REINTEGRATION CENTER FOR ADDICTED PEOPLE milda grabauskaite | avb | 2015 graduation project
NECESSITY FOR SUCH FUNCTION / BUILDING There are quite successful ways to treat addiction nowadays - after spending some time (usually 0,5 - 1year) within a closed community most of patients tend to be able to live without drugs or alcohol. The problem appears when they come back to the society they used to live in. Keeping the new life style is often too difficult when they start living on their own. Lack of suitable place of residence, professional, social skills, intolerant society attitude, personality problems often cause social exclusion and too many people relapse, come back to the old habits. Reintegration center would be a temporary residence for such people where they could gain some necessary skills, knowledge, working experience, social connections and psychological support before starting to live independently. TARGET GROUP / ADDICTION TREATMENT APPROACH Substances work as surrogates for unsatisfied human needs - “the good side of drugs is that they compensate what a person didn’t get in his family or society” - says K.Ketrelis, a successfully recovering Lithuanian addict who introduced me to this approach towards the mechanism of addiction. “If one wants to quit, it is very important to understand WHAT exactly drugs gave him/her and learn HOW to get/experience these things in a sober way”
One of the main tasks of the building is to provide it’s users with a protective yet insipring place to rediscover themselves, to think of what was it that
addictive substances gave them and how they could fill in the void left after they quit using substances in a more natural and less harmful way
PERSONAL BUT GENERIC Ideally, the private spaces should feel very personal so that the inhabitants would feel like they’re at home. That calms people down, comforst them and this is important in a journey of self search.
At the same time, rooms need to be generic because of their purpose to inhabit different people at different times. Apparently, there is a way to get the right balance of being personal and generic by introducing smaller scale, level differences, rather unusual furniture into the room.
SUBTLE SEPARATION OF DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS It is important to have both a comfortable distance between different functions and a visual connection. That would provide a possibility to be aware of what’s happening arround, stimulate curiosity, help making a decision whether to join the other activity or to just pass by and at the same time protect from
being disturbed by the people and activities arround you. This could be achieved by adding englazed courtyards in between different functions.
PROGRAMME CAFE . getting work experience . meeting society [integration] . generating income LITTLE LIBRARY / INFO CENTER . providing books and cd’s on addiction and self-search related topics . open to everyone who’s interested [meeting society] AUDITORIUM / CINEMA . lectures / seminars for addicts . addictions prevention center activities . showing and discussing movies [public - generating income, meeting society] RECEPTION . entrance control . meeting new clients [patients] MEETING/THERAPY ROOM . flexible space for group meetings APARTMENTS [26 people] . shared by 2-4 persons . personal and generic at the same time GATHERING . living room, dinning room . table tennis, table football GARDEN . Gardening therapy . Gardening [working] skills . Exposure to nature for healing/lowering stress level ADMINISTRATION OFFICE STORAGE / SANITARY / TECHNICAL SPACES
PUBLIC
PRIVATE
CAFE LITTLE LIBRARY + PC’s AUDITORIUM / CINEMA
MEETING/THERAPY ROOM RECEPTION GARDEN
APARTMENTS ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
LOCATION The planned reintegration center, unlike most of Amsterdam’s addiction treatment institutions, is proposed to be built in a very central part of Amsterdam to benefit both the aspect of social integration and the aspect of destigmatisation and acceptance of painful city’s problem.
City center with it’s intense urban life, however, can be a rather tressful place to stay for my fragile target group. To compensate that, I chose quite a green area in the city, as exposure to nature is proved to reduce stress and help healing processes. Connecting the two areas would connect the city center to a large network of contuous greenery
1800
Until 1975 - place for gllows 1820 Noord Holland canal started 1825 The Willem 1-Lock
1968
Industry is all along the water, the inner land mainly contains housing for the industry workers. Garden-city concept based neighborhoods appear
2015
Industry is moving out, the city center expands to Amsterdam Noord. Being next to the intensive public life benefits the aspect of integration essential to my project
Willem 1-Lock, located right next to my study site, was once one of the most important objects in Amsterdam. It was built to control industrial and cargo ships. Soon after, the area of Amsterdam Noord grew tremendously to create space for developing industry. The area once used as city gate for ships coming from far away journeys now could function as a symbolic gate at the end of journey of intensive healing
MONUMENT The former Politie Post was built in 1915-1916. It is a rijksmonument and it is important as a rural example of Amsterdamse-School style. It is interesting architecturally, has cultural, achitecturalhistorical and typological value, therefore I’d like to integrate it into my design and emphasize it, keep it vizible.
The heigher volumes of the proposed building should be further in the background. In order not to hide and not to compete with the former Politie Post, the new mass next to it would get lower.
Police Post will be integrated into the new design by introducing a pavilionlike structure which will connect and unite all the separate volumes including Politie Post
The new volume would be set back a little from the street to expose the former Politie Post.
TENDENCIES IN AMSTERDAM NOORD Volewijck has been identified as a focus area in the context of the urban renewal reform. Residents are actively supported by initiatives, entrepreneurs are facilitated to make the van der Pekstraat a lively shopping street. In the Van der Pek many cultural initiatives temporary shelter in empty rental property, as Noordjes Kinderkunst, De Taartrovers en Kijkruimte. On Mosveld comes a new mall that the heart of the district will form. The old Floraparkbad is replaced by a new modern pool. Noorderpark was renewed with cultural meeting place.
METRO STOP COMING
The western part of the Northern IJ banks was (some of it still is) an industrial area. Overhoeks steadily turns into urban living and working environment with hospitality and cultural facilities. Buiksloterham is transformed into a living and working area.
The largest sectors in Northern banks of the IJ East are industry, constancy, research and trading. The district has few inhabitants. As the city center keeps growing, the area will be transformed signifficantly, although the expectation is that this will not change until 2030.
Ijplein/Vogelbuurt is quite a developed neighborhood. There are many public facilities in the area - three elementary schools, youth and participation centers, children playgrounds association, museum of Amsterdam Noord and some more. Many cultural activities take place in and around former pumping
Even though Vollewijk and the surrounding areas tend to be changing a lot, according to urban development plan Overhoeks 2010, the front part of Vollewijk will most likely stay without signifficant changes of its urban structure due to it’s historical and cultural value of the area.
URBAN COLLAGE The urban fabric of Amsterdam Noord is clearly fragmented. Different fragments are defined by varying scales and typologies of buildings, time periods they were built at, ratio between built and empty spaces, different privacy levels of the outside spaces - and all these qualities together give each fragment a unique character
My study site is located within a fragment which due to the historical reasons has very small scale buildings in comparison with the surrounding areas. Small scale gives a unique to the area, cozy “villge-like� character, which is ideal for the program of designed building, since it conctributes to community making and, therefore, social integration
SITE PUBLIC RESIDENTIAL OTHER
DIFFERENT AREAS WITHIN THE FRAGMENT There can be two different areas identified within the fragment where my study site is - Tolhuis area which is more public (cultural, catering, office functions) and has slightly larger scale buildings and a residential area with small individual houses. Both areas have a lot of greenery and water which softens their domestic character even more. An ideal site for my project is within the private area but on the very edge of it and looking out to the public one (see the main concept scheme for the reasoning). The chosen area has exactly these qualities.
PRIVATE
PUBLIC
THE POCKETT / THE ISLAND The private area is defined and protected from the publicity by buildings aligned along its boundaries and water. These barriers form an urban structure similar to a city block with an inner courtyard, although a bit more complexed. There are low traffic roads around it from two sides, water in the back and a high traffic street in front. This froms sort of a “pocket� of private looking out to the very public. A tiny pedestrian path is crossing the private area and dividing it into two parts. These two parts are not very well connected now and are not experienced while passing by as they belong to the same structure. This is due to some unthoughtfuly placed new buildings and blank high fences. The connection could be improved
Study Site
Study Site
LITTLE PATH CROSSING THE “POCKET”. EXISTING AND POSSIBLE FUTURE CONNECTIONS As the surrounding neighbourhoods develop further, pedestrian path crossing the area has potential to become an important slow traffic onnection between different parts of Amsterdam Noord. Thus, it would make sence to improve the experience of passing it by. The path could become more vital if a local use entrance to the designed building and some windows were introduced along it.
The existing buildings on my study site are not contributing to the described urban structure - the main mass of volumes is not built along the street but deeper within the inner private space.
The proposed new volume could finish up the urban structure and make it more clear.
Existing buildings on my study site are not contributing to the described urban structure, the greenery within the “Pocket� is fragmented, disconnected A tiny pedestrian path is crossing the area and dividing it into two parts which are not very well connected
The proposed new volume could finish up the urban structure, make it more clear and organize greenery in a more fluent way The clear urban structure could be seen while passing by the pedestrian path, the experience of crossing it could be more attractive
VOLUME STUDY The 3d volumetric study approves the previous assumptions: > site needs a building that fits in a small scale > volume following the logics of the existing buildings arround conncets / finishes the urban structure
> the politie post is the most emphasized when the volume arround it is lower > back of the plot is the right place for the higher volumes
DIFFERENT PRIVACY LEVELS WITHIN THE PROJECT SITE Each side of the site has a different privacy condition - from Very Public to Very Private. This is benefitial to the project since integration center needs different levels of privacy - public side id for integrating by meeting the society, semi public/private ones are needed for the communal activities and the private side is good for the activities that require less disturbance (E.g. therapy)
Multifunction
Residential 12 Shared
Psychology
Study
Info Center Library
Residential 6 Soc. work. Admin + Resid. 1
Reception
Cafe
FUNCTIONAL ZONING According to previously described privacy conditions, sun position and prefered functional relationships, different functions easily find their places within the project site. Public, semi public and private entrances could be provided to the building. Community activities are suggested to take place on the inner side of the building to gain some comfortable privacy from the outside world. The most private and the most public functions are enclosed within separate volumes either not to disturbe semi-private functions or to not be deisturbed by them
Semi-private functions are contained in a pavilion-like open stucture which connects all the separate volumens together
EXISTING BUILDINGS PROPOSED BUILDING RECOVERING ADDICT SOCIETY
VANISHING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN “US” AND “THEM” | THE COMFORT ZONE The front side of the building would be a place where both addicts and people from society would feel comfortable to meet and interactc
OVERLAPPING FUNCTIONS The public functions - cafe, library and movie watching should be combined and well connected because they are closely related, could benefit from each other and in such way the same space could be used for several purposes - e.g. the movie watching spaces and auditoriums are usually empty for a lot of time during the day, therefore, they could be used as some extra space for cafe and library at that time. The overlapping functions would also increase interaction between people engaged in different activities and stimulate contact between inhabitants of the building and visitors
PRIVATE
ATMOSPHERE: MATERIALS
Ligth wood was chosen to dominate in the interioirs of the houses since they need to be more cozy and domestic
PUBLIC
The shared spaces with semi-public functions will have brick as dominating material. This will create an exterior- like atmosphere for users to socialize
Bedrooms are designed to be a bit higher up than the street level to provide some privacy
-725 MM
0.00 MM
+725 MM
ATMOSPHERE: LEVELS
Part of the building is a bit sunken into the ground to provide the feeling of being protected, enclosed, hidden by the ground arround you.
The lowered floor is facing the most private part of the project site and along the more public sides the floor is equal with the street level.
This is not only to make a fluent connection with the street level but also to protect users of the building from being observed by the public.
Variety of floor levels and heights of spaces to define different levels of privacy Making spaces feel larger than they actually are (extending the space by extending structure behind the glass)
Private spaces are small but feel spacious
Extra attention to the shared spaces [helping integratiom issue] Extended roof gives a feeling of protection, vizually extends/enlarges the interior space, reduces the amount of direct sunlight
Definig personal space by introducing smaller scale, sun shading
Small pockets/niches to sit and read/think/talk/have your coffee Plants along the glass extends nature into the building Building a bit sunken into the ground [feeling of being protected / hidden/ surrounded / enclosed]
Each house is shared by 2-4 people and contains small private rooms, shared bathrooms and a spatious shared space on the ground floor with a sitting place and a kitchenette
The houses shared by two people are adjutsed for the disabled inhabitants, therefore they have more space and special access to the spaces on different levels.