On August the 26^th, the fourth annual AfH Student Health Design Award was held at RIBA and once again made possible by the generous sponsorship of Brookfield.  The awards were conceived in 2007 with the aim of bridging a perceived schism between the practicing architectural design community and academic teaching. This year, for the first time, a greater emphasis was placed on the sample brief: ‘Designing for Death: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise’.

Death was chosen as a theme because despite the fact most of us will (statistically) die in hospitals, it is often poorly dealt within their buildings.  Eight of the ten shortlisted finalists used the brief, and their responses were extremely diverse and imaginative, from a vision of the future where memento mori will be cultivated from cells, to a cemetery for unknown citizens, to the winning project by Frank Trautmann (Bauhaus University, Weimar), a hospice for advanced progressively ill children in the Weimar.

Trautmann’s hospice integrated a public garden and kindergarten, to encourage interaction with the city’s other children. The judges noted that all three of the winners engaged with the interrelation of the community with the dying, and this particular project ‘burned with that humanity.’ Sponsors Brookfield awarded him the prize of £1250 and an invitation to return next year as a judge. The second prize went to Ewan Cooper (London Metropolitan) for his Fleet River Burial Ground and City Garden.  The third prize went to Hayley Moreton (Birmingham City) for her thought-provoking proposal that hospices could be developed in disused pubs.

Entries came from all around the globe and the shortlist included students from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia and the UK. The judging panel comprised of a wide range of skilled professionals: medical practitioners, architects, architectural tutors, the sponsor and the 2009 winner, Iseult O’Cleary. She said: ‘It was really interesting to be in that room this year and hear what was said – I was very impressed with how much the panel focused on the link between humanity and healthcare.’ Panelist Pamela Hibbs, Chairman of St Joseph’s Hospice, said: ‘It’s wonderful to see such creativity from young people – it’s amazing that they have the vision to see how it could be…there are so many starting points.’

All of the submissions including the winners are published on the Awards Website (http://www.afhawards.org). If you are interested in developing healthcare work at your place of study or work please contact AfH Executive and event organiser Jaime Bishop of Fleet Architects by telephone: 020 7324 2675 or email: jaimeb@fleetarchitects.co.uk

The Architects for Health Third Student Health Design Award, in association with Brookfield, was presented at The RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) in London on Thursday 27 August 2009.Eight students from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Germany and China where short-listed for this international competition with the final stage of the judging process taking part on the evening of the 27 August 2009. Architects for Health invite you to attend the awards ceremony of the 2009 Student Design Award at the RIBA in London. All Students and Non-Members Welcomed – Refreshments provided. Winner: tba Second Place: tba Third Place: tba The 2009 AfH Student Design Award Judging Panel
	John Cooper (Chair) John studied architecture at Cambridge University from 1969-1972 and 75-77 and in his early career taught on a part time basis at the universities of East London, Brookes Oxford and De Montfort, Leicester. He formed Avanti Architects with four colleagues in 1982. After twenty years at Avanti, John joined Anschen and Allen. In seven years John directed twelve major projects. These span the full range of health care from complex tertiary hospitals for oncology, paediatrics and maternity to innovative community facilities. He has completed designs for new types of hospitals which have 100% single rooms, migrating many of their ambulatory services into the community. He has worked in Ireland, Norway, and Australia and collaborated with his colleagues in the USA. John is the current Chair of Architects for Health.
	Dr Sam Everington Sam is a GP in the East End of London’s Bromley by Bow Centre. The Centre is used by the government as a model for “healthy living centres” and NHS Lift premises. It was formally designated by Government as a ‘healthy living centre’ in 2000 and achieved Beacon Status in 2001. In 2003 it was designated by government as a national “children’s centre”. Sam is a qualified Barrister and a member of BMA and GMC Council. In 1999 he received an OBE for services to inner city primary care and in 2006, The International Award of Excellence in Health Care. He is a Director of Community Health Partnerships (NHS Lift) and an Ambassador for Social Enterprise (Cabinet Office)
	Dr Patrick Hutt Patrick Hutt is a newly qualified GP who has written extensively on General Practice. He is author of Confronting an ill Society, a biography of David Widgery, a radical East End GP. At University College London he is currently researching the evidence for differing health centre configurations, motivated by the recent proposals for polyclinics. Other areas of interest include the Japanese Healthcare system, looking at the role primary care plays in this. He is Junior Editor of InnovAIT – the journal for GP trainees. He lives in and is from Hackney.
	Elaine Neish (2008 Winner) Born in Aberdeenshire; qualified (Bacholeor of Architecture), Mackintosh School of Architecture Glasgow School of Art 2001. Took 4 years out working as an architectural assistant in practice working for Dunwoodie Architecture and Design, where the interest in design for Healthcare emerged. Qualified (B.Arch) University of Newcastle Upon Tyne 2008, Children’s Language and Speech Clinic won the Architects for Health Student Award 2008. Current projects include the redevelopment of South Tyneside District Hospital Accident and Emergency Services, whilst also undertaking Part 3 at University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
	Francesca Pont Francesca is currently a Project Architect at Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture in London, where she has gained varied experience on a range of projects including a Community Centre in Newham, a Homeless Shelter in Southend and a Secondary School in Lewisham. Francesca graduated from London Metropolitan University in 2004 where she received her Diploma in Architecture. Following her diploma, she has maintained strong links with the university and is a currently co-tutor a Post-Graduate Unit in the Department of Architecture & Spatial Design.
	Paul Serkis (Brookfield – Sponsor) Paul has over 20 years experience in the construction industry, having held senior positions in the delivery of construction projects together with SPV Director/Bid roles in PFI. He began his career at John Laing Construction as a sponsored undergraduate completing his Quantity Surveying degree at LJMU. His learning and experience continued holding a number of commercial positions on a variety of projects including MOD, Health, Laboratories and Retail facilities. He became a member of the RICS in 1996 and completed a diploma in law in 1999. Paul moved to Wates in 2001 to drive forward the PFI Education Business until joining Brookfield in 2005 to focus initially on closing Peterborough hospitals. Paul’s is Commercial Director- Infrastructure responsible for the PFI/Infrastructure business unit in both strategic positioning and bidding for new opportunities.
	Thomas Gardner Thomas Gardner is currently project architect and key Sustainability Group member at Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, following work for Urban Salon, Meadowcroft Griffin and Wilkinson Eyre. He has wide project experience from masterplanning to interior refurbishment, including leading the completion of Sunshine House, an RIBA award-winning Child Healthcare centre in Southwark. He is a studio teacher at Cambridge University, with studio briefs focused on integrating physical production with political life, and has previously won an RIBA East student award. He and his work have featured in journals including Building Design, the Architect’s Journal and the Guardian.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

Chi-Hang Chim, who is studying at The Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, was awarded Second Prize in the Architects for Health’s Student Health Design Award (2008) for the following submission. For contact please email: info@chihangchim.com

DAYDREAMING DURING A NIGHTMARE an oncology centre of tomorrow

The continually growing group of cancer-patients in the Netherlands is faced with a suboptimal level of oncological care. There’s a growing need for order and quality care. This care can improved by grouping the expertise in twenty to thirty oncology centres throughout the Netherlands, says Sjoerd Rodenhuis, chief medical executive of the Dutch Cancer Institute NKI-AVL and oncologist at the related Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital in Amsterdam. Nowadays patients with a rare variety of cancer are treated at hospitals specialising in this kind of cancer. According to Rodenhuis the distinction between rare and common types of cancer should not be made. Each tumor is unique and thus should be treated as such.

This project ‘Daydreaming During A Nightmare’ is about an oncology centre placed close to the bustle of a public transport terminal in Breda, the Netherlands. Within this area people go about their usual, everyday business; catching a train, transferring to a bus, buying a newspaper and so on. By merging this everyday context with expert cancer treatment interaction emerges between two worlds. These worlds are confronted with each other and become aware of the other’s reality. The reality of the cancer patient gets a spot within everyday life, hereby breaking the taboo that shrouds cancer. People can talk more openly about the disease and possibly patients will be treated less awkward. Taking away part of the anxiety can motivate people to get a check-up early on when first symptoms surface. Being early improves chances of healing.

For this new, as yet unbuilt terminal area the city of Breda has created an urban development plan. This project tries to adhere to and respect this master plan as much as possible. Some changes are made to improve the actual design and area, most notably rounding the façade and marking the inner patch of grass as purposeful space.

Experience of the cancer patient is at the core of this design, resulting in an approach that works from the small (patient) towards the larger structure (complete design). This approach to architecture tries evade the dictating role of architectural legislation concerning such care centres. The oncology centre design is divided into scenarios: 1. Entrance, 2. Examination, 3. Chemotherapy, 4. Radiotherapy, 5. Policlinic, 6. Surgery, 7. Nursery. These scenarios are studied and designed independently, without context, at a small and personal scale. For each scenario ideas are developed for the intended experience. The designs for the scenarios take into account positive factors of Evidence Based Design, user centred design and wayfinding research. When designing at a larger scale these scenarios are taken into account at an early stage. The scenarios form the constructs of the larger body that is the programmatic grouping and resulting architectonic form.

The building at large consists of two main volumes; a central block surrounded by a ring. This block provides a strong point of entrance and recognition, while other functions reside in the ring and interact with the inner plaza and the life on the outside. The architectonic geometrical form seeks to provide order. It is this order that contrasts with the current state of Dutch cancer care and the lives of patients. And it is this new order that can fulfil a need of the patient.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

Elaine Neish, who is studying at The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, was awarded First Prize in the Architects for Health’s Student Health Design Award (2008) for the following submission. For contact please email: E.Neish@dunwoodie-architectureanddesign.co.uk

Children’s Speech and Language Clinic, with educational and research facilities, Forth Street Newcastle Upon Tyne

1.0 LINE OF ENQUIRY

Erving Goffman’s Stigma: – notes on the management of spoiled identity (1963) provides a formal analysis of the features of those who experience stigma and manage the impressions they present to each other in different settings.

Goffman writes that stigmatised people will find themselves in 3 possible kinds of places. Forbidden, out of bounds places where exposure means expulsion. There are civil places, where persons of the individual’s kind, when known to be of his kind, are treated as if they are not discredited. And back places where they need not conceal their stigma.

The 3 types of places stand juxtaposed with personal identity. The forbidden place offers anonymity, the civil a place where one can expect mutual blindess, and the back place he will be a familiar personality.

2.0 THEMATIC FRAMEWORK

The concepts that developed from Stigma, manifests itself in the planning of the buildings, and the spatial relationships created.

The 3 types of space offer differing emotional responses to those who may be ‘stigmatised’.

In the clinic, the forbidden place will offer emotional comfort, offering the children spaces to hide out of view from lots of people, or with more manageable groups, this will be in the circulation zones. The civil places, will be about the children’s visibility in groups, this will happen outside and around the building, and within formal waiting areas. And the back place, will be the first and main interface with the child, the reception and the treatment suites.

Communication, place-making and other psychological and experiential effects evolved through the large and imposing façade to the North of the site. The opportunity to create an ever changing façade from day to night, and in differing weather conditions became important to unlocking the emotional journey of the site.

3.0 FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMME – BRIEF

The ability to communicate is central to all that we do; at work, at home and in our relationships with each other. In the UK, approximately 2.5 million people have a communication disorder of some kind and many of these will have difficulties accessing education, social or career opportunities.

According to AFASIC (Association for All Speech Impaired Children), 1 million children in the UK are affected by the hidden disability of speech, language and communication impairments.

And according to the Royal Collage of Speech and Language Therapists 5% of all children in the UK are entering schools with difficulties in speech and language.

Therefore the project seeks to establish a speech and language clinic for children, with an educational and research facility on site too. The primary objective of the clinic, is to improve the quality and provision of services, and to provide a benchmark facility which will empower children in their respective environments, encourage close relationships with nature, include positive distractions and avoid environmental stressors such as noise, unpleasant smells, having a positive impact on the education achievement and the health of a child.

The clinic will offer – assessment, both formal and informal, observation and discussion; intervention by other linked professionals (psychiatrists, audiologists, dentists); Individual or group therapy sessions; Parental advice; Parent/carer training; School visits; Spaces for play.

The types of spaces which are included in the clinic in particular are -

EXTERNALLY

• public square and separate green space is designed to improve the children’s development, encourage use by various groups, reflect the history of the site (the Town Wall remnants), and promote community pride
• courtyards within the building provide imperative closed safe zones for the children’s playground,
• external green areas act as natural gardens for pedagogic as well as aesthetic purposes.

INTERNALLY

• reception area is a small and familiar place, the receptionist becoming a friendly familiar face, on a first name basis, the building allows intellectual access, psychologically and navigationally
• variety of waiting areas, formal and informal
• formal waiting areas are small enough scale to not become anonymous in, but are large enough to feel that you blend in
• waiting areas and outdoor spaces should be paired as interaction and learning occurs in both environments, furnishings should be moveable and scaled for children of different age and needs
• play areas are places to be noisy/climb/hide, to imagine, to run freely inside and out/textures and smells are important
• circulation zone acts as an overspill for waiting, play and other public areas and to become a populated zone in itself, it also offers crevices and seating areas on smaller scales, resting and pausing spaces are generous, wait, play and assessment areas are easy read from the circulation zone
• assessment and treatment suites are designed for their specific needs, these are to be calm, with views to the outside world, reduced sensory overload.

The educational facility will include the school of education communication and language sciences (currently housed within campus at University of Newcastle), which will accommodate the teaching facilities specifically for the speech and language sciences degrees. This will provide all facilities including classrooms, lecture theatre, library, education resource centre, clinics, labs and a recording studio. The research facilities are to be the base of research carried out in the field of Child Language. The building will contain and support both the case and clinical based research projects.

4.0 SITE

The site is in Newcastle, and is an historically rich area of land to the East of the old Town Walls.

The proposition is to demolish the existing casino and derelict buildings, to provide the Children’s Speech and Language Clinic, with educational and research facilities. The site has obvious boundaries on all sides, to the North is the Railway line, to the West is the largest remnants of the Town Wall, to the South the natural typography slopes steeply down towards the Quayside, and to the East is Clavering Place and Hanover Street.

The imposition of the railway line to the north and the possible views to the south led to a parti-diagram of creating a barrier to the north of the site, to act as a buffer for noise and create a protective ‘arm’ in tandem with the Town walls. The Town walls become part of the enclosure for the children’s external play areas, adding texture, both historical and physical to their experience at the clinic.

The orientation of the site has great potential in the summer months for public use and proposing a mix of vistas, views, green space and a public square will greatly encourage city people to visit and utilise it, leading to a more populated development where interaction can be used to integrate the building with the community.

5.0 TECHNOLOGY

The technological issues that the project focus on, are in terms of structure and materiality, how the two relate between the two buildings. The educational and research facility are housed in their own block, which correlated in scale and massing to the surrounding context, and the clinic is a much smaller domestic scale building.

The materials for both buildings and the structural system types were to be the same in each building to be read as an architectural language together. The differentiation appears in the detailing of the two buildings.

The clinic has more exposure of the assemblage of the components of the building, almost showing the inquisitive mind of a child, how things are put together, to reveal the expression of the structure and the connections between materials. The education and research block is more finished in detail, with less expression of connections etc, as a more mature building than the clinic. Through this the block would appear to be established and adult, technologically advanced and more institutional in scale and finish. The clinic is more deconstructed, in plan, finish, scale and geometry.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

The Architects for Health Second Student Health Design Award, in association with Brookfield, was presented at The RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) in London on Friday 15 August 2008. All short-listed student’s submissions were exhibited at the event.
	WINNER: Elaine Neish, from UK, of University of Newcastle Upon Tyne Children’s Speech and Language Clinic
	SECOND PRIZE: Chi-Hang Chim, from the Netherlands, of University of Technology Eindhoven An oncology centre of tomorrow
THE JUDGING PANEL Ann Noble – AfH (Chair of the judging panel Alexander Philips – Brookfield Europe Claudia Bloom – AfH and Avanti Architects Jay Gort – Cambridge School of Architecture and Gort Scott Professor Bas Molenaar – TU Eindhoven and EGM Architects Jonathan Pugh – 2007 AfH Student Prize Winner Dr Ganesh Suntharalingam – North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
SHORT LISTED PARTICIPANTS Suleiman Alhadidi – University of Jordan Geoffrey Chinnery – University of Western Australia Michael Dillon – University of Kent, UK Sarah Gilby – Manchester School of Architecture, UK Alberto Juarez – Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City Shirly Kujawski – Israel Institute of Technology Nicholas Lowe – University of Edinburgh, UK Sophie Morley – University of Brighton, UK Elaine Neish – University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Ma Yuan – Texas A&M University, USA Chi-Hang Chim – Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

Zhi Jian Fann, who is currently studying at the University of Sheffield, UK, was shortlisted in the Architects for Health’s First Student Health Design Award (2007) for the following submission. For contact please email: ara05zjf@sheffield.ac.uk

Elderly Corporation Brief – Conisbrough | The 21st Century Place

Introduction

Eighty is the new sixty-five. The project is entitled Elderly Corporation and it looks at new ways of growing old in Conisbrough.

Early studies uncovered the plight of the elderly and unpaid social carers within Conisbrough and unveiled the global phenomenon of an ageing population.

What if pensioners only get their pensions when they are 80? What are the possible new roles and places for the elderly?

With the growing popularity of Gerontology [study of ageing] and relating to living with my grandmother, the project investigates the design concerns of the elderly and approaches an ideal place to grow old in with a holistic approach to elderly healthcare.

Brief-ly

Located in the northern ex-mining town of Conisbrough, the studio envisions it to be a 21st Century place.

Working on a futures agenda, growing old in Conisbrough means being part of a network, a part of the community.

The Elderly Corporation adopts the structure of an enterprise to provide chances of interaction within the community through the provision of community services that tap on elderly life experiences.

The Elderly Corporation addresses the needs of the ‘young elderly’ to promote an elderly lifestyle while generating a means of financing this greater longevity through the sharing of life skills.

Located in a new linear green park, the studio evocates the collective nature of the different projects to work together to realise identified growth strategies to approach the regeneration of Conisbrough.

Strategy

Located at the slope of the Craggs, between the two separate communities of Conisbrough and Denaby Main, the urban strategy of the Elderly Corporation is one of a collective intensity, connecting the higher ground with the lower ground through a series of new civic spaces while overlaying the elderly routine as a means for chance encounters.

The design vehicle was the elderly design concerns. The effect was based on the notion of interfaces and daily rituals.

Considering the daily routine of the elderly user, addressing their needs through strategic considerations and support all while integrating environmental and sustainable concerns to create a new, brighter place to grow old in.

Specialism

The specialism of the project looked at an ideal elderly living environment at the scale of the apartment.

Support within the apartment for the elderly in their daily routine was translated into a strip of activity that provided infrastructure such as a bench, a place to hang one’s coat, to a seat to wear shoes and store them, storage space, display space, a work desk to a lounge seat in the balcony.

Materiality for the elderly was explored through understanding their preferences using interviews with locals and my grandmother back home in Singapore. Examining preferred colours, textures, functions using a series of play cards as a tool of investigation.

Summary

The intention of the Elderly Corporation is to provide a great place to live in after one’s conventional working life is over.

To be engaged in a fresher living and working environment in the later stage of life. In a brighter future engaged within a community, a part of Conisbrough, the 21st Century place.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

modulex

Tom Turner, who is currently studying at The Glasgow School of Architecture, UK (RIBA Part 2), was shortlisted in the Architects for Health’s First Student Health Design Award (2007) for the following submission. For contact please email: TTurner@rickmather.com

Chinese Health Culture Exchange, Glasgow

Brief: The thesis is a vehicle for personal study, in which the topic is selected by the student in accordance with her or his particular interests and developed in association with the tutorial staff. The project is developed through from concept design to design in detail.

Project Description: The Chinese health culture exchange will be a centre of cultural exchange between East and West; Glaswegians and the Chinese Community in Glasgow. The pro¬gramme of the building focuses on social and health issues. It is both a community centre for the Chinese community and a centre of traditional Chinese health care. This health care includes traditional Chinese medicine as well as various forms of chi cultivation such as tai chi. It is a building that inspires its users to reflect on the way they lead their lives and offers alternative approaches to lifestyle. The idea draws on two existing phenomena; An increasing interest in the UK in the health aspects of traditional Chinese culture such as tai chi and Chinese medicine, and a decentralized, under resourced support network for the Chinese community.

By addressing these two situations the building brings together two communities and offers a platform for cultural exchange.

The relationship between landscape, building and courtyard is key to the success of my scheme with regards to the health aspects of the programme. Traditional Chinese medicine and health practice developed from Taoist thought which took many of its ideas from a close observation of nature. These practices still benefit from contact with the ground and a relationship with the natural world.

The combination of a building protecting a courtyard and stepping up in section suggests the form of a spiral. The idea of a spiral allows a continuous wall to wrap around the courtyard. This wall roots the building in the ground and lifts up whilst spiraling to create a public entrance at street level. From the motorway edge the building can be seen to wrap around a sunken courtyard suggesting to the viewer an inner world within.

Making people more aware of their bodies and the natural environment deals simultaneously with issues of health and sustainability. These issues are evident in the built form of my thesis. Natural ventilation, passive solar gains and rainwater harvesting lead to a healthy building that deals with issues of environmental sustainability.

The programme promotes social integration. The building is both a community cen¬tre for the Chinese and a Chinese health centre for all. The form suggests a private space whilst inviting the public in. Noise pollution from the motorway is dealt with whilst maintaining the view. A courtyard is carved out of the hillside providing an intimate relationship with nature for the privately orientated health practices. A wall emerges from the land¬scape and wraps around the courtyard protecting it and lifting up to create a public entrance. A public route is maintained through the site and is used to bring the public into meaningful contact with the building.

I am proposing a place in Glasgow where the local Chinese community can find help integrating into life in the UK whilst celebrating their rich cultural heritage. A place where Glasweigans can go to find alternatives to the NHS and alternative models for healthy living. Such a place would bring together two diverse cultures and celebrate the qualities that we can learn from each other.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

modulex

Stephanie Edwards, who is currently studying at The Architectural Association, UK (2nd year, RIBA part 1), was shortlisted in the Architects for Health’s First Student Health Design Award (2007) for the following submission. For contact please email: stephanieedwards@yahoo.co.uk

Reconfiguring St Clements Hospital (East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust)

Brief:

Are hospitals the ultimate ecologies? Can the collision of healthcare and architecture really be analysed? Who are we to challenge the delicate processes of the institution?

Scientific research on the treatment of the mentally ill continually excludes spatial parameters. The project should instigate change within a mental health hospital in London. The year long experiment should shape the unit’s manifesto: to alter the spatial, psychological and organizational systems that defines life within the healthcare environment.

Project and proposal: Reconfiguring St Clements Hospital

Can the collision of healthcare and architecture really be analyzed? As students we were posed with this question at the start of the project. This provoked me to go beyond a formal study and to probe all aspects of the hospital environment, including the dark, but very real, details of everyday life in a mental ward -subjects such as suicide prevention and patient restraint. Throughout the year a host of professionals were consulted and corresponded with. These consisted of National Health Service psychiatrists, ward managers, estates and facilities staff, architects specializing in healthcare buildings, and potential users, in order to craft their individual research and responses. Drawings were then used as tools to reveal the relationship of how people interact with one another or how components make up an environment, where a specific visual representation was invented.

This project defines the conditions for the staff and patients who live and work in St Clement’s hospital, a former workhouse or ‘prison by a milder name’. It explores whether the 1849-era hierarchy extends throughout the hospital today. At the outset, the operational and behavioural aspects on one particular ward were analysed. The intended timetable initiated by the staff was compared with the actual timetable followed by the patients. This displayed the many physical and non-physical restrictions within the ward and its constant fluctuation throughout the day. The initial study probed efforts to flatten the hierarchy, for example through the removal of a formal uniform, and challenged the system within the ward as well as the relationships between staff, patient and visitor. In response to the insight gained, architectural, organizational and urban propositions were made. The process from admission to discharge was scrutinized and redirected to facilitate speedy recovery. The services located at St Clements are gradually being moved to purpose built sites. As areas are abandoned, an urban proposal aims to integrate the community through shared use.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

modulex

‘The Sheffield Team’ – comprising David Baldwin, Amy Cheung, Philip Daniels, Simon Grayson, Alexandra Jones, Jeremy Lodge, Anca Milache, Kay Robson and Basim Shamsuddin, all students studying at The School of Architecture at The University of Sheffield – where shortlisted in the Architects for Health’s First Student Health Design Award (2007) for the following submission. For contact please email: basim@glennhowells.co.uk

Genito-Urinary Medicine Clinic, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield

Project brief:

Based on the Royal Hallamshire Hospital site, the Department of Genito-Urinary Medicine is the main provider of sexual health care for the city of Sheffield. In common with most G.U.M clinics in the UK, the Sheffield clinic has reached capacity.

The G.U.M Clinic has been allocated 300sqm of additional space to expand existing facilities and the proposed aim was to produce a strategy for expanding the clinic that could effectively link new and existing spaces in a way that was conducive to a positive experience for both patients and staff. As a potentially sensitive clinic a balance was necessary between being open and inviting whilst also retaining a high degree of privacy and confidentiality.

This project was part of the Live Projects programme, where Architecture students worked with a range of clients including local community groups, charities, health organisations and regional authorities. In some cases the projects involve actual building, in others design of urban masterplans, in others consultation exercises. In every case, the project is real, happening in real time with real people.

Project proposal:

Students worked with a client team of medical staff and patients through consultation workshops and meetings before producing a set of generalised G.U.M clinic conditions, aspirations and spatial relations. From this, the team developed a booklet that could be used by others involved in this specialised area of design.

The principles contained within this booklet were then used to develop proposals for the Hallamshire Hospital’s specific circumstances, using an ASPECT assessment tool [a linked research project in the Architecture Department] to understand the existing clinic’s weaknesses and compare improvements.

Having worked closely with the client through design development the student team created a series of proposals which were presented to the Hallamshire Hospital. The design proposals aimed to create a series of spaces, with varying layers of enclosure and privacy, striking a balance between patient and staff needs. The design offers a facility that shuns the institutionalised appearance of a hospital building and instead creates a building that seeks to dispel the stigma that is associated with Genito-Urinary conditions.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

modulex

Sarah Ernst, who is currently studying at the University of Sheffield, UK (RIBA Part 1), entered the Architects for Health’s First Student Health Design Award (2007) with the following submission. For contact please email: ernst_sarah@yahoo.co.uk

A retirement community, Newfield Green, Gleadless Valley, Sheffield

Offering an alternative for older people

A brief

The brief was to design a site specific retirement community which addresses the new challenge for the profession and society at large of an ageing population. It required research into the needs; health and current accommodation of older people, and revealed the positive impacts of activity, exercise and stimulation on physical and mental well-being. The research generated a discussion on the nature of a retirement community and the implications of designing one as an entity in itself, or an element of a greater community.

A site

The inclusion of a site into the discussion had the potential to influence the brief and direction of the project. The site is Newfield Green in Gleadless Valley in the southwest of Sheffield, an area on the outskirts of the city, with the majority of its housing stock dating back to the 1960s. The existing housing typologies, amenities and landscape of the site surroundings influenced the brief. The brief evolved to focus on the design of a housing scheme for older residents within the Newfield Green area to enable them to remain living within their existing neighbourhood in a sheltered environment until they needed a greater level of care.

A proposal

The design is a scheme that is sensitive to the local environment, encouraging interaction with the landscape and creating a connection to the existing community. The buildings are spread across the landscape, responding to the slope of the land and respecting the existing trees. The key reason behind this approach was to encourage residents to circulate through the landscape for physical and mental health benefits.

The scheme includes accommodation, residents’ facilities, a café and a community centre. The residents’ facility provides social spaces, educational resources and an alternative therapy room while the community centre complements existing local amenities to benefit the wider community as well as residents. It offers multifunctional spaces to accommodate exercise classes, childcare, community cinema and meetings. The design of the community centre and residents’ facilities evolved as a series of layers of activity with varying degrees of enclosure determined by changes in materiality. The transition from public to private is marked by a series of thresholds as the materiality and connection to the ground changes.

Research into housing typologies suggested that terraced housing was environmentally and socially sustainable in terms of heat loss and promoting interaction and a sense of community. The accommodation is organised in two terraces, 6 units of serviced apartments which are closer to the residents’ facility and 12 independent accommodation units. The independent housing is organised as a staggered terrace in groups of two and four living units with shared sunspaces in between. Each unit has a south facing view of the valley, and shares an entry porch with their neighbour. The terrace minimises heat loss and the rammed earth construction acts as thermal mass absorbing heat during the day time and releasing it in the evening.

The Architects for Health
First Student Health Design Award
was sponsored by

modulex