation represents a culmination of the first three years of my architectural education. It is an insight into my interests and inspirations as well as the struggles and successes I have experienced during this time.

I believe it tells the story of a maturing young architect, seeking out an outlook and position on architecture and its role in society today.

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Cover photograph:‘Trampled’ The tactile surface of the Piazza Navona, RomeOctober 2011

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Project A_Contextual Readings, Tectonic Responses - a reflection on my design work so far.

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Part 1_Reflection Presentation

Part 2_Introduction

Part 3_Inhabiting the niche

Part 4_Wedding Space

Part 5_Dublin City Hall Councillors’ Offices

Part 6_Trastevere Town Hall & Civic Offices

Part 7_Construction Work

Part 8_Conclusion

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Part 1_Reflection Presentation Contextual Readings

Niall FitzGerald

Wedding SpaceThis scheme, a building for weddings, was located in a disused carpark near Wolfe Tone Square in Dublin.

In order for this building to blend into its context I was inspired to use the same materials and construction methods that were used to create the local Victorian and Georgian buildings.

This scheme is essentially an exploration of brick construction techniques. I was interested in how this material, one of the most popular building elements in Dublin’s architectural fabric, could be reinterpreted and reinvented in a contemporary building.

Dublin City Hall Councillors’ OfficesThe site of this building is an existing public square on Dame St. It is a void in the city, caused by the demolition of a derelict Georgian terrace.

I chose to locate the office building on the same part of the site as the former Georgian block. In doing so, once again defining the street edge along Dame St and in turn framing a public space within.

The Councillors’ offices pays hommage to the former Georgian block, both in its location and the design of its elevation, as well as through the use of brick flemish bond.

Trastevere Town Hall & Civic OfficesLocated on a steep hillside site in the Roman district of Trastevere, this building, including a town hall and civic offices, serves the local people.

I was inspired to utilise ancient Roman construction methods and structural sys-tems in this building in order that it blend in with its rich historic context.

Brick arches form the structural system of the building. They are a composite construction named ‘opus incertum’, which combines Roman brick and concrete. The concrete, the aggregate of which is taken from the site, binds the brick faces of the arch together.

Flemish bond brickwork.Dublin’s Georgian and Victorian context.

Exploration of brick construction.Two brick bonds used in Wedding Space.

Detailed exploration of a typical Georgian sash window.

Detailed exploration of ‘opus incertum’ arch.

Window arrangement on the facade of a Georgian block in Dublin.

Roman ‘Opus incertum’ arch.

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Tectonic Responses

Dublin School of Architecture_ARCH3102, Architectural Design Studio, 3rd Year Architecture 2011/12_DIT

Section of Wedding Space explaining use of brick work

Elevation of Councillors’ offices

Section through Town Hall & Civic Offices

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Upon reflection on my work from the past two and a half years in college, it appears that there is a reoccurring theme in most of the buildings I have designed. I noticed that I had a particular method of working, a logical progression that involves a certain way of ‘reading’ the site - this reading then influences the tectonic make up of the building. .

I wonder why I work this way?

To the left is a sketch I drew as part of a project at the beginning of first year. This sketch is my interpretation of the theme for first year, which was ‘Constructing an Environment’. This sketch conveys the important idea for me of context in architecture; that a good building must be in harmony with its surrounding environment. The tree, symbolising the environment, is growing out of the cherry picker, which symbolises construction.

It is clear from this drawing at this early stage in my architectural career, that I was concerned with the importance of place in architecture.

Part 2_Introduction

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The brief of one of the very first projects I did in first year asked for a intervention, made from a recycled material, in a niche in Dublin city centre.

I elected to use recycled plastic bottles, represented in my model by pieces of plastic straws, to create a piece of public furniture in a niche in Dublin Castle.

It is clear from this scheme that I was interested at an early stage in the idea of using small modulars to create a sort of ‘additive’ or ‘‘fractal’ architecture.

Part 3_Inhabiting the niche

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This scheme, a building for weddings, was located in a disused carpark near Wolfe Tone Square in Dublin.

In order for this building to blend into its context I was inspired to use the same materials and construction methods that were used to create the local Victorian and Georgian buildings.

This scheme is essentially an exploration of brick construction techniques. I was interested in how this material, one of the most popular building elements in Dublin’s architectural fabric, could be reinterpreted and reinvented in a contemporary building.

Part 4_Wedding Space

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The site of this building is an existing public square on Dame St. It is a void in the city, caused by the demolition of a derelict Georgian terrace.

I chose to locate the office building on the same part of the site as the former Georgian block. In doing so, once again defining the street edge along Dame St and in turn framing a public space within.

The Councillors’ offices pays homage to the former Georgian block, both in its location and the design of its elevation, as well as through the use of brick Flemish bond.

Part 5_Dublin City Hall Councillors’ Offices

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Located on a steep hillside site in the Roman district of Trastevere, this building, including a town hall and civic offices, serves the local people.

I was inspired to utilise ancient Roman construction methods and structural systems in this building in order that it blend in with its rich historic context.

Brick arches form the structural system of the building. They are a composite construction named ‘opus incertum’, which combines Roman brick and concrete. The concrete, the aggregate of which is taken from the site, binds the brick faces of the arch together.

Part 6_Trastevere Town Hall & Civic Offices

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Over the past two years I have been working part time as a labourer with a building contractor. This job has proved far more beneficial than simply being a means to earn pocket money.

This has been great practical experience for me as a student of architecture. It has given me an understanding of and an appreciation for various different building materials and construction methods that has undoubtedly contributed to the tectonic tnature of my architecture.

Part 7_Construction Work

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Having reflected on my work I ‘ am now clear of the dominant theme in my architecture; that of a tectonic architecture that is informed by the context of the building.

My method of working is not simply about borrowing from the context of a building. I am concerned with how, through the use of a particular material, a certain construction method or structural system, that a building bears more significance for the people that use it - it has ‘meaning’.

I feel that if I am to continue this theme in my work that I must try and understand how meaning in architecture can be achieved, without creating a pastiche of the past. How traditional materials and techniques can be reinterpreted in a contemporary building.

Part 8_Conclusion

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Project B_Mother & Child Drug Rehabilitation Centre

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re·ha·bil·i·tate tr.v. re·ha·bil·i·tat·ed, re·ha·bil·i·tat·ing, re·ha·bil·i·tates 1. To restore to good health or useful life, as through therapy and education. 2. To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity. 3. To reinstate the good name of. 4. To restore the former rank, privileges, or rights of.

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Project B_Architecture & Place _Site

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Site 1_Guinness Grain Store After walking what Dublin Corporation has dubbed as the city’s ‘Cultural Corridor’, I reflected on what I had seen and experienced. The area encompassing the Guinness brewery and the surrounding area of the Liberties caught my attention.

Having recently completed a reflection on my design work to that point, I was conscious of the reoccurring theme of borrowing from historic context in my work.

The gargantuan Victorian Guinness brewery caught my imagination. A week previously, Diageo had been awarded planning permission to move their production facilities to the north side of the brewery and that the older buildings surrounding the Storehouse Visitor Centre on the south side of the brewery would, in time, become mementoes of a time gone by, in need of reimagination and a new purpose.

I was compelled to explore the buildings of the Guinness brewery further, in particular the malt store building, a four-storey brick and steel structure that had been emptied by the evolution of technology. I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to further explore the theme of borrowing from history by reimagining the malt store as, perhaps, some sort of new cultural or touristic facility for Dublin.

I explored a series of adaptive re use exemplars. [See Exemplars Section]

I was intrigued not just by the Guinness brewery itself, but also by the large surrounding residential area of the Liberties. I was interested in particular in the area where the two zones of industry and living met, a peculiar place where Guinness, both an industrial monster and tourist-magnet, stands face to face with concrete blocks of social housing and smaller scale Victorian dwellings.

By tracing the evolution of both the brewery facilities and the surrounding residential neighbourhoods [right], whose sole purpose was to serve the thousands of workers of Guinness with housing, I was able to explore the dynamic that once existed between the two.

I then had a notion that the dynamic that had once existed between Guinness and the Liberties could be reversed. That my proposal for this dissertation could be one that would form part of the Guinness brewery, but would serve the surrounding area.

The notion of serving a community was something that I had explored in a previous project; a learning centre for the St Michael’s house organisation in Bray, Co. Wicklow. It was an aspect of my architectural education that I felt had been under explored at that point. Thus, I was determined that my proposal for this building would have some sort of social agenda.

Having investigated various adaptive re use exemplars, it was clear to me that redundant industrial buildings were most suited to adaptation as cultural and touristic attractions. I was not convinced that the Guinness malt store would be an appropriate site for a community outreach building.

The evolution of Guinness & the Liberties

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2007

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Site 2_School Street Expanding on my fascination with the zone of threshold between the industrial and residential areas, I discovered a new site, not far from the malt store, on School Street.

I proposed that a new community centre for the Liberties could be located there. It appeared to be an ideal site, next to two blocks of flats, with smaller Victorian dwellings also nearby, it is at the heart of the community.

The site comprised of a disused school building, the grounds of which are currently being used as car park by Diageo.

I proceeded to research several different community centre exemplars and returned to the Liberties where I spoke to a number of locals about their area. They explained that there was not a shortage of community facilities in the area or in surrounding neighbourhoods, but that what was needed was a centrally located community centre containing all of the major community outreach facilities for the area.

During my return to the area I spoke at length to a local drug care worker. She pointed out the territorial nature of the people that live in the Liberties and confirmed that many community facilities already existed in the wider local area, but that if they were outside of the Liberties that local people would not visit them. She talked also about the drug problem that was rife in the area.

As I explored further the School Street site I felt that it was too large for a community building. I also explored the surrounding area in greater detail and discovered that there were too many facilities that were similar to what I was proposing. As a result, I believed I could not justify the location of a community centre at this site.

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Aerial Photographs

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Figure Ground

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Historic Maps Analysis

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Routes

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Site Zoning

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Site Photographs & Materiality

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Site Plan

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Site Elevation

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Site Sections

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Site 3_St. Catherine’s Lane_Context

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Project B_Architecture & Place _Exemplars

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Adaptive Re Use 1. Lamont Cultural Centre: a former brewery in Belgium reused as a cultural and community centre.

2. Tate Modern: the former Bankside Power Station given a new lease of life as an art gallery.

3. MASS MoCA: Arnold Print Works reconfigured as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

4. Design Zentrum: In 1997, the boiler house of the massive Zollverein XII Coal Mine was converted into the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen.

5. Dia:Beacon: a concrete-framed, former Nabisco box printing factory in NYC, given a new lease of life as an art gallery.

6. Guinness Storehouse Visitors’ Centre: a former storehouse of the Guinness brewery refurbished and adapted to become one of Dublin’s most important cultural attractions.

7. Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord: a former high tech weapons manufacturing facility reclaimed as a recreational and cultural park.

8. Promenade Plantée: once a freight railroad, this elevated viaduct has been redesigned as a planted pedestrian walkway.

9. The High Line: similarly to the Promenade Plantée, this elevated structure, once a railway line, is now used as an elevated urban park sitting amongst the skyscrapers of New York City.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Community A number of community centre exemplars were studied as the scope of the project narrowed toward a community outreach type building. They were examined under the themes of ‘environment’, ‘organisation’, ‘hierarchy’ and

‘tectonics’.

Image: Donore Avenue Community Centre

courtsey of Dariusz Cyparski, flickr.com

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Brookfield Community Youth Centre & Creche, Tallaght Hasset Ducatez Architects - 2007 Area: 1900 sq m This building is located in Tallaght at the edge of Dublin city. It is situated on an open plot of land, surrounded on three sides by low-rise, low density housing. Occassionally, traveller communities are located nearby.This area is experienced primarily by car, the form of the building responds to this in the way it turns the corner. The building sits at the northern edge of the site, framing a green area for outdoor playing to the south.

Surrey Hills Library & Community Centre - Sydney, Aus FJMT Architects - 2009Area: 2,497 sq m Located in a southern, inner-city suburb of Sydney, this building serves a community whose members are of diverse age, wealth and cultural background. Also, the physical context of the community centre is diverse; surrounding it are apartments, commericial properties, terraced housing, as well as a number of industrial properties. The architecture of the area is predominently Victorian.

Youth & Community Centre - Donore Ave, Dublin 8 Henchion Reuter Architects - 2004Area: 1,100 sq m This building is located in the Coombe area close to the south inner city, not far from my proposed site in the Liberties. Similarly to the area surrounding the Brookfield Community Centre, this centre is situated in a place of social degredation; tall council flats buildings, contrast with smaller Victorian dwellings. There is a massive drug problem in this area.

Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Environment

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Brookfield Youth Centre & Creche

Programme: 1,900 sq m

1. Gym2. Workroom x23. Boiler4. WC x25. Games Room6. Control Room7. Café8. Kitchen9. Store10. Dressing x211. Large Room12. Office13. Creche Day Room14. Control Room

1. Meeting Room x22. Work Room x23. WC x24. Services5. Art Room6. ‘Breakout Space’ x37. Control Room8. Computer Room9. Music Room10. Homework Room11. Staff Room12. Kitchen13. Creche Day Room

Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Organisation

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Ground Floor

1. Entrance Lobby2. Drop In Centre (Community Drug Team)3. Community Hall4. Changing Rooms5. W.C.6. Storage

Second Floor

1. Offices x 3 + Ancillary room2.. CDT Accommodation3. W.C.4. Storage5. Roof Terrace

First Floor

1. Activity Room x 32.. W.C.3. CDT Accommodation4. Kitchen


Donore Avenue Community Centre

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Surrey Hills Library & Community Centre

Lower Ground Floor Ground Floor First Floor Second Floor

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Hierarchy Public v Private

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Exemplars_Tectonics B

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Surrey Hills Community Centre

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Project B_Architecture & Place _Further Exemplars

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Further Exemplars

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Hubertus House_Aldo van Eyck

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Womens’ Dorm_Kazuyo Seijima

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Project B_Architecture & Place _Research & Inspiration

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Research & Inspiration

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Project B_Architecture & Place_Research & Inspiration Anthony Keidis_Inside the mind of a drug addict

As part of the research for this project I felt it was necessary to understand the mind of the drug addict.

The glamorous surroundings of the Hollywood Hills may seem a world away from Thomas St and the Liberties, but many of the experiences and struggles Anthony Keidis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, went through are typical of any drug abuser and recovering addict.

Keidis’ tale is one of isolation, devastation, anger and ruined relationships. As his addiction grew worse during the early 1990s he became increasingly lost and alone in life. He felt that the city of Los Angeles was the only place that he could call home and the only thing that he could identify as his friend.

This got me thinking about the relationship a person can have with a particular place. How a place can hold a particular meaning and become a comfort for a person trying to cope with their own struggles. Could the building I design serve this purpose?

“I rode home from rehearsal that day on the 101 Freeway, and my sense of loss about John and the loneliness that I was feeling triggered memories of my time with Ione and how I’d had this beautiful angel of a girl who was willing to give me all of her love, and instead of embracing that, I was downtown with fucking gangsters shooting speedballs under a bridge. I felt I had thrown away so much in my life, but I also felt an unspoken bond between me and my city… even if I was a loner in my own band, at least I still felt the presence of the city I lived in.

I started freestyling some poetry in my car and putting the words to a melody and sang all the way down the freeway. When I got home, I got out my notebook and wrote the whole thing down in a song structure, even though it was meant to be a poem about anguish.”

Under the Bridge:

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, the city of angelsLonely as I am, together we cry.

I drive on her streets ‘cause she’s my companionI walk through her hills ‘cause she knows who I amShe sees my good deeds and she kisses me windyI never worry, now that is a lie.

I don’t ever want to feel like I did that dayTake me to the place I love, take me all the wayIt’s hard to believe that there’s nobody out thereIt’s hard to believe that I’m all aloneAt least I have her, the city she loves meLonely as I am, together we cry.

I don’t ever want to feel like I did that dayTake me to the place I love, take me all the way

Under the bridge downtownIs where I drew some bloodUnder the bridge downtown I could not get enoughUnder the bridge downtownForgot about my loveUnder the bridge downtownI gave my life away

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The Brief After having analysed a series of exemplars, a brief for my scheme was developed.

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Brief: This rehabilitation centre will provide treatment for up to 15 female recovering drug addicts with additional services for up to 5 of the residents’ children [aged 0-5].

Philosophy: This will be a small, structured, drug-free community. Residents are encouraged to make psychological and lifestyle changes in order to recover.

Treatment is based on a peer support approach. Emphasis is put on group work in particular, in order that each of the women achieves personal responsibility within a highly structured environment.

During their 6-month treatment programme the women are expected to contribute to the general running of the community by participating in various educational and practical activities as well as group and individual therapy sessions.

In many cases it will be necessary for a female resident to be accompanied by her young child so that she may look after him or her while also receiving treatment.

Five children between the ages of 0 and 5 will be catered for by a childcare worker in a pre school on site.

Staff: 5 Care Workers

1 Childcare Worker

1 Nurse

1 Receptionist

Residents: 15 Women

5 Children [age 0-5]

Schedule of Accommodation:

Necessity:

• Bedroom for one individual [incl en suite] [x10] 30 sq m • Bedroom for mother & child [incl en suite] [x5] 40 sq m • Bedroom for sleep-in staff [incl en suite] [x3] 30 sq m • Group Therapy Room 50 sq m • Individual Therapy Room [x3] 20 sq m • Crèche 65 sq m • Infirmary / medical facility 45 sq m • Office [x3] 20 sq m • Office for Nurse 20 sq m • Staff Room 40 sq m • Reception 20 sq m • Resident W.C. 30 sq m • Staff W.C. 30 sq m • Activity Room / Workshop [x3] 50 sq m • Living Room 40 sq m • Quiet Room 30 sq m • Canteen 60 sq m • Kitchen 50 sq m • Laundry 20 sq m • Plant Room 30 sq m • Storage 40 sq m • Circulation 15%

Additional facilities:

• Playroom 40 sq m • Library 60 sq m • IT Room 50 sq m • Lecture Hall / Performance Space 200 sq m • Visitors’ Room 60 sq m • Visitors’ W.C. 30 sq m • Exhibition Space 60 sq m • Cloister / Central Outdoor gathering space 200 sq m

Sub Total [without additional facilities] 1,626 sq m Total 2,401 sq m

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Project B_Design Development

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‘Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything.That’s how the light gets in.’ _Leonard Cohen

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The Ideal Plan

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The first priority for a building of this nature is that of security and protection. My strategy to achieve this was to run the programme of the building along the exterior of the tight urban site, thus enclosing and securing the central cloister space from the outside world.

From the very beginning, the scheme was generated about a central space that was inspired by an investigation of exemplary monastic buildings. This space, the central focus of the developing scheme, varied from being enclosed, outdoors as well as a mixture of both. Over the course of the design process, the central enclosure changed scale in both vertical and horizontal directions.

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Concept Model

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I made a concept model in order to explain a developing concept of dematerialisation. An idea that the building would provide a secure enclosure to the cloister at ground floor level, but that it would appear to ‘dematerialise’ with height. The model, through the use of a gradient on its exterior, expresses this intention. This goal would be achieved on a large scale throughout the building through the utilisation of a series of voids, as well as on a smaller scale through the careful application of voided brick bonding.

An architectural pointillism:The material of brick is one that I have been intrigued with during my first three years of architecture school. What interests me most is how a single, regular modular, once repeated and varyingly applied can create a beautiful whole, in the same way an artist might apply single dots of pure colour in patterns on a canvas to create a beautiful painting.

This notion of an architectural pointillism, where the building can be read or experienced as a series of individual pieces combining to form a whole, was constantly in my conscience as I organised the different facets of the programme of the building. It was my intention that the building would be like a small neighbourhood, a village of individual bedroom units – the womens’ homes – that would combine to form the large home for the community - the rehabilitation centre.

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Zoning

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During the design process, through the utilisation of the voids, as well as mass modelling, I experimented with different bedroom layouts and combinations that would express the bedroom units as individual ‘homes’ within the rehabilitation centre.

The idea to use a series of voids throughout the scheme also presented me with the opportunity to physically divide the different facets of the building’s programme into public, semi public, and private areas, just as had been done in the Charterhouse.

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April 16 April 16 April 16

April 23 April 25

May 1 May 4

April 26

April 27 [final design crit]

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The voids allowed me to create a series of thresholds in the plan of the building. I deliberately organised these thresholds in such a manner that the most private areas of the building could be located furthest from the public face of the building onto Thomas Street. I experimented with the size and arrangement of these voids in order to create a successful transition from the public to private zones of the scheme.

Having visited a similar existing facility in Dublin, where the process of rehabilitation revolves around an emphasis upon education as well as social interaction between the residents, it was an important goal of mine to assign a generous portion of the space within the building as social and educational programme.

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Plan DevelopmentMarch 28 March 30 April 16 April 24 April 27

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This design decision was reinforced by research into the Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory by Kazuyo Seijima in Japan. The central idea of which was to make the bedroom spaces of the building as small as acceptable so that the residents would be discouraged from spending too much time there, and instead would spend their time interacting with the other residents in large double-height social / living / dining space that is at the heart of the scheme. The main living, dining, and activity / educational spaces, were given hierarchal importance within my scheme. For example, for a long period of the design process, the main dining and living space comprised of a large atrium that rose four stories at the heart the building, and was equivalent in area to the outdoor courtyard space.

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Sectional & Elevational DevelopmentMarch 28 March 30 April 19 April 24 April 27

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Upon further investigation and design development it became clear to me that simply allotting a greater area of the building to both social and educational programme did not necessarily equate to a building that would provide a richer social and educational experience to its users.

I decided to look once more at the work of Aldo van Eyck, in particular his Hubertus House. Also, I revisited the plans for the Aoibhneas centre extension by Burke Culligan Deegan Architects as well as the work of Herman Hertzberger. It became clear to me that in their buildings, these architects emphasised the importance social interaction, not through sweeping gestures such as generosity of space, but instead through careful and detailed attention being paid to what van Eyck labelled as the ‘in between’ spaces in a building; the doorway, the stairs, the corridor. These are the places at the heart of the social life of the building; where people cross paths and impromptu conversation occurs.

At this stage of the design process I began exploring the smaller details of the scheme with an intention to enrich the social experience of the user. I experimented with emphasising doorways and entrances and the widening of corridors, as well as the occupation of these space with seating to provide an opportunity for social interaction.

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Project B_Design _Architecture

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Final Design

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Ground Floor 1/200

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First Floor 1/400 Second Floor 1/400

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Thomas St Elevation 1/200

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St Catherine’s Lane Elevation 1/200

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Short Section 1/100

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Long Section 1/200

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Second Floor

First Floor

Ground Floor

The external

Axonometric

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The ‘InBetween’ Spaces

A. The Entrance

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Analysis

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Solid v Void

Ground Floor First Floor [second floor as above]

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Public v Private


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Circulation


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Sunlight Analysis

December 21_12.00 March 21_12.00 June 21_12.00

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My final design, by virtue of its site as well as the programme it contains, is an unusual building. It is a hybrid of healthcare, childcare, community and residential types.

As I discovered as part of my research, it is unusual for a building of this nature to be located in a dense city centre context. Typically, residential rehabilitation buildings are located at the periphery of urban centres. This is not, however, a typical rehabilitation home.

The prerequisite for women to come to this centre to recover is that they can bring their young children with them. The necessity of contact with family and friends during the recovery process was in mind when I decided to pick a site on the edge of the large, drug affected, community of the Liberties. The idea being that family and friends of the residents of the home would be easily able to visit.

I was also intent on the building serving as a symbol of drug abuse and associated problems that exist in Dublin. Its prominent location on one of the city’s major thoroughfares, Thomas St, would ensure that this issue would be maintained as part of the public conscience.

Despite the unusual nature of this scheme, a number of comparisons can be drawn between it and the cultural context in which it is placed.

Two similar works by other architects that were central to and informed my scheme throughout the design process were the Hubertus House by Aldo van Eyck and the Womens’ Dorm designed by Kazuyo Seijima.

These buildings contrast greatly with one another. The Hubertus House is designed to be like a large home for displaced women and their children whereas the Womens’ Dorm is more like an institutional building where the women, who are workers employed by a nearby factory, sleep in bedrooms that are designed to be as small as possible, so as that they are encouraged to interact with their colleagues in the generously spaced social areas of the building.

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The contrasting nature of these buildings represent the major struggle I experienced throughout the design process; is rehabilitation about institutionalisation or recreating the home environment? How is it possible to reach a happy medium between the two so as to ensure that the centre is a comfortable, familiar place, while at the same time maintaining an aspect of regulation and order.

Further to my experience of visiting a similar mother & child facility in Dublin, I decided that in my final design, the focus should be on the social interaction of the residents. It is a celebration of the places where these social interactions take place; the doorway/entrance, the corridor, the stairs. Places described by van Eyck as the ‘in between’ places.

The other exemplars that I studied served to inform other aspects and themes of my scheme.

The three community centre exemplars I explored at the beginning were examples of community facilities centred around one large multifunctional space.

The monastic exemplar that I studied, the Charterhouse, provided much inspiration in terms of the themes of enclosure and threshold. I felt that it was important in the final scheme that the building retained the integrity of its starting point, that of a linear form carefully manipulated about a central open space or courtyard, inspired by the monastic cloister.

The Alzheimers Respite Centre designed by Niall McLoughlin Architects, located inside an 18th century walled garden, exemplifies the theme of enclosure. In this scheme, the architect also cleverly separates the service and served programme of the building, hiding the health care programme from the every day living experience of the residents. This too was an important concern of mine in separating the treatment and administration programme of the building from the residential, social and educational facilities.

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Project B_Design _Materials, Environment & Landscape

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Materials:

The materials chosen play several important roles in the building. Brick interior walls as well as timber flooring, doors and stairs on the inside of the building reinforce the idea of creating a warm, familiar, domestic environment for the women and children.

These domestic materials are contrasted with the exposed GGBS concrete floor slabs of the admin and therapy areas of the building to the north of the main threshold. They serve to identify this area as a separate zone within the building.

The main structure of the building will be assembled using concrete block cavity wall construction and pre cast concrete floor slabs. Where the block wall is not covered by a brick veneer, it is plastered in order to give the appearance of a cast concrete wall.

I was conscious of the fact that there needs to be a certain modesty about this building, in particular in the method of construction, due to the fact that in reality organisations who run rehabilitation centres are generally not well funded.

Brick is used also on the exterior of the building as a veneer. On the north elevation, the brick serves to blend the building in with its context. Also a symmetrical fenestration is used, with the inclusion of blind windows to make 3 storey building appear as 4, to further express the building as being part of its context.

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Contrastingly, the building reads as a robust, impenetrable, monolithic element on the western elevation. I believe that it was not as important to make the building read as part of its context on this elevation, which fronts onto a lane way, and that it can instead be expressed here as something different within the city; a special social building.

On the western elevation two voids are identified by the apparent dematerialisation of the brick bond in the form of a brick screen. These brick screens are held together by horizontal steel bracing within the mortar on every course. I was conscious when making this design decision that brick screens have been used in traditional Arabic architecture so as that the woman may look out of a building without being seen by those outside.

The main threshold of the building is identified on the elevation by the addition of a vertical metal screen that contrasts with the horizontal coursing of the brickwork.

Returning to my earlier discussion about ‘an architectural pointilism’, I feel that the brick veneer of the building could serve an important symbolical purpose if it was to be composed of a collection of different types of recycled brick, giving the elevation a multi coloured appearance. Each of the disregarded bricks would be rehabilitated and put together to form the elevation.

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Environment:

There are a number of different aspects of the building that play an important environmental role within the scheme.

From the very beginning of the project, natural daylighting was one of the most important environmental concerns informing my design. Natural light penetrates every room in the building though the central courtyard as well as the eight voids on the periphery of the building.

The courtyard at the heart of the scheme, half of which is made of grass, is a small carbon dump within the wider urban context of the building.

The brick screens that on the western elevation allow for the possibility of naturally ventilating the building by harnessing the prevailing southwesterly wind.

The exposed GGBS concrete floor slab surfaces on the north side of the plan of the building have great thermal mass, contributing to a a reduction in heat costs for the building.

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Landscaping:

The central courtyard of the building is split into two distinct sections that correspond to the two rooms that face onto it from the west. Having studied the year round sunlight patterns on this courtyard, I discovered that the most suitable place for vegetation is its northern half. This half will be covered in grass and will also be a suitable location for the planting of naturalised bulbs as part of the womens’ horticulture classes, which would take place in the large activity room to the west.

The southern half of the courtyard is composed of timber decking that serves as both an outdoor play area for the children of the crèche to the west and a social space for the women in tandem with the other living spaces to the south.

In contrast to the courtyard, many of the voids are inaccessible and are not suitable places for the growth of vegetation and so are complete with a hard landscaping of small stones.

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Project B_Design _Summary Apologia

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With Wang Shu’s work of ‘cultural continuity and reinvigorated tradition’ having been recently awarded architecture’s highest accelade, I am conscious of the growing importance of context, tradition and the tectonic in contemporary architecture and that it is therefore important that I should maintain and develop this aspect of my work.

I am conscious, too, of the social role that the architect will play as the ‘Agequake’ takes place across the world. It will be the most important social event and problem that will take place during my architectural career. It will be the duty of the architect to provide creative solutions as a higher proportion of the population of the world ages. I feel that it will be important to continue my exploration into the social role of architecture as my career progresses.

The completion of this design dissertation signifies a milestone in my architectural career; an opportunity for me to take a year-long break from my studies to experience the working world of the architect.

Hopefully I can take all that I have learned and experienced over the past three years and explore other areas that interest me; including photography, film, graphic art as well as my love for travelling.

When I return in 15 months time I will be in a position to infuse all of these things into my architecture, because, as I now know, everything can inspire and influence this fascinating art.

The finishing of this dissertation represents the culmination of three years of architectural education. These three years have been an intense and rich experience.

For the first time, I have documented completely, my entire architectural process; from reflection, to site selection, to site investigation, to typology selection, to exemplary studies, to research, to inspiration, to concept, to design development, to completion.

This was a new and challenging exercise for me, unlike other design projects that focused on the production of a final design for critique, it was a far more in depth exploration, not just of the design of a building, but of the complex processes that must be completed before and contribute to the final design of a building.

I enjoyed the great freedom of being able to choose any site in the south inner city of Dublin. This exercise made me look differently at the city, I am now more aware of the negative spaces in the fabric of this town and conscious of how these places could be developed to enhance the lives of the people that live here.

This great freedom brought with it difficulty. It was not easy to settle on a particular site or typology, and the process of doing so represents the greater struggles I experience in trying to define my position on architecture as I find myself at a notional crossroads now at the end of my third year of architectural education.

There are a number of different paths that my career may lead me down. Will I pursue a continued interest in a social architecture? Will my architecture go on to be one that is based on contextual readings and tectonic responses? Or, could it be a combination of both of these?

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References:

Archdaily.com

Flickr.com

Dublin City Council

Casemanagementguidebook.ie

Upstart.ie

‘From Industry to Culture’-The Journal of Architects

‘Play for Real’-Lamont Brewery

‘The Romance of Abandonment’ – Industrial Parks-Hugh Hardy

‘The Defining of Space as a Design Objective’The Architecture of Aldo van Eyck-Architecture Journal

AAI Awards

Lessons for students in Architecture-Herman Hertzberger

Urban Landscape Design-Garret Eckbo

Monasteries of Western Europe-Wolfgang Braunfels

Scar Tissue-Anthony Keidis with Larry Sloman

Detail Magazine

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‘The Romance of Abandonment’ – Industrial Parks-Hugh Hardy

‘Architecture for the Imagination’Study of elementary educational environment-James M. Henderson

‘The Defining of Space as a Design Objective’The Architecture of Aldo van Eyck-Architecture Journal

AAI Awards

Architecture: Form, Space & Order-Francis DK Ching

Lessons for students in Architecture-Herman Hertzberger

Urban Landscape Design-Garret Eckbo

Monasteries of Western Europe-Wolfgang Braunfels

Scar Tissue-Anthony Keidis with Larry Sloman

Neufert Architects’ Data

El Croquis

Detail Magazine

‘Home at RIBA’Thinking Allowed-BBC Radio Podcast

guardian.co.uk

Bibliography:

Architizer.com

Archdaily.com

Architects Journal

Flickr.com

Architecturalreview.com

Dublin City Council

Casemanagementguidebook.ie

Dublin Region Homelessness Executive

EMCDDA – European Drug Analysis

51n4e.com

Sergison Bates Architects

HBF Architecture

The Irish Times-‘ A rare look at London’s luckless Irish’

Dezeen

Arch source

Wikipedia.com

Upstart.ie

‘From Industry to Culture’-The Journal of Architects

‘Play for Real’-Lamont Brewery

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Niall [email protected]

mother & child drug rehabilitation centre

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