Yuechen Liu
Our concept for the site is a community that celebrates aging in a multitude of forms. We all chose different constituencies to focus on and explored how to tie them together into an intergenerational and interspecies community around the sharing of resources and support infrastructure on the site.
To start, we examined the existing conditions of the site. We didn’t want our community to feel isolated or insular, so it was important to us to include design gestures and choices that engaged the surrounding streets and neighborhood. A large opening off of the commercial thoroughfare draws people in, ramping up to the inner elevated courtyard. Smaller ramps provide access to the bordering residential areas.
To start, we examined the existing conditions of the site. We didn’t want our community to feel isolated or insular, so it was important to us to include design gestures and choices that engaged the surrounding streets and neighborhood. A large opening off of the commercial thoroughfare draws people in, ramping up to the inner elevated courtyard. Smaller ramps provide access to the bordering residential areas.
Our 4 constituencies are arranged around a single-story central building that provides the majority of the support spaces for the community. These support spaces include classrooms and event spaces, shared office and meeting spaces, recreation spaces, bus stops, a community kitchen, gardens, and lodging for support professionals or guests.
My project is for the adult patient with depression and autism adolescent. In today's society, many people have acquired autism and depression due to many pressure, so I want to design a place for these adults and teenagers with autism and mental problem to provide a place for them to feel relaxed and healed.
In this project, I wanted to find a balance between communal space and privacy space. I divided my form into three parts, housing, community lounge, and therapy and psychological counseling room. The whole building has about ten rooms for patients to live in. On the ground floor, the community lounge provides all the daily activities needed, such as the kitchen, dining table, social space and common lounge area. The wing at the back of the building is the thrapy and psychological counseling rooms, it's linked to animal therapy. The outdoor space around the building is ample for patients to heal by playing outdoors activities, drawing, playing with dogs of the amimal therapy.