BAS 3

1 AIM

To design a small centre for mental wellness in its urban context which provides the support needed by patients and their families to be able to cope with mental illness issues from home. The main ideal of such a centre is to facilitate the re-integration of mental health patients into the community. As this is a half-way centre between a psychiatric hospital and complete recovery, the design needs to address gradations of conflicting requirements: protection vs reintegration into society, supervision vs independence, safety vs dignity, security vs autonomy. A portion of the design will be taken through to ergonomic detailing for both design and construction assignments.

2 LEARNING OUTCOMES

To explore appropriately relating a building to an urban context.
To develop the skill of working with hierarchies and interrelationships that was first touched on in the Montic design.
To learn how to resolve conflicting requirements in a brief.
To practice designing with people in mind for a user-group with very specific needs.
To take your own design through to technically detailed design level.

3 PROJECT BRIEF

Design a 3-storey community mental wellness centre for a private health care provider, situated on the erf above the garage at the corner of Empire Rd & Joubert Street at the foot of Constitution Hill, (Parktown) Johannesburg. Their aim is to provide all the necessary support facilities that will enable mental health care patients to live a productive life, re-integrated into society, outside psychiatric hospitals as far as possible. This includes preventative care, day-care for home-based patients who cannot function independently, ongoing support for recovering patients and educating families/ the public on mental health care issues. The aim is to re-integrate patients into society, so this centre should provide a soft edge for interaction with society and do all it can to break down the stigma attached to mental health care.

It must
provide protection and safety both to patients and to the public
uphold the freedoms of the constitution for patients as far as safety will allow
treat all people with dignity and as equals
recognize and support the special needs of patients
provide a real benefit to the public to draw them there and catalyse integration

PREVENTATIVE CARE: Information on mental health; consulting rooms for mental health care professionals
DAY-CARE:For discharged patients recovering from acute care,
For mentally challenged well people,
For well people at risk who need access to help e.g. epileptic children:
Suitably differentiated care/supervision, productive activity workshops, social contact.
OUTPATIENT SUPPORT: Consultations with health care professionals, therapy groups, support groups for patients and families, protected social re-integration
COMMUNITY INTEGRATION: Public comes to consulting rooms & information sessions & services such as ATM. Shop for produce ; coffee-shop contact point, library

(The actual room arrangement/size will vary depending on your concept of how your building will address these needs. Look at Neufert for sizes
Consulting rooms accessible to the public for all types of mental health care practitioners:
shared facilities: receptionist
waiting room
staff sitting room & tea kitchen (S.O. = staff only)
group therapy / meeting room
therapy room with attached store for PT equipment
toilets for public
pharmacy (optional)

consulting rooms: each needing a WHB, space for a desk & 3 chairs & an examination bed
general practitioner
psychiatrist
occupational therapist
physiotherapist
spiritual counsellor
psychologist
social worker

offices: Schizophrenia foundation
AD support group
Anxiety & depression support group
Shared library
Small lecture room for 50 people

small coffee-shop: seating area for 30 people
shop
serving area (S.O.)

kitchen serving coffee shop & day centre: (S.O.)kitchen
storage
cold room
refuse room
laundry
linen room
cleaner’s store
catering office
yard area

Day Centre: for supervised patients & staff only. Patients can be taken to medical appointments, etc. under supervision. This area to be designed so that patients cannot injure themselves if they want to.
Dining room for 100 people
OT activity room for 20 people with store
2 Sheltered employment workshops for 10 people each
TV lounge for 30 people
Quiet lounge for 30 people
Visitor’s lounge adjoining public area for 6 people
Kids play room opening onto outside play area for 20 people
Toilets
2 Dormitory rooms with 4 beds each
Nursing station (= central supervision) for 3 nurses
Admin & reception office
Staff lounge & toilets (S.O.) for 10 people
Sluice (S.O.)
Dispensary (S.O.)
Examination room
Isolation room.

General: safe garden areas needed for patient recreation.
Covered staff parking for 30 cars
Public parking as required by council
Garden tool storage
Security office with wc

4 P R O C E D U R E :

Come up with appropriate concepts that can be tested on site.
Get site info from council, from observations, from Google Earth, from measuring, etc. & visit.
Test how your concepts could work on site. Use model as a design tool.
Do hand-drawn concept design to scale (1:100 on bumph) Test & resolve.
Do final presentation drawings & model & present…
At evaluation, identify which projects have similar issues as yours and group yourself together for the Ergonomics project. Choose whose design you will work on and which portion offers interesting exploration. Each identify a component you will design in detail.
Design & refine & check with each other. If group is happy, compile drawings for model section.
Build model!

5 R E C O M M E N D E D R E A D I N G :

B O O K S : SA National Building regulations
Neufert, A: Architect’s Data

6 TEACHING AND LEARNING METHODS

An introductory lecture will take place on Monday 3 March at 08h15 by Ariane Brief to be discussed after school talk. Monday lectures will address the conflicting issues outlined in the aim. Some guest speakers on mental wellness issues may also participate.

The first site visit on 6 March will be to explore and evaluate the urban context of and initial responses to the site. Since the site is close, you should revisit it when you have formulated your concept design to check it.

Ongoing interactive learning takes places in studio crits on Mondays and Thursdays with tutors. Sit in on at least the crit before & after yours; discuss your designs with one another. Make sure you have a tutor crit at least once a week.

Final evaluations are a major learning event: We will invite a mental health professional to comment.

7 PROJECT SCHEDULE AND SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

WEEK 5: CENTRE DESIGN: Briefing, site research, generating & testing design concepts
WEEK 6: CENTRE DESIGN: Fitting centre brief to concept: 1:200 concept design, plan &
section, tested on site
WEEK 7: CENTRE DESIGN: Design development & resolution at 1:100
WEEK 8: CENTRE DESIGN: Final resolution & presentation
WEEK 9: ERGONOMICS: Identify shared issues & form groups; choose project & portion to
detail. Efficient small room design considering safety, dignity and
facilitation of the handicapped. Students work interactively on
individual explorations.
WEEK 10: ERGONOMICS: Individual components finalized by Mon; group project building.

CENTRE DESIGN: SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING: 1:500 site plan showing its relationship to surrounding sites and what happens on them, as well as medical and other related facilities in the vicinity. Your complex: 1:100 plans, sections, elevations sufficient to describe the whole design. (i.e. if it needs 5 sections, do it!) and a 1:100 sketch model. The model and ground floor plan should show the design up to the site boundaries. Drawings A1, any medium, but they must form a graphically evocative set which conveys both the design intention and technical resolution.

Submission: sign it in at 08h00 on 7 April, pin up after school talk, feedback 14h15 onwards…

ERGONOMIC DESIGN: SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING: 1:5 detailed model of the selected portion for the group; each member’s design development sketches and 1:5 shop drawings for their particular component(s) presented on A1.

Submission: sign it in at 08h00 on 21 April, pin up after school talk, feedback 14h15 onwards…

8 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES

· Does this design relate appropriately to the urban environment?
· Has the design met the requirements of the brief?
· Does this design advance the re-integration of mental health patients into the community?
· Is this a safe, facilitative and emancipating environment for recovery from mental illness, and does it respect human dignity and human rights?
· Has the concept been taken through into the detailed design?

The design staff will view and discuss the work that has been pinned up and assign marks as a panel, then give thorough feedback on a few projects that illustrate most of the issues and give brief feedback on the other projects. Students are expected to be present for the whole feedback session and should take their work back at the end of it.