THE ARCHITECTURE OF RELEASE HOSPICE ARCHITECTURE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rejection of Convention Thesis Statement Who Does This Serve? Physical Death Spirituality in Death Hospice Architecture Precedents The Site Kingman Island The Design - The Room - The Cluster - The Chapel - The Site - The Convent Aerials Return to the Room The Architecture of Release Dedication
01 03 05 11 16 21 40 50 59 63 69 74 84 89 92 95 99 100 101
THE SITE
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SITE CRITERIA The priority of the site should be the sensory experiences provided because this project serves as a sacred place and a final destination for the residents. It isn t appropriate to have a site the pu lic interacts with, ecause this is such a private and individual experience of the human eing. PRIVACY eclusion, freedom from noise, and limited pedestrian tra c ACCESS TO NATURE pen land, water, and vegetation that serves as a threshold creating a private realm PROXIMITY roximity to individuals served including senior apartments, retirement communities, hospitals, cemeteries, and more as well as proximity to myself to visit the site SCALE omforta ly fits the program of visitors to roam.
,
sf and plenty of outdoor space for the residents, careta ers, and
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COMPARING PRISON POPULATIONS MARYLAND
WASHINGTON, D.C.
VIRGINIA
Total Population - 30,752
Total Population - 2,448
Total Population - 65,848
Life Sentences - 3,141
Life Sentences - N/A
Life Sentences - 2,577
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COMPARING HOMELESS POPULATION MARYLAND
WASHINGTON, D.C.
VIRGINIA
Total Population - 6,561
Total Population - 6,521
Total Population - 5,783
Chronic Homelessness - 1,295
Chronic Homelessness - 1,688
Chronic Homelessness - 881
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SITE SELECTION Site
Hospices
Homeless Shelter
Nursing Homes
Hospitals
Correctional Facilities
Cemeteries
Mortaury Services The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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SITE SELECTION Site
Hospices
Homeless Shelter
Nursing Homes
Hospitals
Correctional Facilities
Cemeteries
Mortaury Services The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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SITE SELECTION Site
Hospices
Homeless Shelter
Nursing Homes
Hospitals
Correctional Facilities
Cemeteries
Mortaury Services The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ACCESSIBILITY
Site
Bus Stop
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WHY NOT ELSEWHERE? IN THE CITY ospices in the city don t offer the access to nature or seclusion that this site offers. the locations in the city for individuals who want this seclusion.
his is an alternative to
RURAL ural hospices don t offer the accessa ility for the displaced or incarcerated, so transportation to a remote site won t e as easy as to the outs irts of the city PROXIMITY he proximity to those served in homeless shelters, senior apartments, retirement communities, hospitals, nursing homes, correctional facilities, and myself NATURE ountiful access to nature where residents, caregivers, and visitors can roam ACCESSIBILITY ffords access for the daily commuting of the staff and visitors
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KINGMAN ISLAND
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KINGMAN ISLAND
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KINGMAN ISLAND
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KINGMAN ISLAND
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THE DESIGN
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SEQUENCING TRANSITIONAL
TRANSITIONAL
HOSPICE AND CONVENT
Shown dignity and love by caregivers tethering the residents to life while hinting at the divine. . . Admission
Getting comfortable in the new place
Physical death
The after
Sensory experiences serve as a vessel to the Divine. . .
HOSPICE AND CONVENT
TRANSITIONAL
- Make each space sacred by using the sensory experiences as a vessel to the divine; using the known to get to the unknown
ringing clamness and lfie to the site - Introduce native vegetation to the site through layering, so it becomes natural yet maintained from being chaotic
- Design by nature, time, movement, and canon
ring naturally filtered river water through the site and into the building
eople ring outside in uences in, so reality dictates this is not a blank canvas to impose beliefs or ideaologies
athways change in scale and materiality to re ect thresholds The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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- Abide by canonic rules for Catholic sacred space design
SITE SEQUENCING
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LISTENING TO THE SITE
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DEVELOPING AN ARCHITECTURAL LANGUAGE TIME - COSMOS The architecture raises the gaze upwards to the heavens, the timekeepers - sun and moon - and the changing skies. This is expressive of inwards looking upwards, or the individual contemplating themselves in relation to God od has ade everything appropriate to its ti e, but has put the ti eless into their hearts so they cannot find out, fro beginning to end, the work which God has done.” - Ecclesiastes 3: 11
NATURE - EARTH The architecture champions the horizon, framing in nature, and an intimate human scale. This is expressive of inwards looking outwards, or the individual contemplating themselves in relation to others and the world. ver since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” - Romans 1: 19-20
MOVEMENT - CYCLES The architecture provides respite from immersion in the outoors, leaving the individual from sheltered to exposed. This is expressive of outwards looking inwards, or the individual contemplating themselves. or n hi we live and - Acts 17: 28
ove and have our being, as even so e of your poets have said The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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PARTI
THE ESSENTIAL In investigating what is essential in a room I realized it was 3 elements: rest, cleansing, and an element separating the two. Architecturally, rest is represented by the bed, cleansing by the bath, and privacy by the wall. These three elements are what structure the spatial dimension of the individual’s life while in the hospice room, especially when they reach a stage of being confined to the ed. A simple parti was made more dynamic by adding a curve to the wall, as a reference to the rolling hills of the site and to the nature of the human body The Architecture of Release: Hospice Architecture
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THE ROOM
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VIEW FROM THE BED
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VIEW FROM THE PATIO INTO THE ROOM
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VIEW FROM BED
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VIEW FROM BED THROUGH SKYLIGHT
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CLUSTER PLAN
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CLUSTER SECTION A - A
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VIEW FROM ENTRY TO ATRIUM
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CLUSTER SECTION D - D
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VIEW BETWEEN ROOMS
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CLUSTER SECTION B - B
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CLUSTER SECTION C - C
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VIEW FROM PATHWAY AT INTERSECTION
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VIEW FROM PATHWAY TO GATEHOUSE
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VIEW FROM PATHWAY THROUGH GATEHOUSE
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CHAPEL PLAN
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CHAPEL SECTION
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VIEW FROM PATHWAY TOWARDS CHAPEL
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CHAPEL ENTRANCE
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VIEW OF CHAPEL
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SITE PLAN
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CONVENT ENTRANCE
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CONVENT PLAN
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VIEW OF CONVENT COURTYARD
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CONVENT SECTION A - A
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CONVENT AERIAL
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GATEHOUSE AND CLUSTER AERIAL
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CLUSTER AERIAL
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THE ARCHITECTURE OF RELEASE
There is a need for a place where the abandoned the incarcerated, the displaced, and the estranged can receive care, charity, companionship, and love in their final days, so they are a le to live and to die with dignity. Conventional hospice care is predicated upon the idealized view of the home, but that foundation falls apart when the idea of home is not a welcoming place. Rather than designing by what it rejects, hospice architecture should be designed by what it is, the last place an individual will have sensory experiences. The architecture should stimulate all the senses, including the sense of the sacred, and in doing so allow the individual to feel dignity while in the world, until they are ready to go . . .
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