Introduction

FUNDAMENTAL USERS introduction

A therapeutic center needs to be a community. When a supportive community comes together, everyone thrives. Communities by their nature are complex network; made up of diverse individuals. Each of those individuals have unique characteristics and challenges that need to be met. When we design a facility meant to be a therapeutic community, the role of the architecture is that it needs to support the diversity. To do that, it is imperative to explore the various user types. When dealing with special education, there is an understanding that many students will have multiple diagnoses which creates individual challenges of how the spaces should support growth. As part of this, there is the understanding that everyone does not learn the same way every day. It cannot be assumed that students can always control their actions or behaviors. An exploration of the diversity is essential to understanding how to craft the solution to meet the various needs by

creating flexible spacing.

Figure 1 Figure 2