Chung Hei Mok Portfolio

2020 - 2021 ACADEMIC

P O R T F O L I O CHUNG HEI MOK 180278730 Studio: House of Memories NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING & LANSCAPE

CONTENT Reflection Report

4

Cultural Bibliography

6

Framing

9 10 12 18 32

About Dementia Pod Design Site Analysis Thematic Case Study

Testing Thinking Through Making Design Process

41 42 44

Synthesis

67

Apendix

92

List of Figures

108

Bibliography

109

As we are approaching the end of Stage 3, I still cannot believe how quick this year has been. Looking back to the beginning from the position I am now, it is not as easy to bring it down into words. However, in my opinion, this year journey is like ‘episode two’ from my Stage 2 experience.

Before writing this reflective diary, I took a look at my reflection on last year portfolio, which reminds myself my target back at the beginning of this year. Being doubted and frustrated after comparing to my colleagues from last year, I was hoping to change the situation after last year’s ups and downs. With the exact sentence saying, ‘I am willing to learn to become a better architect’, looking for ways to enhance and improve my design development has been my target this year.

Since I always believe a good design should always greatly responsive to human perceptions, the idea of developing architectural design associating to dementia patient’s sensory really echo my thought, therefore I had picked ‘House of Memories’ which I hope to learn and further develop my design rationale.

This year had certainly been a tough year for everyone. Under all the lockdown restrictions and limited resource we had, I certainly found it more challenging than last year. As a ‘model making’ student, I had barely done many model this year. However, this year situation driven me to try out methods to present my concepts and ideas in tutorials and reviews. I started using more digital software, that was not familiar with and getting more used to it. All the digital broad layout guided me to think of better layout scheme and presentation order than the past.

One of the key learnings from this year is taking the balance between being creative, playful and following design criteria. My initial stage design was pretty much based on personal preferences or aesthetic development, which I often neglected the key user centric principles and testing with simulations. With more define planning on site alongside different simulations on my final design, the final output shows much careful design considerations. Having the experience of physically visiting the site this year which comes really precious and important, I think I have managed to refer my design back to the site context, with example like building massing, programme arrangement to the surrounding access and activity, material choice etc. Although I had drastically changed my design after Easter and lost some of it's architectural language, I think the final output is still a better outcome than previous iteration on this specific site.

(Refiguring massing refering to site)

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INTRODUCTION

REFLECTIVE REPORT Apart from the design tutorials I had, the other modules had also brought great impact on my design. In the theory module, seminars with our studio critical friend enlighten me to rethink about the relationship between architecture and city planning. Studying readings and research like dementia users urban experience and the contemporary ‘15 minutes city’ concept, it influences me not only understand better on our site but to think about the linkage of architecture with social and political development of a society, as to establish a more complete community.

Not being a big fan of technology module, taking the balance of my idea while being practicable to build came significantly to me. The time when I tried to sort out the timber spanning columns and beams for my redevelopment, it took me longer time to sort out the internal atmosphere and spacing underneath. Testing on weather and control of sunlight is extremely important in our studio, which I still think there is room of improvement for myself. Professional practice module is new to me out of the three modules. It explains more about the industry and procedures in a construction. Apart from client’s requirement and architect’s idea, following the site regulations can be crucial to affect the design, in my case thinking of how to preserve the existing vegetations and the North abandoned building.

Obviously, there are flaws out of the work I produced. Improvement such as further explorations on choice of materials, better explaination on my process and development work, or the details of the 3D model. However, I would say I had handle my design work in a more mature and sensible manner, rather than simply express my personal architectural ideas. With all the ups and downs throughout the year, it has still been a positive year to my architecture learning journey.

(Testing on lighting of intial design)

(ENVI-met wind speed study on iteration design on site)

(Elevation on final design)

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CULTURAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

of light really enriches the internal galleries and circulation space. It encourages me to consider ways to connect vision between interior and exterior. Material choice had boost up the outlook of this simple form construction.

Restricted by lockdown throughout the year, our learning experience had been more or less affected by COVID, especially the usual lessons and tutorials that we can learn from our peers. However, there are still opportunities and chances for me at least to learn and enrich my architectural skills throughout the year.

4. Terrassenhaus Berlin by Brandlhuber+ Emde (City Ruin) With a five storeys heavy concrete building filled with apartments, galleries and public roof terrace, the architect pick up curtains to maintain privacy within spaces, an interesting way to distinguish the private and public space. There are two large staircases connecting each level, resulting a fascinating massing under the noramal site. I really like the idea of how the design put circulation externally to this special massing arrangement.

One of the key events is the crossed studio framing celebration in December. While every studio has their own unique brief to study, it was a chance to look at how other studios develop their framework. With a lot of decent group works presented across studios, I have highlighted 4 examples which comes memorable to me with their interesting background.

1. Nantes School of Architecture by Lacaton & Vassal (Creative Synergies) Building a structure which allowing great capacity, the project aims to create a set of rich and diverse situations of interest to the design, the city and the surrounding landscape. Adapted lightweight steel structure, I really like the unique massing of the design, especially how the external ramp and staircase connect each level and functional rooms, creating complexity to the site.

(Nantes School of Architecture)

(AgroCite)

One of the memorable line of the film is as followed: ‘My yesterdays are disappearing and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for?

I live for each day, I live in the moment.’ That really sums up how our studio tried to address our design: creating beautiful moment for patients to enjoy at present. Slightly off the topic, it somehow reminds me the Pixar movie ‘Soul’, when it remind us to cherish every small details in our life. Those movies do inspire me to think about capturing space where patients can enjoy the atmosphere in my design, demonstrate how different media had somehow influence my design idea.

2. AgroCite by Atelier Architecture (Weaving Wallsend) To introduce and support the dynamic of urban agriculture whereas providing support for designated activities by R-URBAN, the timber construc tion not only adapted sustainable material but offering space conducting sustainable activities, in a sense build up a small community within the building and generate ecological transition.

3. FRAC Dunkrik by Lacaton & Vassal (Ghost in a machine) Being a simple gallery and museum space for contemporary artwork, the half translucent facade really catches my eyes.

Simply using glass with the concrete construction, the control

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Apart from formal exhibition to learn more of architecture, spending more time on watching movies had been another learning media, as well as entertainment for me this year. To better understand about dementia, our tutors encouraged us to watch the film ‘Still Alice’, a story of a woman diagnosed with dementia and transition of her life throughout the time. Couple of scenes like how she suddenly get lost inside her own house and the scene when the character tried hardly to do a talk in front of the crowds, routine we think as normal and easy of our daily life, the movie really touchs me on how difficult live can be for dementia patients.

(FRAC Dunkrik)

Terrassenhaus Berlin)

The two lockdowns of the year provided an experience for me to stay in the same space for long time, especially living on my own, such experience was much terrible than expected. Consider a softer barrier, or adapting one-way circulation in my design had come to my mind due to the society change. Furthermore, I have started my photography journey from last summer. Even I haven’t had many chances to take many photographs, this new hobby urge to me think about perspective in my drawings and render, as to present realistically as we will experience.

('Still Alice')

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Framing

We, as architect, always try to provide the best experience for everyone through our designs. The theory of affordances by JJ Gibson (1979) and follow work by Donal Norman in 1988 suggested human perceptions, including spatial perception, are relied on both physical surrounding and our physical capabilities to experience. Under the same body structure, everyone can sense very subjectively, which comes more obvious to those who suffer with body illnesses. To offer the same quality of living and environment to those who are often neglected in needed, our studio ‘House of Memories’ focuses on how architectural designs can develop for people with dementia.

Prior expressing our creativity, we first need to learn and understand more about dementia as background knowledge. While assisting their physical deficits, careful articulation between circulation and spaces can also support patient's psychological and social needs, as to build a healthy and comfortable environment to patients.

Follow by that, we then have a look at the site we are designing this year. In order to provide the best environment for patients whereas providing appropiate services to the local community, investigate the context of the neighbourhood help addressing the direction of what type of intergenerational space we are picking in our design. The thematic case study also provide the chance for us to look at the design details of a dementia related building, as to get inspirations of how material, texture and internal atmosphere should be balanced.

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ABOUT DEMENTIA 1. Control of Light

2. Being Perceptible

Good amount of natural and artificial light can solve the common eyesight problem elderly have, and easier for dementia patients to spot the surrounding and objects. It can keep them active and less anxious at internal space, however avoid sharp shadow as they may interpret as gaps and holes on the ground.

Dementia patients find it hard to receive instant information, therefore design needs to be direct and easy understanding. Adopting simple and universal design, putting signages around spaces certainly help their daily living and navigation. Using colour contrast on doors and furniture so it is easy to spot, meanwhile camouflage doors and rooms only for staff.

While the disease remain incurable, providing appropiate supports can delay their worsening condition. With more research on dementia result better understanding to the disease, there are architectural guidelines and framework on creating a dementia friendly-design by follwing the so-called user centric approach. We had studied Guidance of Dementia-friendly Health and Social care Environment (HBN 08-02), the World Alzheimer Report 2020 and DSDC, came out with some of the key highlights to a basic dementia friendly design.

3. Non-institutional style

4. Activity and Social Area

Dementia patients generally dislike institutional design and hospital setting, so avoid designing in huge scale, hospital kind double-sided doors corridor and dead-end walkway. Adjusting into domestic scale for rooms and furnitrue make them feel comfortable, as it is familiar to what they used to live in.

Providing rooms for exercise is good for dementia patient's physical and mental health. Apart from external area, a loop form pathway called 'wondering path' can often be seen in dementia building, which patient can explore freely and safely. Social space like TV lounge and common room are also ideal, just remember passive surveillance by staff should always in place.

FRAMING

Dementia is a disease describing a series of decline in patient's cognitive ability caused by abnormal change in patient's brain, mainly happens at elderly stage.

With different levels of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common one.

Looking at statistics from Alzheimer's Society, around 850,000 people in the UK are now living with dementia, every 1 out of 6 people who aged over 80. Moreover, a report from WHO in 2019 states there are 50 million people in the globe are diagnosed with dementia, which will jump to 82 million and 152 million by 2030 and 2050 respectively. Issue of growing dementia patient becomes unignorable.

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(Sketch of dementia architectural details)

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PATIENT POD Every pod contains a living room area, an en-suite toilet plus a small balcony.

Medical bed is placed alongside other basic furniture, such as living room table and wardrobe. Handrail will be installed inside the pod to assist patient moving around.

A sofa bed next to the patient bed allows patient's family to stay overnight with their love one. Outside the pod, a small 'memory box' space is placed next to the entrance door for the pod. Patient can place their favourite items or things which are memorable to them, so that they can distinguish their pod among others. They can also get fresh air and view towards outside from the balcony.

FRAMING

After understanding the background knowledge of dementia and how dementia patient's spatial perception varies from ordinary people due to disease, we then try to implement and express those knowledge in architectural language. At the early stage of the year, we spent time on designing a dementia patient pod. Being the space where patient spend most of their time in everyday, details of such space should be thoughtful, by keeping the pod easy accessible, helpful to the medical services distributed by staff, and ultimately a comfortable space for patients and their family to stay in.

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PATIENT POD PLAN 0 (Model of patient's pod) 12

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FRAMING

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FRAMING

(Atmosphere within the pod)

(Pods connect together in two L-shape)

Direct eyesight from the bed Enough rooms for wheelchair going pass

(Direct eyesight from patient's bed and space for wheelchair users in the pod)

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Orientation is a common difficulty often encountered by dementia patients due to their illness. To solve this problem, setting the medical bed as the centre of a room perimeter, all components in the room can be spotted from the bed by patient's direct eyesight. Adopting different colours on furnitures can prevent situation when patient unable to distinguish items that are in similiar colour as the background.

Doors, sofa, table and wardrobe are all painted in different colours which can be quickly spotted. With enough rooms for wheelchair user to mobilize, those settings enormously help patients to orientate inside their pod, keeping their living qulity and importantly preserving patient's personnal dignity.

Other than carrying out medical service, the pod is important to provide a comfortable internal environment to patients, especially lowering the 'institutional' feeling from typical healthcare setting. Most of the furniture and furnishments in the pod are in domestic scale and style, which can imitate a normal residential setting as to reduce the 'hospital' atmosphere to patients.

(Sensory wall within the patient's pod)

Furthermore, an installation called 'sensory wall' is placed in every pod. Alongside patient's bed, 'sensory wall' contains of different objects and games. It allows patient to interact and feel various texture through their immediate sensory, as a result entertains or distracts them from any discomfort. Such installation can also place around the building so to support the patients' needs.

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SITE ANALYSIS

Our site locates in a small residential community named Arthur's Hill, North West of Newcastle city centre with approximately 15 minutes walking distance.

An open field opposite to Newcastle General Hospital, the site belongs to the project of Campus of Ageing and Vitality which aims to develop the world's premier centre for healthy ageing and living (NHS, 2021). Our task is to design a dementia care centre with a specific intergenerational space alongside a small dementia village on site, in order to provide adequate support to patients who live nearby, promote a dementia friendly neighbourhood and generate positive impacts towards the local community.

FRAMING

Arthur's Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne

All buildings and constructions previously on the site have now been demolished, only the North abandoned building remains. Looking at a wider perspective, our site is mainly surrounded by residential houses from Arthur's Hill. With number of shops, schools, serveral mosques and churches, healthcare facilities nearby, the community shows a great degree of diversity.

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(Site Sketch)

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FRAMING

1: 2500 Site Map

Residentials

Medical

Green Area

Commercial

Educational & Communual

(Our site location in Newcastle) 20

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FRAMING

Sunpath & Wind

Vegetation

Capturing right amount of sunlight can encourage patients to be active. With prevailing wind comes from South West and West, both factors are crucial to create a comfortable environment.

Rebuilding a green permimeter on site is benefical to both patients and visitors who use the intergenerational space, as some trees are already existing on site.

Movement

Traffic & Noise

Most movement around the site is from the South and East, same to the mainroads.

Placing main access point facing those directions can improve accessibility for public.

Traffic from the mainroads generate noise which can be irritating to patients. Avoid facing those mainroad directly or creating soft barrier can be solutions to that problem.

The site is predominantly a flat ground, apart from a 15 m ramp drops towards North at the North East of the site that may affects accessibility. In order to offer the best possible environment for dementia patients to live in, here are some of the key factors around our site that can influence our design output.

1: 2500 Site Map 22

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FRAMING

After visiting the site, my impression to the neighbourhood was not positive. In my opinion, the lack of vegetations around the neighbourhood plus the uniform tone of masonry and brick buildings projects a sense of heavy, unlively and unenthusiastic atmosphere. Through my observation, people rarely interact with others, only few people tried to approach the carpark adjacent to our site. Under such disconnected and dispersed feeling presented by the community, I feel that Arthur's Hill is lacking of a venue where can assemble people together as a community and socialise with each others, therefore the idea of developing a communal centre for my intergenerational space quickly came into my mind. Providing the opportunity for dementia patients and members from the community participate in various social activities, it helps to educate the public more about dementia, links up people around as a community, importantly provides communual services which the area is lacking now.

Elevation view

West Elevation

South Elevation 24

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Material

FRAMING

Brick Masonry Stones Concrete (Photographs around Arthur's Hill)

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Dull Unwelcoming Deserted Neglected

Feeling

(Photographs of our site)

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*

* FRAMING

DESIGN PLANNING Talking to our critical friend in theory module seminars, we discussed about applying the '15 minutes city' concept on Arthur's Hill as to understand the needs for the community. A contemporary idea of creating an established community with close ranged infrastructure, densed residential area hugely surround our site within the 15 mins perimeter, but none communal building is within the circle. Also, there are not enough of vegetations or parks around Arthur's Hill, which ensure my idea of building a communal centre with adequate amount of green area for local residents to enjoy.

(15 minutes distance perimeter around our site)

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION To consolidate on how my design correspond to the neighbourhood, I had looked at some existing criteria on community planning. Here is a diagram, from the Government of Canada, summarised the elements contain within a comprehensive community planning.

(Design spacing diagram)

Since the dementia centre focuses on the Health aspect of the society, I would like my design offering services on the social aspect of the community, by providing a venue for residents to socialise and gather down. Other than that, reusing the existing building as to reduce as much building waste, how the programmes correspond to the surrounding infrastructure (schools, religious building), and promoting the local culture came slightly behind but are still important to my development.

Here is the draft elaboration on the spaces included in my design. It can be mainly splitted into three types, the public communual centre, private dementia wards and other spaces such as staff area. I have highlighted some key space in each category, such as activity room in the communal centre and pods inside the ward.

Moreover, the relationship between each space type is crucial. For example, controlling access betwen the public and warding area can prevent unnecessary accidents, make sure passive surveillance by staff on area where patients are allow to wonder around freely.

(My design approach towards a Comprehensive community planning) 28

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*

A DAY IN DEMENTIA PATIENT LIFE

0900

1300

Location: Sitting Lounge

Location: Internal Courtyard

Location: Ward Common Area

A normal wake up time for Paul. He usually tidy himself after getting out of his bed, then turned on the radio and read some newspaper inside his room before his next activity.

Two of Paul's friends who live around came to visit him, so they went to the sitting lounge in the communal centre and had lunch together.

Paul went to the internal courtyard for some fresh air after dancing class, a quiet natural environment that Paul enjoy, meanwhile fully use the precious decent weather in the North East.

It is time for Paul to continue his reading, as he picked a quiet corner in the ward and spent a bit of time reading this fascinating novel he had been reading.

Location: Patient's pod

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Location: Internal wondering path

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Location: Activity Room

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Paul wanted to get some stretches after reading the news in his room, therefore he took a walk around centre. Views of trees and vegetations alongside really relax him.

After lunch, they all went to the activity room and joined the weekly dancing class with other local residents. Paul may not be the best dancer, but certainly enjoy his time with his classmates.

It is cooking night in the ward today. With the assist of staff, Paul and his mate managed to cook some nice food and eat together within the common area.

After a whole day of activity, Paul went back to his lovely and cozy bed, ready to get some rest and looking forward to the next day.

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FRAMING

Giving myself a clear idea and realistic feeling of how a dementia patient would actually live a day under my design, here comes my fantasy patient Paul. Paul is an elderly person diagnosed with dementia, and this is his daily routine inside my dementia centre. All the activities he did, either individually or in groups, are associated to key area and space that I am planning to include in my design.

Location: Ward Common Area

Location: Patient's pod

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THEMATIC CASE STUDY: ALZHEIMER'S RESPITE CENTRE FRAMING

By Nial McLaughlin, Dublin

To learn and get more inspirations prior our design stage, we were splitted into sub-groups and studied further on a specific dementia architecture design.

Commisioned by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, architect Nial McLaughlin designed the Alzheimer's Respite Centre in Dublin as a venue to provide short term care and support to patients and their family. Aiming to address disorientation and memory lost problem, this prototype building is specifically design for dementia patients by providing a calm and coherent space, meanwhile lowering the internal distractions and confusions.

Sunpath, Wind & Trees

With an original 18th century wall kitchen on the site, the architect decided to keep parts of the granite and brick walls, and integrated into the new timber design, which shape the internal gardening area and create a homy feeling with the use of timber and domestic furnitrure.

The centre located at a hill with lots of trees and branches around. Prevailing wind mainly comes from the West.

Traffic Traffic mostly comes from the East main road. While the surrounding is residential area, noise generated by vehicles can be a concern.

Building Height There aren't many building around the centre. Most of them are in similar height as residential houses, apart from the one at North .

(Building on site) 32

(East Elevation)

(Site diagram) 33

FRAMING

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GROUND FLOOR PLAN 0

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(Artistic plan sketch by Architect)

Offices Entrance Respite Centre Entrance Kitchen Dining Room Activity room Central space Sitting rooms Contemplation room Bedrooms Hairdressing Respite Centre staff offices

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Alzheimers Society offices Therapeutic Remedies Morning Terrace Upper Terrace Afternoon Terrace Magnolia Courtyard Evening Terrace Herb & Scent Garden Orchard Workers Garden

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(Wondering path movement)

The centre contains two types of 'wondering path', internal and external pathway which allow inhabitants to walk around no matter the weather condition. By avoiding double sided corridor to lower the 'institutional feeling', circulation and pathway are planned in loop form rather than straight rigid walkway. Benches and chairs can easily be found around, so patient can take a rest when they are tired while passive surveillance by staff is always around. The only downside of this design to me is the enclosure from the surrounding stone wall. Even it creates a safe area for inhabitants to exercise around the centre, to me it creates a prison like feeling by trapping patients in. Assessing the public-private control plus having views which links the internal and the external space are key to our next design step.

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FRAMING

(Dining room)

(Sitting area around corridor)

(View towards outside from activity room)

The building uses timber as the main material. With the advantage of more substainable than other building materials, the colour and texture presented by timber looks very peaceful and harmonious to the interior, which effectively shape a less disturbing environment.

Timber can be an ideal material to provide a calm and comfortable environment as we tried to achieve.

(Patient's bedroom) 36

(Chairs around the external garden)

(Window at the end of the walkway)

(Domestic scaled furniture in sitting room) 37

FRAMING

Stuff Offices Dining area and Office Therapeutic room

Most activity rooms are South orientated as to obtain most of the sunlight, generate an encouraging atmosphere for inhabitants to be active.

To gain maximum amount of sunlight, the change of height and adaptation of roof lanterns are utilized in the design, as a result lit up most of the internal space but avoid overshadow.

Bedrooms Activity rooms (Model of room orientation)

(Central room)

(Glass farcade looking towards internal courtyard)

(Section over common room and bedroom area) 38

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Testing Testing

With all the background knowledge about dementia and how the user centric approach shapes key design criteria from the case study, it is time for us to pick up our own design. By sorting out the rooms and spaces for our intergenerational space, careful consideration should be applied on how the spaces are connected, accessibility between each space, and importantly follow the design criteria that we learned early on. Furthermore, we can explore the building material and structure in order to bring up a more concrete architectural langauge. while the normal design process is still on-going, we need to test our design on aspects such as provision of light and air, light and shadow in order to provide the best possible environment for inhabitants. Running our proposals on several simulations, we then look at the strength and weakness of the design resulting further improvement. Those simulations can also clear up rationale of allocating the surrounding subbuildings and vegetation next to our dementia centre.

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TESTING

THINKING THROUGH MAKING To develop the initial plan into more solid architectural language, I have explored the possibility of articulating the roof shape with openings, as I believe it can present a sense of sheltering to everyone and integrating my design with the terrace houses nearby. With my plan of having a public lounge inside the communal centre, I had made a concept model to test the practicability on such space.

Focusing on getting good amount of natural light into the interior space, such design approach does make the space underneath more welcoming and grand. However, shadow under the beam in my concept model is quite servere, while dementia patient might intepret as holes or gaps in the middle of the floor and causing problem. Taking a balance between architecturally aesthetic and fitting the dementia design criteria becomes the key reminder of my design.

(Thinking Through Making Model) 42

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Garden Care Centre

TESTING

Disable Carpark

Carpark

DESIGN PROCESS

Dementia Village

Following my Thinking Through Making model, my masterplan and design at the time had became more concrete. The intial masterplan can mainly split into two parts, the dementia village in the South and the care centre in the North. A small helping centre with shops, clinic and other related services alongside a 9 housing units dementia village is located on the South part. Keeping the original South parking units on the site, extra parking units will be added for disable drivers.

The care centre is placed in the North of the site, with walking pathway and vegetations connects everything together as to revitalise the area. One of the key design feature at the time was to have the roof spanning towards East and West. Inspired by the project of Viela School in Portugal, I thought it could be an architectural way to express the change of roofshape idea to my design by spanning in uniform direction.

(Week 4 Masterplan Progress)

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(Week 4 Ariel view)

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(Farcade showing the change of rooftop language by Viela School)

TESTING

(Week 4 Atmosphere render)

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Semi-Public Staff Wondering path movement

(Week 4 care centre plan development)

(Week 4 Public & Private diagram)

Public: Reception Sitting Lobby Toilet Saloon Activity room

Ward: 01 02 03 04 05

Ward Manager Office Nurse Station Bath Room Patients' pod Medical Storage Common Area Kitchen Quiet room

The care centre at the time can be divided into the East public area with activity rooms, North semi public area where patients and controlled amount of people use the space, finally the South private medical wards for patients and staff only. There are two South facing wards on each floor with circulate walkway inside, all the pods are South orientated to receive most of the sunlight. Two internal atriums is placed inside each ward to provide a safe external environment for the patient.

Moreover, the shape of this design was hoping to shape a courtyard space between the centre and the North building on site, at the same time generate a different dynamic to the neighbourhood by this massing.

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Laundry Room First-aid Room Staff Room Meeting Room Cinema Kitchen Lounge

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(Week 4 Sections and Elevation)

WEST SECTION

Common area

Attrium

Semi-public

Saloon

SOUTH SECTION

Lobby

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Office

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Ward

Corridor

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Staff Room

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TESTING

SOUTH ELEVATION

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TESTING

I had also made a rough concept model on my rough design on week 4, as to highlight the folding rooftop alongside main partition walls in each area. To simulate how the lighting condition will be, I had tested the model with my room lamp and see how the light can diffuses into the interior by the openings on the roof.

(Testing on Week 4 physical rough model)

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Kitchen W/C

Lounge

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Staff Rm Activity Rm

Laundry

First Aid

Bath Rm Nurse Station

Office

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Kitchen

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Activity Area

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Laundry

Quiet Rm

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Storage

WC

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Laundry

Quiet Rm

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Quiet Rm Reception

Quiet Rm

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G/F Plan

Sitting Area

TV lounge

TV lounge

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Kitchen

Internal Garden

Pod Pod

Nurse Station

WC

Sitting Area

Storage

Pod

Activity Rm

WC

Bath Rm

Salon

Sitting Area

Kitchen

Internal Garden

Quiet Rm

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Staff Rm

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Kitchen Activity Area

Gallery

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Pod Pod

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G/F Plan Bath Rm Nurse Station

Office

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Sitting Area

W/C W/C

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Nurse Station Bath Rm

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TESTING

Laundry

Laundry

Rooftop Terrace

Quiet Rm

TV Lounge

Sitting Area

Kitchen

Quiet Rm

TV Lounge Activity Area

Bath Rm

Quiet Rm Quiet Rm

Pod Pod

Office

Laundry

Office

Bath Rm

Storage Pod Pod Pod

Pod

Storage

Pod

Quiet Rm Quiet Rm Pod

Nurse Station

Kitchen

1/F Plan

Quiet Rm Quiet Rm WC

Nurse Station

WC WC

(Week 5 plan change in care centre)

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WC

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20 m TV lounge TV lounge

To further improve my work from week 4, I made couple more changes in the following two weeks. Major changes include adding a round about drop-off point near Brighton Grove, relocating the rooms within the wards, organising circulation connecting the wards and other area, testing on the folded roof language and massing.

(Week 5 Care centre design on site)

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Since creating a comfortable environment to patients is always the objective in our studio, those changes need to be supported and justified carefully by data, not simply follow because of architectural or aesthetical perspective. Therefore, I then did couple of simulations based on these changed plans, to see if all the changes have been made sensibly and look for any further improvement.

Pod Pod

Pod Pod Pod

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(Week 6 Care centre design on site)

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TESTING

(Wind Speed simulation on week 5 design in December)

(Wind Speed simulation on week 6 design in December)

(Potential air temperature simulation on week 5 design in December)

(Potential air temperature simulation on week 6 design in December)

ENVI-MET SIMULATIONS Wind Speed (m/s)

Potential Air Temperature (°C)

ENVI-met is one of the simulation softwares that can test our design masterplan. By entering specific weather data, it can simulate the real life condition around our building and the surrounding with objective figures.

Testing on potential air temperature in December, the tempertaure of both designs are in very close range. South part of both designs illustrate a higher temperature, which is ideal to the locations of ward and patients' pod in winter. The centre stays at a slightly higher temerature than the surrounding, we can see the temperature near the trees goes slightly higher too, which means soft barrier can effectively shape a more comfortable environment by allocating them wisely.

Here are the wind speed simulations on week 5 & 6 design in December. With prevailing wind mainly from South West, wind speed recorded around the centre looks pretty decent by keeping below 4 m/s. Moving access point towards the East does avoid strong wind than the West side, whereas the internal courtyard have kept a nice and calm space with not much strong wind recorded. Trees around the site do help to lower the wind as shown.

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JUNE 0800

DECEMBER 0800

JUNE 1200

DECEMBER 1200 TESTING

LIGHTING STUDY The next element is the control of natural light. For all changes that I made for the plans, a small atrium within the wards have always been kept. My intention was to offer a safe external space where good amount of natural light can enter the ward, ultimately encourage patient to be active inside the ward.

JUNE 1500

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JUNE 1800

To test the practicality of this atrium design, I picked week 4 design because it has the largest atrium size than others. After testing on SketchUp, result came back did not quite go in my direction. Simulation in summer time shows sharp shadow inside the internal courtyard throughout the day, which is not ideal to patients.

Under a more consistent sunlight in winter time, sharp shadow doesn't seem to be a massive problem throughout the day. However, that seems a bit contradictive to my initial intention of bringing in more natural light to the building. After considering the practicality, pros and cons of this design idea, I decided to take away this internal atrium space.

DECEMBER 1500

DECEMBER 1800

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TESTING

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(Result of Velux simulation on Week 6)

VELUX SIMULATION IN POD

INTEGRATION TO SITE

All the pods are South orientated to receive most of the natural light, however it becomes a problem without careful control. The above Velux simulation shows the lighting intensity inside the pod in week 6, a massive overlighting problem. Most of the space near the balcony show more than 700 lux, far more than the ideal 300-600 lux as recommend.

Sharp shadow can then be formed under such condition. As I am willing to keep the pods South Orientated, I need to think of solutions to filter out some sunlight directly shines towards the pods.

The folding rooftop is a key design element throughout my process, however the form of East-West spanning doesn't demonstrate a good integration with the surrounding fabric, especially when the nearby buildings span more than those directions. Furthermore, the plan of my design did not clearly responds to the urban fabric and surrounding.

Based on the findings from all simulations and testings, it driven me to rethink about the form of my design.

(West Section of week 6 design) 0

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* NEW MASSING DEVELOPMENT With the previous design massing not refering to the site condition properly as mentioned, I had decided to take the positive ideas from those designs and redevelop into the language more fitting towards the current site. Here are some of the key improvements:

1. Public & Ward Separation

2. Push and Pulling

The circulation and pathway on my previous designs were still a bit messy, which now I have improved by clarifying space accessible or not. The main access point will remain in the East, where visitors can easily go to the dementia village and the North Garden as planned. Vegetations will be filling around the pathway as to revitalise the area, the internal courtyard will try keeping some existing trees on the North.

Setting the East side where my communal centre will be, the two wards remain South orientated as before. To bring complexity to the building by pusshing one of the wards towards the North, the cut corner can be filled with external vegetaions for public.

Pushing the East entrance projecting clearer sign where the main access point is to the public. A closer disable carpark is located at the North West of the building, with a closer distance towards the North Garden and sitting lounge.

3. Creating an internal courtyard

4. Articulating the roof spanning direction

Having a larger scaled internal courtyard offer more space for patients to wonder around, whereas such scale can avoid heavy overshadow which a hallow opening resulted by testing.

With roof spanning in two directions instead of single, the building shows a great echo to the surrounding environment, especially the overall form of it.

TESTING

Circulation and Movement

Overall Form Location of public and private area correpsonds to the changed circulation. As the previous design adopted an irregular form on site, I have outlined some of the grid line from the site, from the nearby residential houses or the dementia village, which makes the new massing more balanced to the surrounding site and fitting towards the neighbourhood.

Change of Spanning Direction The East-West spanning roof does not work perfectly on this site, therefore I slightly twisted this idea. Refering to the surrounding terrace houses, my thought is to adopt a roof with different spanning direction, in a sense to distinguish the zones inside, as I tried to organise the spaces in a more systematic order to make the multiple spanning idea works.

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(Refiguring new massing)

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AKN Nursery - Japan

TIMBER FRAME LANGUAGE

TESTING

Sands End Arts & Community Centre - UK

As I am keen more using a timber frame to my design, I have looked at the internal atmosphere from some precedents which adapted timber frame as well. With the rooftop spanning as one of the design features, I would like to express the atmosphere in similair way as those precedents, projecting a sense of refuge and shelter to everyone with good amount of natural lighting in.

Moreover, bringing the timber element towards the external cladding is my another thought. Inspired by the Offshore Borkum Apartments, those timber cladding elements create a complexity to the outlook of the building, which could possibly a good way to stimulate the unlively atmosphere I mentioned.

Merino Wool Center - Chile 64

Wooden Production Facility- Switzerland

Offshore Borkum Apartments - Germany 65

Synthesis Testing

After understanding the problems of my design, I took time to change and improve the new massing I got. Clarifying the programme details, functions of the abandoned North building, walkway and circulation with vegetations connecting the centre and the dementia village etc. To further define my design into architectural language, I tried to articulate the form of rooftop close to the nearby context. Number of simulations will be done on my final output to support the design is providing the best possible outcome.

Getting finalise on how the internal atmosphere wouldbe is another important thing. Views of how it looks like around the building, how material present on the site, and celebration peice to capture the language and overall strategy of my design.

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Arthur's Hill Dementia Hub

Alongside healthcare facilities, the hub also contains a communal centre with salon, activity rooms and sitting lounge all open to public, as to address the lack of communal services and perform as a 'hub' where local residents are welcome coming down and socialise with each others. Organised internal circulation allows visitors easily access to the nearby North garden and youth club. With windows and openings around offer views connect the internal space with external vegetations, it presents a soft barrier between the two spaces rather than using solid wall, conveying the message of connecting the dementia space with the outside world with care, not locking them up.

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(View from Brighton Grove towards the centre)

(View from Brighton Grove towards the dementia hub)

SYNTHESIS

Aim to break the typical 'institutional' atmosphere from typical healthcare architecture design, Arthur's Hill Dementia Hub hope to present a 'home away from home' feeling to dementia users. Unlike surrounding brick and masonry buildings, the timber frame building refresh the existing neighbourhood as providing a calm and welcoming atmosphere in and out. With adequate healthcare facilities within the warding area, it offers patients a safe and comfortable space to live, explore and enjoy.

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Sunpath & Wind Sunlight mainly shines towards the public facing side of the building, whereas as prevailing wind coming from South West near the village.

PUBLIC

WARD (Blue) & STAFF ROOMS (Yellow)

PRIVATE CIRCULATION (Green)

The L-shaped public communal centre locates on the East for better accessibility. Back doors at North connects the North garden and the youth club on the North with the hub.

Both wards locate at the South and West of the building, with corridor connecting them from public area. Staff area is place on the top of the activity room on ground floor, allowing to conduct passive surveilence for internal wondering path.

Looped form walkway and corridor are applied inside the ward, internal wondering path and middle courtyard as to offer patients chance to explore.

Vegetation & Garden Space Trees are planted alongside the walkway of the site. There is also a North Gardenand garden and dementia village foyer for visitors to use and enjoy the tree space.

SYNTHESIS

Dementia Village and Youth Centre 8 dementia housing units and a small helping centre is on the South, whereas the existing North building will become a youth centre.

They are all opened to the East mainroad for accessibility.

Site Plan 70

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100 m

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20 m

Storage 09 Walkway lantern 10 Ward Manager Office 11 Kitchen 12 Nurse station 13 TV Lounge 14 Laundry 15 Bath room 16

Quiet Room Storage Toilet Dementia Pods Internal Garden Staff Rest Room Meeting Room Medical Storage Outdoor Terrace

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Two sets of double doors separate the communual area and the private wards, scale for the latter turns more intimate to project a closer human perspective. Ward is designed with loop formed circulation while avoiding corridor with double sided doors. Patients can also explore around the middle private courtyard internally, or get some fresh air from the internal garden or 1/F outdoor terrace externally. Three protected cores with two of them having lift can bring people up to the 1/F, meanwhile providing escaping route when fire occured.

There are two sets of walkway lantern on the East and North around the middle courtyard. Taking the idea of previous iterations, the new location makes sure enough natural lighting would lit up the internal walkway, and also lower down the problem of overshadowing. Vegetations and trees are placed around the internal garden, creates a safe and welcoming connections between patients and the natural environment.

(Roof plan with PV panels on)

(Spanning direction diagram)

East- West Spanning North-South Spanning Protected Core

To better integrate the form of dementia hub to the site, the building has adopted both North-South and EastWest spanning directions. Different spanning direction can indicate different area in my design, as I hope this roof shape can echo to the form of houses nearby. Furthermore, PV panels are being placed at South facing roof as to maximize the advantage of sunlight and more sustainable approach, utlimately filter out some direct sunlight to area like the pods.

SYNTHESIS

Draft Lobby Reception Salon Toilet Reading Corner Sitting Lounge Kitchen Activity Room

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G/F Plan 4

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* With the timber cladding farcade and openings around the building, the dementia hub stands out from the uniform masnory and brick cladding around and projects a new kind of energy to the area. The new massing and rooftop looks much responding into the surrounding site than previous designs.

South Elevation 0

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SYNTHESIS

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01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Storage 09 Walkway lantern 10 Ward Manager Office 11 Kitchen 12 Nurse station 13 TV Lounge 14 Laundry 15 Bath room 16

Quiet Room Storage Toilet Dementia Pods Internal Garden Staff Rest Room Meeting Room Medical Storage Outdoor Terrace

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SYNTHESIS

Section AA

East public space, where communual services carry, is in larger scale to establish a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. When it comes to the warding area, the height significantly changed, whereas the timber frame structure is more significant, as to project a calm and close scale to patients.

Draft Lobby Reception Salon Toilet Reading Corner Sitting Lounge Kitchen Activity Room

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*

Summer Solstice : 58.6°

BB

Winter Solstice : 11.6°

With North-South spanning added, PV pannels are added to the South facing roof, as to maximize the use of natural sunlight. The overhang on top of pods can also shelter out the amount of natural sunlight directly shining towards the pods.

Draft Lobby Reception Salon Toilet Reading Corner Sitting Lounge Kitchen Activity Room

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Storage 09 Walkway lantern 10 Ward Manager Office 11 Kitchen 12 Nurse station 13 TV Lounge 14 Laundry 15 Bath room 16

Quiet Room Storage Toilet Dementia Pods Internal Garden Staff Rest Room Meeting Room Medical Storage Outdoor Terrace

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(Sunlight on section)

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(Ventilation on section)

Sunlight

Ventilation

Overhang roof on top of the pods help to reduce summer sunlight but allowing winter sunlight get into the pods, while sunlight can still lit up the internal courtyard and public area.

Natural ventilation will be adapted by windows and glazing around the building, as to make sure fresh air can replace the dump air inside.

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SYNTHESIS

Section BB 0 78

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ENVI-met Simulation Date: 21st December

Date: 21st June

Date: 21st December

Date: 21st June

Potential Air Temperature (°C)

By simulating the coldest and hottest month on our site, result shows most of the area near our centre and village remains under 2 m/s, especially less wind recorded at the main entrance, internal courtyard and the North garden. It indicates the design massing has a good foundation to build up a comfortable environment around.

With the potential air temperature, the dementia hub perform well as not extremely hot or cold in both ocassions. We can see the area close to where the trees are has slightly higher temperature over the West in December, however same thing applies in June as well. With the application of internal ventilation and heating, the internal environment should be able to maintain at a comfortable level.

SYNTHESIS

Wind Speed (m/s)

*Suggested pedestrain sitting area is below 4 m/s

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Velux Simulation in Pod

JUNE 0900

DEC 0900

JUNE 1200

DEC 1200

(Velux Render angle inside the pod)

JUNE 1500

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JUNE 1800

DEC 1800

Looking closer at the summer and winter time simulation, it ranges between 400-600 lux which is ideal to the patient. Since the lighting shows a good blending and no significant overlighting, sunlight in winter might goes down quickly, therefore artificial lighting support inside the pods is extrememly important.

SYNTHESIS

(Velux Render inside the pod from final design)

DEC 1500

Compare to previous design, a 2.5 m overhand towards the South is utilized in the final design, which improve the overlighting problem occured in the past. Here is the latest render of the pod's lighting conditi on the latest design, as it shows the natural light comes in more gentle. No sharp shadow presented on the ground which is good for dementia patients.

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Garden space outside West ward 84

North Garden and Youth Centre 85

SYNTHESIS

G/F Lobby 86

North Sitting Lounge 87

SYNTHESIS

1/F Internal Wondering Path 88

Common area in 1/F ward 89

* The perspective section capture the spanning form and service inside the dementia hub, views in and out towards the surrounding vegetations, at the same time how it corresponds to the North youth centre and the South dementia village.

Perspective Section

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APPENDIX

Week 3 process work (Semester 1) Bendigo Hospital (Australia) Rigshospitalet Hospital North Wing (Denmark) Concept:

- Rectangle shape - Unified corridor and walkway - Same direction for windows (tending towards North) - Mirror to the adjacent room - Possible small balcony space on each room

- Trapezoid shape - Idea of different to normal ward - Feeling of going towards wider space - Two different set of corridors/ walkways?

- Hard to have balcony/ outdoor space?

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- Single side corridor - Less stressed and opened - Enough lighting into the room - Avoid the confine feeling

- Lighting in public interior space - Great integration with nature in interior space - Roof top Garden

- Lighting in public interior space - Concentrate staff on one side and patient on the other - Fitting towards the urban fabrics - Unique Zigzag shape

Area considered apart from the pods: - Multi-purpose room - Lobby - Small theatre - Cafe/ small restaurant - lift + ramp access - Staff rooms - Adopting roof space - Lounge - Internal/ External Garden - Atrium

Site Dimension:

Site features:

- Around 138m X 78m -East and South side are residential area - N o r t h a n d We s t a re t h e hospital area -Small carpark attached to the site -Another small carpark on the South side of site with quite a lot of trees and underbrush

- Sound, as most of the noise is from the residential area

Concept 1:

Concept 2:

-Movement, most of them are vehicles', not many from people

- U shape - Internal courtyard - Open up towards the middle - Pods mainly located at both wings - Other purposes rooms at the under part

- Z shape - Green space relatively spread out - Divided into two main wings - Pods mainly located at the middle

-Green areas, presented in an L-shape shielding towards the East and South

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Concept models in week 4 (Semester 1)

Site preparation work in week 7 (Semester 1) Massing Idea (Initial)

Movement

Sunpath & Wind

Traffic & Noise

People mainly walk pass Westgate Rd and Brighton Groove . The south side becomes the main access point.

Try to open up the north part to gain gradual sunlight. Try to avoid direct exposure towards West against the wind.

Big contrast between the main roads and the small road adjacent.

Meanwhile traffic and residents will create noise too.

Residential Commercial Educational & Communual

Medical Religious

North & South Splitting Approach

Space

-Roof height change -Different massing shape -Stack up in different orientation

Wards: Pods Staff room

Then cut out a square to place the internal garden and keeping where the trees are

Make an entrance point towards the South-west as the main access point towards the site

Lift up the activity area and use the roof of lower part as the external balcony for fresh air

Create the internal garden near where the trees are

Adopting the roof of the ward area as the external roof balcony

East & West Splitting Approach

Integeneration: Tuck shop / cafe Activity rooms Lounge Gym Small cinema Storages Others: Carpark Internal Garden External balcony / roof

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Dividing the ward (brown) and intergeneration (blue) into North and South orientation, as more stable light towards the pods and more sunlight into the active area

Dividing the ward (brown) and intergeneration (blue) into West and East, as the West side is more quiet and calm atmosphere

Cutting the South-East corner to make it welcoming for people to get in from the main road

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Thematic Case Study (Semester 1)

Materials

Overall Massing

(My part labelled with a red dot on)

A massive stone walls surround the building area(red)(fig.3/5/6) , isolating the construction from the outside. This makes the control over the patients easier and also creates a micro environment around the actual construction (green). My only concern are the patient pots (blue), and their west orientation. Since the prevailing wind is coming from the northwest, that may result into heating losses.

Fig.4

Brick walls are used to create and navigate the circulation aroun the buildidng.

Bricks are a great choice of material, they are not only durable and long-lasting but also they can be recycled and used again. Very minimal waste is produced during their manufacturing and are easily assembled.

Heating

Main building is The third widemade from timber ly used material is pavilions conjugated glass. Even though with beams, panels, windows can cause transoms and roofs. energy losses if Wood is renewable placed unproperly, material and timber glass is still sustainframe constructions able, since it can be have the lowest CO2 fully recycled. cost. That makes it a great choice in terms of sustainability.

The heating is provided by heating radiators placed all along the building, ensuring a consistent level of degrees. It is proven that it is more energy efficient to keep apersistent air temperature at all time. (fig.8/9)

Fig.8 Fig.5

Alzheimer's Respite Centre (Nial McLaughlin, 2009) House of Memory Group 3 Thematic Case Study Fig.3

Fig.6

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1. Design criteria 1:

Placing the windows high on the wall gives the patients the needed privacy, but also regulates the buildings environment. It is important to reduce the direct light as much as possible, but at the same time natural light is preferred for the well-being, high windows are great solution for introducing moderate natural light. The high windows also help the buildings air flow without disturbing directly the

The Alzheimer’s Centre is located in lively neighborhood which makes the access to it easy and helps maintaining smooth service provision like food delivery and staff transportation. Family visitors can also relatively quickly reach the location. This is also a factor to be considered when designing for a bigger group of people. In order to maintain the buildings function more people are required, if the Centre was outside the city this would cost not only time but also the release of harmful emissions .

3

Testing Through Simulation

By Rositsa Krasteva 2. Design criteria 2:

Windows

One of the main aims of my studio this year is to make a sustainable building design that maximizes the benefits from the environment. Creating a comfortable atmosphere is extremely important especially for elderly people with ongoing health issues. As a future architects it is crucial to understand how our designs can help and improve people’s lives especially when we are given the task to design a dementia center facility. For Alzheimer’s Respite Centre in Dublin I will be focusing on the design approach in terms of sustainability and will focus on buildings layout,main design approach, materiality and overall performance.

Content

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Dementia Usercentric Design

Fig.9 5

Rositsa

Sustainability

Fig.7

Air movement

Sun Rays

Ventilation

By Aikaterini Passa 3. Sustainability

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By Chung Hei Mok 4. Architect's Design Theory

Fig.10

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By Woosang Park 5. Comparison to Other Buildings

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By Wing Hei Lo 6. Bibliography

Fig.11

Fig.12

Fig.1

Another characteristic is the buildings heigh. Being only one story heigh, the architects can spread freely the layout along the given site. This results in minimizing the contact with the strong north-west wind and the sea breeze coming from east. An open courtyard is also added, facing south and being protected from the surrounding walls, creating a well isolated outdoor space. (fig.2/Fig.4)

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Fig.13

Fig.14

Fig.15

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* (Granite and brick walls keep in the centre)

(External brick wall shield against the prevailing wind and noise from the mainroad)

(Homely feeling from the interior)

External walls and Garden area

Sustainable Building Material

The external brick walls work to keep the centre safe for inhabitants, but with the height of around 3 metres, it blocks out the prevailing wind and noise towards the centre.

With an original 18th century walled kitchen on site, the architect decided to keep part of the granite and brick walls and integrate them into the new timber construstion. By reducing wastes from demolishing them, timber construction is definitely a good choice as a sustainable material with no CO2 emissions. The harmony also creates a good sense of homely and comfortable feeling.

Grarden area is relatively important to dementia patients, as there are different gardens in the centre for different period of the day. It provides space for inhabitants to hang out, blend into the green hilly site perfectly, and ultimately work well for our environment.

(Timber is the main building material)

(Large scale of garden area inside the wall)

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Sustainability

Chung Hei Mok The Alzheimer's Respite Centre is built on a hill near residential area, close to the coast line in East Dublin. It is mainly houses around the building, with couple of retail shops and a park on the South of the site.

*

(Greem area can be seen in every corner)

13

Question 4: How does the case study relate to the Architect's theoretical position / how does it explore their ideas / preoccupations?

Woosang Park 180367207

Sunpath, Wind & Trees The hill is filled with lots of trees and grass. Prevailing wind mainly comes from the West.

Stuff Offices

(Strong natural light gain from the South and stable light from the North orientation)

Dining area and Office

(Massive glazing may be a problem in summer time)

Therapeutic room

Traffic

Bedrooms

Sunlight Manipulation

Activity rooms

Natural light can create encouraging environment for dementia patietns become active, therefore most activity rooms are located near the South orientation to gain more natural light.

Most traffic comes from the mainraod on East as the main source of noise. Relatively quiet in the residential area.

Certain parts of the buidling are lifted up as to maximize the amount of daylight in. Plently of sunlight can be seen not only in rooms but also circulation area with roof lanterns. However, the building doesn't seem work much on air ventilation, therefore may face overheating in the summer with so much glazing but not letting hot air out.

Losing Myself, Venice Biennale Architettura 2016

They are interested in the social function of architecture, how to improve the lives of dementia patients. In addition, they hope that their study of the effect of this condition on spatial awareness will provide us with a deeper understanding of how all our minds interpret space, memory and circumstances. Their project also highlighted the disadvantages of traditional architectural planning: residents may not experience buildings from a complete and fixed perspective of architects. This disconnection is especially evident when residents develop Alzheimer's disease and lose the ability to use memory and projection to create a stable model of their environment beyond their immediate circumstances. Their anticipated animation attempts to solve this by developing techniques for drawing buildings from the perspective of residents.

(Light lantern at the corridor inside the centre)

Building Height It is not densed in terms of building nearby the centre. Apart from the building adjacent, rest of the houses are in similar height.

(Site plan)

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(1)

(1)

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The drawing is an attempt to communicate and interpret some of the changes to spatial perception caused by dementia.

(3)

(Site diagrams)

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(How roof lantern allow sunlight enter in Winter but controlled in summer time)

Activity room(1), Office(2), Bedroom(3)

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The common features of Alzheimer’s Respite Centre and other dementia care homes based on the 3 main design aspects from the 12 design principles

Issues found in the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre compared to other dementia care homes which violates the 3 main design aspects from the 12 design principles

The best thing to do is to enable people with dementia to engage with architects The challenge in designing a care environment for people with Alzheimer's disease is to create a calm and coherent spaces that reduce brisk distractions, helps directions and encourages mobility. Design can mitigate the orientation, confusion and aggressiveness of building users and promote social interaction and security awareness. The center aims to eliminate all senses of institution or medical care through careful and bespoke timber details, relaxed flow of interior and exterior spaces, and daytime lighting spaces.

Arranging the bedroom space, feedback from consultation

● All dementia care homes have a variety of public and private space ● These spaces resemble a homely environment, and promotes socialisation ● Sense of smell stimulates past memories and helps way��nding:

Courtyard

A place to sit and chat in the sunshine

Room- Using same colour tone in every building space

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● The smell of herbs informs them that it is a garden and give rise to meaningful activities like gardening

High colour contrast between wall and �oor so that patients can easily differentiate them Arrangement of indoor space is simple which supports way��nding and promotes independence from staffs

However, Whittle Hall Dementia Plus does not have doors right opposite each other and the design of wall and use of furniture gives a home like atmosphere, this can reduce over stimulation and gain a sense of normality.

Bedroom corridor of Alzheimer’s Respite Centre

Sound helps to mark zones of space and stimulate past experience (Gatland, 2013):

● When patients touched objects like soil in garden, it will stimulate their past experience of gardening and give rise to meaningful activities

The center is located within the existing wall garden of the adjacent convent. Located within this protected space is a series of interconnected pavilions that include social spaces, quiet gardens and gardens for patients to roam around. Many roads naturally return to themselves and always send people home. This is very important. Because all the buildings for dementia patients, including those we built, should be considered wandering. We have to think about how to keep them physically safe.

Physical Wall to protect patients to go out

To have good visibility and allows passive surveillance from staffs, large glass windows were installed to bring more natural light in

The bedroom corridor of Alzheimer’s Respite Centre has doors right opposite the bedroom doors, patients might head straight to the room opposite them when they left their room. This will result in over stimulation and will cause confusion and agitation. Also, the long corridor gives a hospital like ambience.

Bedroom corridor of Whittle Hall Dementia Plus

Pallasmaa (2009) claims that our hands can remember actions:

4 kinds of Dementia people's Wandering Routes

Lounge with Curtain wall View

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● A herb and scent garden stimulates the patient’s previous encounters such as cooking

Zumthor (2006) states that vision is not important when experiencing a space and we need to use our multi senses instead. But in the case of dementia patients with poor vision, care homes compensate that through designing for visual to provide a safer environment:

The garden of Alzheimer’s Respite Centre has walls partially separate it, forming a complicated layout. This does not provide good visual access and support way�nding,which creates a dangerous environment for patients as they might lose their way and it will increase negative emotions like anxiety.

● TV sound implies the space is the living room and it can stimulate patients to recall how they used to watch TV at their home ● It also attracts and navigates patients to the area which supports way��nding, creating a safer environment

Sense of touch recalls past memories as a form of tacit knowledge (Damasio, 2010): ● Choice of materiality such as wood and brick resembles a homely environment when patients touched them, thus reduced stress and other negative emotions

● But too much noise can lead to over stimulation, this can be resolved by using sound absorbing materiality

But the courtyard of De Hogeweyk Dementia Village has a simple and clear layout with unobstructed views, this supports wa��nding and orientation.

Garden of Alzheimer’s Respite Centre

Courtyard of De Hogeweyk Dementia Village

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Bibliography

Wing Hei Lo 180268041

Corridor

Drawing of the Centre- Different Colour with Private, SemiPublic and Public Private Semi - Public Public

The aspect of dementiafriendly design is actually the potential to alleviate common symptoms. Some studies have supported this theory. First of all, it records less aggressive behavior and longer sleep hours in patients exposed to more natural light(Konis, 2014). Second, I t was also found that patients living in facilities with long corridors (making it difficult to find their way) showed more Bench at the end of the a d v a n c e d p s y c h i a t r i c bedroom wing corridor symptoms six months later than patients living in L-shaped spaces.(Elmståhl, Long Corridor- It is not good for the dementia patient Annerstedt and Åhlund, (need to avoid it) 1997) Coloring Doors - It makes find their own door (Useful)

Using bright colours and Making windows on the corridors - This gives patients a sense of security, and gives them warmth and comfort through natural light.

The future of all dementia care homes

Comparision to other buildings Question 5: How does the case study relate to other buildings of it’s type?

Architects may not be aware what can cause distress to dementia sufferers – a black doormat can be perceived as an impassable black hole

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Provide optimum lighting and contrast

Provide a non-institutional scale and environment

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Support way--nding and navigation

Provide access to nature and the outdoors

Promote engagement with friends, relatives and staff

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Promote privacy, dignity and independence

Promote physical and meaningful activities

Support diet, nutrition and hydration

“Alzheimer's Respite Centre, Dublin.” Níall McLaughlin Architects, 2012, www.niallmclaughlin.com/projects/alzheimersrespite-centre-dublin/.

Alzheimer. 2020. Home - Alzheimer. [online] Available at: <https://alzheimer.ie/?gclid=CjwKCAiA_eb-BRB2EiwAGBnX XtQp6rBcwrMh8Q1jSh7PmlpZbzCWqDJHwWdTarb6UWfEVr_HmA2VQRoCa3cQAvD_BwE> [Accessed 16 December 2020].

Braidwood, E. and Braidwood, E., 2017. News Feature: Are Architects Doing Enough To Tackle Dementia?. [online] The Architects’ Journal. Available at: <https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/news-feature-are-architects-doingenough-to-tackle-dementia> [Accessed 16 December 2020].

Damasio, A. R. (2010). Self comes to mind: Constructing the conscious brain. New York: Pantheon Books.

Department of Health and Social Care (2015) Health Building Note 08-02 General design guidance for healthcare buildings. [pdf ] London: Department of Health and Social Care. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416780/HBN_08-02.pdf [Accessed 4 December 2020].

12 Design principles for dementia-friendly environments

Elmståhl, S., Annerstedt, L. and Åhlund, O., 1997. How Should a Group Living Unit for Demented Elderly Be Designed to Decrease Psychiatric Symptoms?. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 11(1), pp.47-52.

Gatland, S. “Designing Environments for Sound Control”, in: The American Institute of Architects. www.aia.org/ practicing/groups/kc/AIAB058394 [Accessed: 5 December 2020].

The 12 design principles from the Health Building Note 08-02 (2015) helps achieve dementia friendly environments in the Alzheimer’s Respite Centre and other dementia care homes. The 3 main aspects from the 12 design principles it is to provide stimulation, safe environment, and create a non hospital like environment.

Gibson, J.J. (1983) The senses considered as perceptual systems. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Konis, K., 2014. Daylight & Dementia Care Daylight Design Performance Criteria For Dementia Care Facilities. [online] Content.aia.org. Available at: <http://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2016-04/DH-Daylight-Dementia-Care_0.pdf> [Accessed 16 December 2020].

McLaughlin, N., 2013. Alzheimer's Respite Centre. [London]: Bartlett School of Architecture.

The function of architecture is to try to occupy every user types regardless of their native, age group, or disease. I believe the space we are in now fails to be inhabited by dementia patients, I can boldly state that the building has lost its function, it is just a beautiful box that act as a temporary shelter and we lodge, in turn we build more dementia care homes or create other building types to suit the rising demands.

Provide stimulation Safe environment

Niallmclaughlin.com. 2012. Alzheimer’S Respite Centre, Dublin | Níall Mclaughlin Architects. [online] Available at: <http://www.niallmclaughlin.com/projects/alzheimers-respite-centre-dublin/> [Accessed 16 December 2020].

Niall McLaughlin Architects. Altzheimer's Respite Centre . Bartlett Design Research Folios.

Pallasmaa, J. (2009) The thinking hand : existential and embodied wisdom in arthitecture. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.

Therefore, instead of building more and more dementia care home in future, why can’t we improve the design principles in all architecture to try and incorporate the needs of the dementia patients?

Pallasmaa, J. (1996). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. London: Academy Editions.

This is important as it applies to every architecture, we should start caring about the needs of the minorities instead of focusing on ourselves, a young and healthy being. Architecture should be humanized.

Wilson, S., 2018. How Innovative Home Design Could Revolutionise Dementia Care – And Even Slow Down Symptoms - City Monitor. [online] City Monitor. Available at: <https://citymonitor.ai/fabric/how-innovative-home-design-couldrevolutionise-dementia-care-and-even-slow-down-symptoms-3945> [Accessed 16 December 2020].

Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres: Architectural environments, surrounding objects. Basel: Birkhause.

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“3. Dementia Types, Stages and Prevalence - 5. Design Features.” Health Building Note 08-02: Dementia-Friendly Health and Social Care Environments, TSO, 2015, pp. 17–76.

“Alzheimer's Respite Centre .” Architizer, Architizer, Inc, architizer.com/projects/alzheimers-respite centre/?fbclid=IwAR0u1vC6cF-AvtMZrLPf4xfGWB6XfZE2xLJRpRvjvbiWVHedIzjL7kD7fug.

Non hospital like environment

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LIST OF FIGURE All drawings, diagrams, photographs and illustrations are owned by author or produced in group work, apart from: Photograph of Nantes School of Architecture on P.6 (Available at: https:// www.archdaily.com/254193/nantes-school-of-architecture-lacatonvassal/5018d49128ba0d5d5d000b8b-nantes-school-of-architecturelacaton-vassal-image) Photograph of AgroCite on P.6 (Available at: https://www.publicspace.org/ works/-/project/j281-r-urban-network-of-urban-commons) Photograph of FRAC Dunkirk on P.6 (Available at: https://www. archdaily.com/475507/frac-of-the-north-region-lacaton-andvassal/52f9b712e8e44eb4cf00006f-frac-of-the-north-region-lacaton-andvassal-photo) Photograph of Terrassenhaus Berlin on P.6 (Available at: https://www. dezeen.com/2019/02/21/teressenhaus-studio-brandlhuber-emde-burlonmuck-petzet-architecture/) Photograph of 'Still Alice' on P.7 (Available at: https://tolitasmusings. blogspot.com/2015/03/film-review-still-alice.html) Diagram on a comprehensive community planning on P. 28 (Available at: https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1100100021901/1613674678125) Photographs of Alzheimer Respite Centre on P.32 - 39 (Available at: https://www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/3400) Photographs of Vilela School on P.47 (Available at: https://www.archdaily. com/772363/vilela-school-cnll)

BIBLIOGRAPHY Photograph of Sands End Arts & Community Centre on P.64 (Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/956985/sands-end-arts-and-communitycentre-mae-architects/6026a8d9f91c8142c40001fd-sands-end-arts-andcommunity-centre-mae-architects-photo?next_project=no) Photograph of AKN Nursery on P.64 (Available at: https://www. archdaily.com/958475/akn-nursery-hibinosekkei-plus-youji-noshiro/604b45d2f91c815c4f0000f2-akn-nursery-hibinosekkei-plus-youji-noshiro-photo?next_project=no) Photograph of Merino Wool Center on P.64 (Available at: https://www. archdaily.com/957949/merino-wool-center-demo-arquitectos?ad_ source=search&ad_medium=search_result_all) Photograph of Wooden Production Facility on P.64 (Available at: https:// www.archdaily.com/960151/wooden-production-facility-for-timberconstruction-and-carpentry-amjgs-architektur-plus-marti-ag-matt) Photograph of Offshore Borkum Apartments on P.65 (Available at: https:// www.archdaily.com/961345/offshore-borkum-apartments-delugan-meisslassociated-architects?ad_source=search&ad_medium=search_result_all)

Alzheimer’s Disease International. (2020) World Alzheimer Report 2020.

Available at: https://www.alzint.org/resource/world-alzheimer-report-2020/ (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

Alzheimer’s Society. (2021) Facts for the media. Available at: https:// www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-us/news-and-media/facts-media (Last Accessed: 20 May 2021).

Alzheimer’s association. (2021) What is Dementia?. Available at: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia?utm_ source=google&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_campaign=google_ grants&utm_content=dementia&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgomBBhDXARIsAFNyUq NpwblNSZOA1N4Bp3IntZIpAxYbIhLM6JeCDTwiC8qr0jadHbnyiIsaAnpZE ALw_wcB (Last Accessed: 24 May 2021).

AJ Building Library. (2009) Alzheimer's Respite Centre. Available at: https://www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/3400 (Last Accessed: 20 May 2021)

Feddersen, E & Ludtke I. (2014) lost in space: Architecture and Dementia.

Basel/Berlin/Boston: Birkhäuser.

RIBA. (2017) Designing for specialist dementia care. Available at: https:// www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/knowledge-landingpage/designing-for-specialist-dementia-care (Last Accessed: 24 May 2021).

Streets for People. (2021) Arthur’s Hill & Fenham. Available at: https:// streetsforpeople.org.uk/arthurshill-fenham/ (Last Accessed: 24 May 2021).

Feddersen, E & Ludtke I. (2009) Living for the elderly. Basel: Birkhäuser.

WHO. (2017) Risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia WHO Guidelines. Available at: https://www.who.int/mental_health/neurology/ dementia/guidelines_risk_reduction/en/ (Last Accessed: 20 May 2021).

Gibson, J. (2014) ‘The Theory of Affordance’, in Gieseking, J.J. (ed.) The people, place and space reader New York: Routledge, pp. 56-60.

Yung,E. Conejos, S and Chan, E. (2015) ‘Social needs of the elderly and active aging in public open spaces in urban renewal’, ScienceDirect, 52, pp. 114-122.

Government of Canada. (2016) Comprehensive Community P l a n n i n g . Av a i l a b l e a t : h t t p s : / / w w w. s a c - i s c . g c . c a / eng/1100100021901/1613674678125 (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

City Monitor. (2020) What is a 15-minute city? Available at: https:// citymonitor.ai/environment/what-is-a-15-minute-city (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

Meteoblue. (2021) Climate Newcastle upon Tyne. Available at: https:// www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/historyclimate/climatemodelled/ newcastle-upon-tyne_united-kingdom_2641673 (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

City Population. (2019) Arthur’s Hill. Available at: https://www. citypopulation.de/en/uk/northeastengland/wards/newcastle_upon_tyne/ E05011436__arthurs_hill/ (Last Accessed: 20 May 2021).

Mitchell, L and Burton, E. (2006) ‘Neighbourhoods for life: Designing dementia-friendly outdoor environments’, Quality in Aging-Policy, practice and research, 7(1), PP. 26-33.

C40 Knowledge. (2020) How to build back better with a 15-minute city.

Available at: https://www.c40knowledgehub.org/s/article/How-to-buildback-better-with-a-15-minute-city?language=en_US (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

NHS. (2021) Campus for Ageing and Vitality. Available at: https://www. newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/hospitals/campus-ageing-vitality/ (Last Accessed: 24 May 2021).

dsdc The Dementia Centre. (2021) DSDC is the world leader on the design of services and environments for people with dementia.

Available at: https://dementia.stir.ac.uk/design (Last Accessed: 25 May 2021).

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dsdc The Dementia Centre. (2017) Dementia Friendly Housing: an architect’s perspective. Available at: https://dementia.stir.ac.uk/blogs/ dementia-centred/2017-11-08/dementia-friendly-housing-architectsperspective (Last Accessed: 24 May 2021).

Raymond, C. Kytta, M and Stedman, R. (2019) ‘Sense of Place, Fast and Slow: The Potential Contributions of Affordance Theory to Sense of Place’, frontiers in Psychology, 8, pp. 1-14.

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