5. Design Process: Shepparton Nutritious Hub

About The Project

The project was to design the wellbeing centre located in Greater Shepparton, Victoria on the corner of Wyndham Street 409-415. The city of Shepparton has a diverse community consisting of First Nation People of Yorta Yorta Nation, English-speaking counties communities, and other cultures. A wellbeing centre dedicated to the community of Shepparton to support the health of the Shepparton community and the achievement of wellbeing as the goal. In the Victoria Public Health and Wellbeing Planning 2019-2023, there are focus areas to protect the community and increase healthy eating. Furthermore, Greater Shepparton City Council choose eleven liveability domains and underpin goals for the health plan. The group project underlined the access to food and community participation as targeted responses for the wellbeing centre design.

Focusing on the Greater Shepparton profile as the ‘food bowl of Australia’, they still face health issues for about 54% of the people do not meet the dietary guidelines for either fruit and vegetable (The Greater Shepparton, 2018-2028 Public Health and Strategic Focus). Moreover, the Shepparton Kitchen Culture project unveils that the minority group found that it was hard to find their local food in the city37.

Therefore, the wellbeing centre, will support healthy eating habits to support wellness. Whilst also celebrating the inclusive cultural community with a vibrant social atmosphere through food and nutrition. Refer to Terri Peter writing about super architecture. We aim for the building to provide a therapeutic design through the incorporation of nature in the design with several keywords: sustainability and biophilic design. It will be a health-promoting building and strengthen salutogenic potential, and bring more happiness, to the community of Shepparton. The group project decided on name Shepparton Nutritious Hub.

Programming And Service

This project’s programming and services were inspired by the production of food from the garden, harvesting, cooking, and bringing to the table to be shared as part of a cultural movement. It will provide a consultation service supporting their mental health, nutrition requirements and lifestyle. A therapeutic garden will be integrated into the space, creating a biophilic atmosphere as well as contributing to a community garden, growing a bond with an inclusive activity. There will be an opportunity to participate in gardening classes to learn how to grow fresh produce at home, promoting accessibility to fresh produce and a chance for children to learn where their food comes from. A café will afford a space for the community to gather, especially the elderly who live alone and find comfort in socializing with others and will be open to the public. The coffee waste used in the café will contribute to the garden’s fertilizers and food waste will be used for the garden’s compost.

The Shepparton community has expressed a need for a communal kitchen to provide them with a space to share meals together. It will facilitate a space for classes, in collaboration with Shepparton’s Culture Kitchen by MAV, to learn quick and healthy recipes. This space will celebrate the multicultural community of Shepparton by sharing recipes and creating events that can shape the communal haul. Teens will also be able to grow their hospitality skills to potentially acquire a job. In conjunction with the kitchen, the garden will allow people to pick fresh herbs and produce from the garden and in cooperate them into their meals. The exterior of the building itself will be used as a canvas for murals created by the community and become an experience for people circulating in the neighbourhood.

37Shepparton City Council, Public Health Our Strategies Focus 2018-2028

To create the Hub, the massive being slice into three parts.

(Group 1, Food and Nutrition, created by: Shinta Sari)

The Hub

The group idea decided to bring awareness to the community of Shepparton about healthy eating and healthy food. It had another goal to reduce formal institutional design and promote the activity without any formal invitation such as a procedural appointment to come to the centre. The community were welcome to visit the hub anytime, to sit and enjoy the event together. Therefore, we combine the idea of walking and displaying the campaign poster in the shortcut. The idea was to create a walkable experience, to have a relaxing activity while also get information about the healthy eating campaign.

The shortcut lies along the building to connect the main street of Wyndham Street to the small alley where the cultural event will be organized. It is located in the center of the building, cutting the mass into 3 parts, and became the focal point of attention from any level (diagram 1). The three-zone would be used for the food gardening and processing activity, from garden, dining, kitchen, and community hall then connecting for the consultation in the next level. The shortcut alley was designed using a dynamic shape as tools to attract users. It can be seen through the layout.

The User Experience Scenario

This step was aimed to address accessibility and inclusivity to every user profile. I identified that the user would have many different types. I analysed from the targeted group and sought for the probability of scenarios. After that, I categorized the types from the age group and the destination.

Main accessibility is defined by how people travel to the building: walking, car, bike, and universal access. So it will have an entrance for cars and bikes, and the circulation will have stairs, ramps, and an elevator as the universal access. The next process defined the boundary and access for each destination and implemented it into the layout.

Image :

Top: Ground Level Plan

Bottom: The programming and flow of user scenarios.

(Group 1, Food and Nutrition, created by: Shinta Sari)

First Part: Diagram positioning about wellness and wellbeing with the service program arrangement.

Below Part: Strategy of the design with materiality, architectural form, and splitted level programming.

(Group 1, Food and Nutrition, created by: Shinta Sari)

Design Implementation of The Strategies and Results COMMUNITY HALL a. Programming and Layout

The community hall would act as the main connection to each zone, therefore the vertical connections majorly occupy the space. It formed theatrical seating as the strategy to answer the needs of facilitating events, gatherings, and vertical connections. However, with the accessibility aspect, it needed universal circulation. I used findings in my exploration stage about the tilted wall and access point to arrange many types of user scenarios in the area.

As the result, it turned out that there were too many circulations which could make user confused. Another consideration would be it could make user feel boring with too many stairs, ramp and corridor happened in one area. Therefore, I developed split level strategies and had the architecture shape as attraction to distract the multiple circulation in this area.

The Strategies:

- Split level programming

I break the programming of the theatrical style sitting in the community hall became 3 parts. The below level zone dedicated for the adult and elderly to watch the performance, workshop, or cooking demo. The medium level would be for the neutral zone (foyer) and afforded non-formal conversation. As the level got higher, the targeted group also getting younger. The highest level would be for the teens and children to learn about the hydroponic garden. This area was a flexible space. The racking for hydroponic created using modular system and could be moved to the basement food farm if there was any event happening here.

#INDIVIDUAL WORKS

- The tilted wall as the centre of attention and camouflage the circulation

The tilted wall was shown from the entrance. It directed the attention to the next area. It split in the middle and created the threshold for accessing the ramp/corridor. It became the envelope to the ramp with a set of windows to create the visual experience.

- Choices of furniture enhance momentary pause (In-between)

In the theatrical seating of community hall, it used the puff chair and coffee table to achieve agility and flexibility. However, on the landing foyer next to the consultation area, it changed from puff to armchair sofa, to afford relaxing momentary of pause after climbing the stairs or after consulting

b. Material, Colour, and Lighting

To enhance the idea of nutrition, the group decided to use tactile material with earth tone colour. The different material used in the hydroponic farm in the basement. It was combined with the timber flooring and transparency to achieve openness. The lighting used a warm white light to enhance the warmth.

c. In between Area: Entrance Point Affordance to de-institutionalize design.

The strategy was to give the first impression to a deinstitutionalize with a low height entrance to create the welcoming atmosphere. There was also puppies parking spot and stroller parking spot when there was an event happening. The door itself shaped like a rotating wall instead of a usual door. The entrance shaped also similar with the attraction slanted wall from the inside. Once the door was opened there would be a connection within an inside and outside.

The gate also served as the foyer transition to the community hall. It was shaped through making the canopy as the expansion for the threshold space and could be categorized as foyer.

Image : Exploration sketches: the relation within circulation, access, curved wall, and stairways

(Group 1, Food and Nutrition, created by: Shinta Sari)

Image Top: The basement draft plan, drawing a connection from community hall stairs with the basement food farm. The continuous circulation.

Bottom: Draft plan applies splitting diagram for Community Hall

(Group 1, Food and Nutrition, created by: Shinta Sari)