"A Hospital Without Walls"
written in collaboration with Noopur Thakkar
Intro:
In collaboration with HDR, our task this semester has been to challenge the Focal Point program; which will replace the current St. Anthony’s Hospital located in the Lawndale community. Searching outside of the scope of a typical hospital, our design looks into developing a “health campus”; a community that supports an overall healthy lifestyle through various approaches.
Breakdown of the Design:
Our goal is to foster a community on health and wellness of individual members through an urban development of a “Health Corridor” that will utilize the existing fabric of the historic boulevard that flows through the Lawndale community.
We hope that by using the Historic Boulevard that we can develop a healthful, accessible and livable neighborhoods, while improving the perceptions of safety in the community.
We also plan to engage in adaptive reuse of the underutilize lots and open spaces that could lead to reactivating the city, while reinstating the initial mission and goals of the boulevard.
Goals:
Utilize the existing boulevard to reactivate the city and promote physical activity and programming along the boulevard.
Introduce Urban-Farming to the neighborhood, through different programs and modularly designed spaces; and connect the urban farming system with the schools in the neighborhood.
Develop a brand that supports the idea of a healthy lifestyle.
The Design:
Comments From the Midterm Review:
Program comments :
Instead of proposing something new, we should think about how our design can become a part of the community.
Narrow down the information we’ve provided to reflect our aims, and use this to bring clarity to the maps.
Don’t forget about the hospital, and address how the hospital connects to everything we are proposing.
Highlight and provide more opportunities for the historic boulevard bike tour.
Utilize the pop-up shops along the boulevard as an opportunity for a rotational space
Consider the idea of “food as medicine”
Look into the precedent of Oak Park Public Schools. In this school system each class is required to be responsible for a piece of park.
Uncommon Grounds is an example of a restaurant on Devon st. that grows food for the restaurant on the roof.
It is smart to utilize education to promote health
Look into potentially developing an aquaponics system.
Use the opportunity to teach children how to grow food and about the cycles of nature.
Little village street is a busy retail network that can be an opportunity for the boulevard to extend into that corridor, and add to an outpatient experience
Visit the low hanging fruit project on 606
Design comments :
Localize the design, create something that feels like Chicago and feels like the community - study elements & different cultures.
Focus on our design principles.
Blend the boulevard with the neighbourhood.
Think about how the Boulevard connects to the hospital, and show how the hospital connects to the boulevard and the modules we’ve created.
Can the module be housed in the hospital and make the hospital as a part of their brand?
Extend the boulevard to the little village retail strip.
Think about the breaks in between the boulevard, and how we can create plaza setups in those breaks to connect the transition spaces between the boulevard. (ie. places for food trucks, pop up clinics, small business sales, etc. at the boulevard breaks).
Think about pockets of color in the glass canopy design - maybe through stained glass.
Think big! Think about how this design can serve as a community model.
Graphic comments :
Each of the reviewers appreciated the renderings
They want us to develop the canopy more so that it is reflective of the community.
We were advised that the renderings should reflect a healthy lifestyle (maybe showing a yoga session on the boulevard)
Graphical representation of the map is nice, but bring more clarity in how it connects with the project overall.
Outline the vignettes with different colors that align with the programs of the community master plan
Point out the where the renderings on the make happen along the boulevard
Talk about the sub-anchors and anchors that hold the proposal
Create access and circulation diagrams to explain the people experience.
Comments