The role of the pod...An Occupational Therapist's perspective

Interview with Yael Rosman, OT on planning and Facilities required:

After reviewing the feedback from Draft one, I directed this interview to answer some of my pending questions. Such questions included the appropriateness of a linear progression through the building and the necessity to narrow down the type of user and hence target one kind of ability level or group.....

Who will benefit most?
There is a range of skill levels that OTs have to work with. Some clients are more high functioning than others, but in a facility like this, there is no need to provide for a selected group. Rather Yael encouraged a series of adaptations and variations available in each space to provide for a range of skill levels. These changes are at a level where the rooms function can be slightly manipulated depending on the specific client.

What would be the best way to move through the space after the client has arrived?
For an OT, the best scenario would be being able to meet with the client in a more neutral space and then move on the "PODS" that are best for that days activity.

Would it be best if the client entered the same way as they left?
It is important for the client to recognize and understand arrival and departure, especially if the rooms themselves are changing, then the one very stable element is arrival and departure. Yael recommended the same route be taken for both arrive and departure.

Would it be ok to use the paths between the PODS as learning spaces too?
Yes, that is fine, in practice OTs tend to use tricycles, scooter boards, balls, hopping, skipping and galoping. These skills are great for gross motor development and should be encouraged.

POD ideas....
Sensory PODS - I positioned a series of ideas that I had been thinking about and Yael basically added what she felt would enhance the space or would allow the client's maximum benefit

1. audio and light - make these two able to work independent of each other in the one space and also together so that both low and high function clients can use them
2. Mirror room - great space to encourage wet and dry activities
3. Tactile - make this space an area where kids can enter bare foot and feel the surface changes all around them
4. Water room/sand - great for fine motor skills
5. Climbing wall - great for higher functioning kids
6. Swings - this is very important and used in a lot of OT practices. The swings need to be able to be changed. There are a series of hammocks and swings that are used for gross motor development.
7. Trampoline room - Yael suggested this space as there are a lot of skills that can be taught in the type of setting.
8. Work room - Yael mentioned there needs to ne a neutral room with tables for activities and minimal distraction. This is vital for fine more skills and probably one of the best places for assessment for the client.

PUBLIC SPACES
1. Basketball Court (multi-purpose hall)
2. Foam Pit
3. Library
4. giant steps (spaces to jump down)

SUMMARY
Now, i think that a linear movement would not be the best idea in practice. The concept should be room goal oriented, tailored specifically to each child/client's needs. that is, instead of trying to move through the entire building and have a sense of accomplishment, the process of moving from one pod to another and the activity inside the pod is the important factor. This changes the rationale for the planning strategy of the building, emphasizing the need to have easy access to all the pods and avoid long journeys to each POD of development.

I will need to select the most effective POD ideas and possibly join some of the suggested POD functions together. I feel Yael is effectively a prospective client for the design of this kind of facility and hence may continue to work closely with her until its completion.

Background research on interiors of children's spaces

The Disney Store Offices
LA
Architect: Clive Wilkinson Architects
http://www.clivewilkinson.com/






Children's Hospital Starlight Room,
Camperdown
Architect: Burley Katon Halliday

http://www.bkh.com.au/index1.htm

The use of light in this image captures the essence of the space. The notion of journey and arrival is of obvious importance with an abstracted environment that pulls the user out of their usual comfort zone. This is a perfect precedent for the experiential qualities of the desired spaces...

Here the idea of the "pod" is similar to what I am trying to achieve. Bkh concentrate very much of their interiors having a slick, yet habitable, warm feel. This illustrates the children's/adolescent's space without being stereotypical in its employment of colour and planning.

National Museum of Australia, Canberra
Architect - Howard Raggatt

http://www.nma.gov.au/about_us/the_building/

http://www.nma.gov.au/kidz/childrens_spaces/

The importance of entry...

The line begins at the Museum as the entrance canopy and sheltered walkway. It then swoops up into the loop, a great curve 30 metres high, before continuing as a wide red footpath past the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. The Uluru line ends physically in a curled concrete ramp that, conceptually, continues north-west to Uluru (Ayers Rock).

http://www.nma.gov.au/visit/virtual_tour/

Most importantly....this building explores a dialogue with the internal program and the exterior....something i need to consider...

Just stick figures hey?

Here is some inspiration guys.....

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

FIRST DRAFT

FIRST DRAFT

Each skill a person acquires as they go through life builds on the one before. It is a slow journey of trial and error. Sometimes taking 4 steps forward may result in two steps backward, a revaluation of the scenario and then the continuation of this learning process. The rationale behind this hospital is somewhat based on the trial and error process, with the long term goal to be able to complete navigation through the building and acquire a series of skills along the way. By the end a sense of accomplishment results in a collection of confidence and character building life skills.

OCCUPANT/USER of the BUILDING

The intended clients are young people between the ages of 3 and 25 who are in need of occupational therapy due to physical or emotional disability. As the user climbs to the top of the building, each level is designed to be interactive and adaptable. Spaces are able to be manipulated by the user and each area has a different therapy driven function to target gross motor and fine motor skill development, some more obvious than others.

ARRIVAL – Gradual introduction to the experience ahead

The arrival into the building is a key part of the journey. Every person (excluding staff) that arrives on site will enter via car and hence the journey starts as one drives in off the very chaotic South Dowling St. Upon entry and parking in the car park, one walks through a transparent tunnel that peers onto the public spaces in the facility.

ENTRY – Viewing but not interacting

The entry onto the site is gradual process that tempts the user with a view of the semi-public areas from the transparent tunnel and pathway connecting the car park to the entry lift which takes the user to the ground level foyer/reception area. This area faces the back laneway of the site to remove the user from the bustling street frontage of South Dowling and Flinders.

WALLS – dealing with instability

The foyer walls can be manipulated as shown in the video, changing the size of the entry space and allowing the users to personalise the space. The only furniture present is mobile and creates a space of “instability” that is recognisable but not totally identical.

RAMPS and LIFTS – Decisions making

The first decision to be made by the user is whether to take the ramp of lift to level one. Depending on the purpose, the lifts either open onto a games platform or one of many pods.

PODS and PLATFORMS – specific skill acquisition

The pods and platforms serve different skill learning purposes. Each POD is a purpose built space for skill development. The platforms are areas that provide different interacted games.

SEMI-PUBLIC WAVES and AMPHITHEATRE

The “waves” and amphitheatre which are viewed upon entry include a gymnasium, a foam pit and a library. These spaces are used for interaction between users to encourage community based skill development. The amphitheatre is located above the foyer and can be used for a more public forum. It is on the laneway side, so as to allow a barrier from South Dowling St.

The completion of the gradual incline and skill acquisition is marked simply by the arrival at the car park (on the other side of the transparent tunnel), is it the gateway to the city and hence the beginning of the application of the learnt skills.

Fine and gross motor skill development

A motor skill = is a learned skill that involves voluntary muscle movement to complete a task.

Gross motor skills = larger movements involving the arm, leg, or feet muscles or the entire body
e.g. crawling, running, and jumping are gross motor skills.

Fine motor skills = smaller actions
e.g. picking up things between thumb and finger or using the toes to wriggle into sand or the lips and tongue to taste and feel objects.

Gross motor and fine motor skills develop in tandem because many activities depend on the co-ordination of both sorts of skills.

Eg.

Baby development
3 months = hands together over the chest while lying on their back (a gross motor skill) and then playing with his hands (a fine motor skill).

18 months = shape sorter box = gross motor skills to hold his body steady enough to grasp the shapes firmly and fine motor skills to twist or turn each shape so that it fits into its appropriate hole.

http://www.babycenter.com.au/baby/development/crawling/

Drafts....

Entry off South Dowling...


Building section
Need to reduce lighting and warm up the lighting colour.
Like the grainy effects


Fly through section. Dont like the angle of the cut and prefer when the camera is still as it shows more and i can show more diagramatically

Snakes and Ladders - Informing the form of the building...

A winding path that allows opportunities to move up and opportunities to continue on the same level. The paths vary depending on the experience of the user and ability level. The ultimate goal is to reach the top of the building...


3D snakes and ladders provides opportunities of retreat and reflection....moments where the "player" stops and redirects their route....

there's a hole in my bucket

www.theresaholeinmybucket.com

Bucket no. 28

The exhaust stack for the Eastern Distributor is located on corner South Dowling and Flinders St. The design undoubtedly fails to present any form on contextually appropriate or sensitve design. The site lies desperately dormant while this ugly Tetris-like form towers over Surry Hills covering it in a fine dusty layer of black grime.

Surveillance

Ironically, I was studying Bentham's Panopticon and thought about the form and section of my building. Each of the "stages"/"stalls"/shops that the user will complete may need to be watched, monitored and discussed with a supervisor in order to maximize the outcome of the skill based learning format being used. In order to do this, there can be a digital solution whereby information is sent off on the server to a data collection point or maybe the areas where the games are played are separated from adjacent spaces in order to increase concentration and then allow consultation with a professional.....

"It can in fact be integrated into any function (education, medical treatment...); it can increase the effect of this function, by being linked closely with it; it can constitute a mixed mechanism in which relations of power may be precisely adjusted, in the smallest detail, to the processes that are to be supervised."
- Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish

Back in the game....

Over the winter break I studied overseas in Venice and feel like this experience will have a direct influence on my design and evolution of my concept for this session.
Most importantly a series of precedents studied overseas have influenced my perception of light use, circulation and access. The three main precedents include Carlos Scarpa's Brion Cemetery, a collection of Palladio's Villas and the intensive studio project we undertook in Venice.
The project involved design for "The Good Life". We looked at a series of Sydney modernist homes designed by Aussie architects over the past 60-70 years along with the Palladian Villas to understand the quality of life these people experienced. We then design 8 villas and a community space.
Anyway, the coincidental link is that of an emphasis on circulation. Last session we looked at circulation in our final submission. This is key to my concept this session and I feel like my building form has and will continue to evolve based on the need for circulation around the stack which is integrated into the design of the building. The faces of the stack are used as projection screens/walls inside the building. The games that are designed for the young people to learn life skills are to be projected on the walls of the stack and as a the games are completed, the users move up the building to complete each stage of skill.