CHAPTER 5: DESIGN PROCESS

HYBRID BRIEF

On one level, this is a temporary housing project aimed at vulnerable individuals needing of a sanctuary. In attempts to analyse the type of client I may be designing for, I dedicated earlier chapters of the briefing document to better understanding the prison experience.

I was struck by the commonly shared sentiment between ex-inmates that prison is ‘easy physically, but very difficult in your head’, emphasising the ways in which people are impacted by the loss of their freedom during their sentence. Highly restricted visiting hours, a lack of rehabilitation facilities and a criminal record mean that the vast majority of people seem to leave prison burdened with more problems, and even less support than they had to begin with.

Following this narrative, I developed a line of enquiry into philosophical perspectives on prisons and the societies which enable them. Foucault’s take on the ‘docile body’ particularly piqued my interest, and widened the scopes for my aims for this scheme.

The notion that all of us are enslaved to a modern surveillance state, (which Bentham’s Panopticon served as a pre-microcosm of), culminates to the ultimate question of whether or not any of us can truly consider ourselves free, if we are to reap the State-provided benefits of a city today.

Following this, my avenues of interest for this project expanded as I looked towards making elements of the scheme more mainstream. Attracting a wider audience is a key re-integration strategy I have employed for this project.

Creating opportunities for new communities to develop in territory familiar to marginalised groups can help to achieve the following:

IMPROVED INCLUSIVITY

INCREASED INDEPENDENCE

PROMOTION OF SHARING eating resting learning creative expression

... eventually creating an environment in which people feel supported and empowered.

Maslow’s heirarchy of basic human needs (left) [1] summarised and categorised to masterplan (above)

1. a large community kitchen, which hosts cooking lessons encourages the sharing of resources, skills and facilities. Has the potential to reduce energy consumption within a community.

2. a community fridge and store cupboard. Offering dignity and place to the traditionally transient food bank.

3. a public living room and library. Quiet and loud areas designed for resting in. Computer and learning facilities accessible to all

4. flexible outdoor spaces to be used for the mundane as well as events shelter is offered at all levels of involvement with the scheme, somebody waiting for a taxi in the rain finds sanctuary in the facade of the new building. existing layout of the street is referenced, but not strictly adhered to.

Integrating Private Housing With Public Space

connected network of central core structures representing alwaysneeded public spaces at street level (e.g. toilets, bike shelter) private housing for temporary residents ‘bolted on’. limited facilities required, as network of connecting public spaces beneath provide the communal ‘home’ demountable floor slabs attached to cantilevering beam structure. opportunities for ever-evolving public spaces.