Why is this the right Site?

The Stables Complex provides the potential to meet elderly residents needs for accessible connection to nature and people, through a comforting domestic scale environment.

Buildings Pros/ Opportunities;

- Characterful vernacular architecture with a history of multifunction and repurposing gives scope for proposed changes in typology and design interventions.

- Formed of natural, tactile materials that show the traces of the buildings history.

- Varied angles of orientation and low human proportions create a village-like feel, and opportunity for, varied spatial perspectives and visibility. Largely across ground-level, the Complex has scope to be easily accessible for those with mobility issues.

- Domestic scale is suggestive of home and normality, aiding in de-institutionalising the Caring Home environment.

- Detachment of buildings invites inhabitants to venture outside, creating potential separation between activities and reducing cabin fever.

- Scope to define site boundary, to expand or contract the number of buildings or land mass that is incorporated into the Caring Home.

Site Context Pros/ Opportunities;

- The Complex is embedded in the natural environment; surrounded by water, flora and fauna.

- Proximity of the White Cart Water, a weir and lade; contributing to sensory stimulation, and the sites rich acoustics. (Can utilise personal experience of my Manifesto project, "Wade", a well-being focused spa, at the ruins of the North Woodside Flint Mill).

- Open parkland and woodland provide a calm oasis within the city, while remaining within proximity to amenities.

- Leisurely atmosphere with a range of multi-generational users within the wider park; providing potential social interaction for Caring Home inhabitants.

- Park as a place of memory and comfort; memorials line surrounding pathways, suggestive of the life that is woven into the surroundings. Potential to explore the existing contemplation people find here, particularly important to inhabitants experiencing anxieties or loss.