Seeking Asylum.

Seeking Asylum.

Tutor: Brendan Jones

Background Following a worldwide trend, in the 1980s and 1990s, the nation’s asylums and mental health institutions were closed and community-care housing replaced them. Whilst seemingly more humane, this system has been deemed by some in the health industry as under-funded, poorly staffed, and a failure for people with severe mental illness.

Proposition If ‘asylum’ was a failure, and community care is a failure, what institutional model could work, and what architectural ideas are possible.

Working methods The studio used themes of voyeurism, provocation and ‘trajectory’ in considering mental health institutions. The studio was divided into two parts. In the first part, students explored mental health and pursued individual architectural responses. In the second part, the students pursued two team-based designs. The teamwork is represented in the following pages.

Team: Spatial prescription

1

Fragrant

Loud

Quiet

Section A 2

Tactile

Blind

Intactable

Section B 3

Ground Floor Plan

Basement Plan

4

First Floor Plan

Attic Plan

Site Plan 5

6

Team: Library asylum

Public journey to the Library from top left: Street Presence on St Kilda Road; Library view from Plaza; from King’s Domain Cafe; Library Mezzanine: night view; common view of the library from mezzanine 7

Residents experience of the Library from top left: View of asylum from the Tan Track; Residential Street Interface; view of the High Street from under the land bridge Recreation in the High Street; ; common view of the library from mezzanine 8

Within the Library: from top left: visual permeability between aisles; inbetween undulating floors; filtered light in the reading room; breaking the linear geometry of the ailses

9

10

Site and Context: from top left: plan; site plan; cross sections illustrating moments of interaction between visitors, carols by candelight (library - foreground); site section

11

12

Thank you to: Ian Watts (faciltator and healthcare advisor) Students: Jacqueline Alexander Khai-Ling Chan Maggie Chu Raphael Fantl John Hajko Simon Jeppeson Kate Lewis Karen Macmull Stephanie McNamara Craig Rosenblatt Clare Smith Ben Waters Thanks also to the guest critics: Ben Inman Christine Stevenson Kyla McFarlane Graham Crist Nicola Garrod Mel Dodd Pia Ednie-Brown We appreciate the advice of the ten mental health experts who informed the development of the studio.

Studio Details Title: Seeking Asylum Tutor: Brendan Jones Pole: Expanded Field Date: Semester 1, 2009 This and other documented examples of design studios run as part of the RMIT University Architecture program can be found on issuu.com