Back to the Grind

By: Brittney Mount

We are back to reality today! Which means it is time to really hit the ground running on this thesis I have to present in seven short months. Over the month break I had the opportunity to travel to Nashville, Tennessee and meet with a local architectural intern from the area. The site I selected for my thesis during the fall semester was located in a small town about thirty minutes out from Nashville, which I wanted to bring up during my meeting with the intern hoping he would have some insight on the area. It turns out he had a lot of knowledge with the area and was responsible for rezoning the area to help save The Mill in Lebanon by getting it on the National Historic Register. He pointed me towards a far more interesting site in Lebanon that he felt my project could really benefit. During our talk we came to the conclusion that my current proposal could be expanded into much more than just a rehabilitation center for children, but a center that could help rehabilitate the city of Lebanon. The new dynamic the site brings to the project would be hard to pass up, bringing in new transportation concepts, utilizing a historical building on site, and planning for future investments and developments of a city in need.

With that said, the following is my second case study for the Children’s Rehabilitation Center.

Project: Kaleidoscope Children and Young People’s Centre

Location: Lewisham, London

Architect: van Heyningen and Haward Architects

This case study relates to the social aspect of the proposed thesis. It is a facility that combines multiple facilities and puts them under one roof to simplify the lives of the patients and their caretakers. The service categories provided include health, social, and educational. The facility was designed to not only promote a healing environment for the children, but also to accommodate the staff which typically get lost in the design process (p.161).

The center of the five-story design is an outdoor courtyard space (Figure 2.1) which is integral to the design because it is what every internal circulation space is connected to. It acts as a “time-out” space for patients between appointments, while also allowing an abundance of natural daylighting into the spaces. All rooms are located directly off of these day lit circulation spaces which allows the rooms to also receive natural lighting.

Figure 2.1

The name “Kaleidoscope” comes from the extensive use of colors throughout the design (p. 162). The façade is made of multicolored translucent glass, and the reception area is a bright inviting orange (Figure 2.2). Each of the floors has a designated color scheme to help with the circulation of the visitors (Figure 2.3).

 

Figure 2.2

The building is entirely naturally ventilated and uses multiple energy saving methods like motion-sensitive lighting and cooled ceiling panels. The garden roof allows for a green view which is unusual in an urban environment. 

Figure 2.3

Source: Purves, Geoffrey. Primary Care Centres: A Guide to Health Care Design. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Oxford: Elsevier/Architectural, 2009. Print.