ARCHITECTURAL

Aditi Gupta
THESIS B.Arch Semester 09 Section A

Synopsis
 Table of content

1. A Centre for Autism: An Architectural Intervention

2. Centre for Tranquillity: A wellness resort
3. Drug De-Addiction cum Rehabilitation Center
Center for Autism: An Architectural
Intervention
Introduction:

What do we really know about how the children with autism obtain and process
information? What do we know about how autistic individuals see and interpret their
world? Autism is a behaviourally defined disorder characterized by impaired social
interaction, delayed and disordered language and isolated areas of interest. In 1986
Temple Grandin published her first book, Emergence, in which she described growing
up with autism, providing for the first time an insider’s view of a different kind of life.
Since then, a growing number of similar personal accounts have appeared, each adding
more insight into their inner world. There has been significant efforts in understanding
their behaviour and the remedies. It also had an impact on the environment and its
design which has greatly influenced the field of architecture over the last few decades.
Hence there is a necessity for a behavioural centred design.

Autism is one such disorder which is by and far the most challenging developmental
disorder which has been overlooked by the architects as a condition that influences
building design. (Mostafa.M 2008)
The present research study accentuates the need for a fresh approach in designing
educational and rehabilitative spaces for a supportive environmental intervention of
autistic children1.

The careful examination of the dynamic between the built environment- with its
attributes, spatial quality, colour, texture, geometry etc. - and human behaviour can
lead to the development of more specific and sensitive design guidelines. With these
more attuned guidelines, designs become more conducive of productivity, efficiency
and comfort for all users. Special needs individuals have been given particularly close
attention in this type design guideline development. Autism, a developmental disorder
which is characterized by delayed communication skills, challenged social interaction,

1 There is much debate over how to respectfully and sensitively refer to individuals who have an ASD diagnosis. Recently,
Gernsbacher et al [59] took an empirical approach to this question and compared Google search results for the terms “autistics”
and “person/s with autism.” They found that 99% of the hits for the term “autistics” were from organizations led by autistic
persons, whereas the first 100 Google hits for “person/s with autism” led to organizations run by non-autistic individuals. In light
of these findings, I respectfully use the term “autistic individual/s / children” throughout this paper. However, I do so knowing
that the most respectful designation may change with time. The way we refer to individuals diagnosed with autism may change
as we learn more about the condition and as our sensitivities move with the spirit of the times.
and repetitive behaviour, has long been excluded from various architectural guidelines
and codes of practice for special needs.

Autism

In 1943, Kanner coined the term ‘early infantile autism’ to describe children with
unusual behaviour patterns that had been present from early childhood. His original
paper gave detailed descriptions highlighting extreme autism, obsessiveness, and good
relationship with object, a desire for sameness, stereotype and echolalia. Typically,
Autism is characterised by a ‘trait of impairments’ identified by Wing and Gould in 1979.
The trait represents three broad and interacting aspects of autism, all of which will be
inconsistent with the individual chronological age.

The Traits of Impairments

 Social
Impaired, deviant and delayed or atypical social development, especially
interpersonal development. The variation may be from ‘autistic aloofness’ to
‘active but odd’ characteristics.

 Language and communication

Impaired and deviant language and communication, verbal and non-verbal.
Deviant semantic and pragmatic aspects of language.

 Thought and behaviour

Rigidity of thought and behaviour and poor social imagination. Ritualistic
behaviour, reliance on routines, extreme delay or absence of ‘pretend play’.
Children under
Autism can be identified based on the following 4 categories (National Autism
Standards). Pupils on the autism spectrum will have different levels of support needs in
relation to:

 Understanding the social interactive style and emotional expression

Autistic children find social interaction very effortful. They cannot easily
understand commonly used implicit social messages and may find it hard to
understand or relate to how social rules change due to context, or what is
considered socially ‘appropriate’. The actions of autistic children are often
misinterpreted as intentionally insensitive. For them to interact with people, they
need help.

 Understanding and using communication and language

Both verbal and non-verbal (ex: gesture; facial expression; tone of voice)

 Differences in how information is processed

Can lead to a strict adherence to routines and rules and/or difficulties in
planning and personal memory. Pupils on the autism spectrum have difficulties
in predicting what will happen when a familiar timetable or activity is changed.
Conversely, such styles of processing can
lead to strengths and abilities in a number of areas (often related to factual
memory or areas of interest and motivation).

 Differences in the way sensory information is processed,

Often leading to over sensitivities (often to external stimuli such as lighting,
smells, or sounds), and under-sensitivities (often not noticing internal feelings
such as pain, body awareness and hunger, until they become overwhelming). It
should be noted that sensory sensitivities can lead to extreme levels of stress
and anxiety in unfamiliar or over-stimulating environments.
Aim:

To design a centre for autistic children so as to create an enabling environment

comprising of learning spaces, rehabilitation centre, accommodation, and
recreational spaces.

Objectives:

 To analyse the behaviour and activity patterns of people suffering from

autism.

 To analyse the impact of the architectural environment on their behaviour

and development.

 To address the enabling aspects of environment that might improve

functional performance of children with autism in educational spaces and
rehabilitation spaces. For example- Visual Character, Spatial sequencing
and its quality, Escape areas, Clutter free spaces, Colour, Texture, Materials,
Acoustics etc.

 To address their needs and design accommodation based on their

behavioural aspects, cultural and social aspects.
Scope and limitations:

 Studying the mind-set of autistic in itself is a very vast subject hence this
topic limits itself to the study and research of their behavioural aspects in
educational environments and environments which help them in
rehabilitation. It attempts to define quiet spaces, intervention areas, open
spaces, transition spaces, circulation spaces, multi-sensory areas and
inclusive education spaces for the autistic. It also attempts to understand
their perception of spaces through 6 senses.

 Due to lack of autism’s studies, this study chooses to address the impact
on the future designs for facilities to be proposed in the future.

 The scope of autistic treatment types and the effectiveness of treatments

in various age groups are different, which is why the scope will be limited
to children from the age of 1.5 yrs. to 17 yrs.
Methodology

Deriving the
concept:
Experiences of understanding the
parents, impact of Historic
caregivers, environment on context and
psychologists with their behaviour statistics
autistic children
Study of
existing built
Consulting and forms for
1. Establishing
understanding their autistic
their needs
behaviour patterns children

Formulation of
Case studies Literature
aspects of studies
environmental
design

Behaviour Analysis of
various
centric design
design
theories and
standards

Design
guidelines

Conceptual Site Study

Design and layout

Final design
Defining
sensory areas,
playgrounds
and circulation
spaces
Identification of Live Project site

Site Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Site Area: 8 acres

Requirements for Site:

 Consulting and Therapy Room

 Indoor Play Areas equipped with toys and colourful changeable flooring
 Special Interactive Rooms with horseshoe-shaped desks for 4 – 5 children
and cabins for one-on-one activities
 A protected and secure Outdoor Play Area where children can play and
get a feel of nature and outdoors
 Kitchen and Dining Facilities for Children

 Residential area for 60 adults in the autism spectrum

 Residential facilities for 25 technical and non-technical staff
 Occupational area for the residents
 A training facility covering an area of 10,000 sq. ft. for students
Tentative design requirement

1. Facilities for autistic centre

 Vehicle parking
 School for autistic children
 Rehabilitation center
 Accommodation
 Community area
 Soft landscaped area
 Accommodation for visiting parents
 Accommodation for care takers

2. Facilities for school

 Classrooms, soft playrooms, computer rooms
 Sensory area, quiet areas, therapy rooms
 Music room, art and crat studio
 Library, storage area, services
 Reception area, waiting area
 Toilets
 Kitchen and canteen

3. Facilities at rehabilitation centre

 Doctor’s room
 Pharmacy
 Nurse lounge
 Patients rooms, toilets
 Treatment rooms
 Diagnostic unit
List of case studies

1. Literature studies :

 Whitton Gateway ASD Unit, London

 New Struan Centre for Autism, Alloa, Scotland

2. Case studies :

 Action for Autism - New Delhi

 H2O Rehab & Facilitation Centre For The Autistic,
Thiruvananthapuram
Centre for Tranquillity: A wellness resort
Introduction

Wellness Tourism

Resort is a place of luxury, comfort and relaxation with peace of mind. One feels
relaxed and peaceful in natures lap. It is travel for promoting health and well
being through physical, psychological, or spiritual activities. While wellness
tourism is often correlated to medical tourism because health interest motivate
the traveller, wellness tourists are proactive in seeking to improve or maintain
health and quality of life, often focusing on prevention, while medical tourists
generally travel reactively to receive treatment for a diagnosed disease or
condition.

Wellness Resort

Wellness resort and retreats offer short-term, residential program to address

specific health concerns, reduce stress, or support lifestyle improvement.

Aim:

 To explore how architecture can inform healing or provide space and

events where healing can take place.
 We as human beings have an inner connection with our environment by
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual means. This connection can
create a dynamic life that people can thrive in every aspect.
 To design a centre for tranquillity that act as the space for well-being,
self-sustained, and built environment that provokes mental and physical
healing.

Objectives:

 To establish a relationship between healing, senses and architecture.

 To understand the various elements of healing, by incorporating them
into the built form.
 To create a holistic environment that restore and maintain the equilibrium
between minds, body.
  To understand and learn healing as a part of the built environment.
 To understand the five elements of nature and five sense as a
healing/rejuvenation factors of healing environment.

Metholody:

Preliminary activities

Aim & Objectives Site survey Scope of thesis

Library study

Case study Literature study

Analysis

Proposal

Concept & Design Evolution

Detailed building plans

Finalizing Drawings and Report

Identification of live project site

Site Location : Coutallam, Tirunelvi

Site Area: 8.1 acres

Tentative Program Activities and use:

 Vehicle parking
 Accommodation for visitor
 Community area
 Soft landscaped area
 Accommodation for care takers
 Eating area
 Spa
 Dormitories
 Cottages
 Facilities for Yoga
 Facilities for Naturopathy
 Facilities for meditation
 Facilities for Ayurveda treatments and retreat
 Accommodation for visitor
List of Case Studies:

1. Literature Studies :
 Spirit Rock, USA

2. Case Studies :
 Quite healing centre, Auroville, Tamil Nadu
 Art of living International Centre, Bangalore
Drug De-Addiction cum

Rehabilitation

Center
Introduction

Drug De-addiction

 Drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by

compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular
changes in the brain.
 Drug addiction is becoming a major health problem in India with some
estimates indicating that as many as 15 million people in India could
become addicts by the end of 2004.

Mental illness and Life sufferers

 Mental illnesses are the most devastating and disabling of the diseases,
affecting the mankind, giving its victims and their families a life of
suffering, trauma and travail.
 Nearly one percent of Humanity is suffering from this malady, of which
nearly 20% would become chronic. In the context of our country it means
nearly one crore of our people are victims of different forms of Mental
illness and of whom 20 Lakhs are likely to become chronic.
 Often the victims' entire personality becomes shattered due to
dysfunctioning of their mental faculty. They drift from social mainstream,
remain castigated from immediate neighborhood, as well as the society at
large. What they need is not just medical intervention but a multiple
therapeutic approach to bring them back even to a semblance of normal
functionality.

Depression

 Depression is a serious medical illness. Symptoms can include:

 Sadness or low mood
 Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
 Change in weight
  Difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
 Energy loss
 Feelings of worthlessness
 Thoughts of death or suicide

Depression can run in families, and usually starts between the ages of 15 and 30.
It is much more common in women. Women can also get postpartum
depression after the birth of a baby. Some people get seasonal affective
disorder in the winter. Depression is one part of bipolar disorder.

There are effective treatments for depression, including antidepressants and talk
therapy. A combination of both works best.

Personality Disorders
Schizophrenia
Anxiety

Relation between Drug addicts and mental ill persons

 A psychiatric problem
 An addiction problem
 It is difficult to say which came first. What is important to note is that the
person is currently having both problems and both have to be addressed
together. A relapse in one of the two areas can trigger a relapse in the
other.
 A psychological relation between the drug addicts and mentally ill
(psychiatric) or life suffering people.
 In 90% of the cases it is found that the basic level for addiction starts from
person does not know to handle critical situation of problems in life, he
then gets into depression and the root of the drug addiction starts
eventually.
 Trauma, depression, lonely feeling, carelessness are some of the
important factors deciding drug addiction.
 Aim

 To design a drug de-addiction cum rehabilitation center for people with

drug addiction and for those persons with mental illness (psychiatric).This
will totally base on the design of the building in order to recover or
rehabilitate the persons by understanding the terms of psychological
treatment through the building envelope.
 Set up a "Home Away from Home" offering solace to the suffering
individual and family alike, where the atmosphere would be of a large
extended family in which the residents would get the comfort, security,
love and kindness of the family, with psychosocial Rehabilitation
Programmes and medical care administered by experts in respective
areas.

Objectives

 Research on psychological basis of persons with mental illness,

depression, anxiety etc.
 Study on how to recover drug-addicts and help rehabilitating mentally ill
and life suffering people.
 Emphasis on designing-landscaped area, interiors, exteriors and the
whole building envelope in order to suite the proposed function
psychologically.
 Research and deep study on Government’s policy to Train officials for
such people and fund these type of centres in India

Scope and Limitation

 The design will be the first of its kind in developing a center that will cater
drug de-addiction and rehabilitation center along with the training center
and making the whole center a sustaining one in terms of revenue
required to operate it in a successful manner.
  Building form, interiors and landscaped areas will be highlights of the
design
 The campus will also include residential facilities for staff member(nurses,
ward boys and hospitality staff)

Methodology

Preliminary Activities

Aim & Objectives Site survey Scope of thesis

Library study

Case study Literature study

Analysis

Proposal

Concept & Design Evolution

Detailed building plans

Finalizing Drawings and Report

Identification of live project site

 Site Location : Vechoor, Kerala

 Site Area: 8.3 acres

Tentative program activities and use:

 Admin block
 Hostel block
 Accommodation for staff
 Clinic
 Accommodation for clinical staff
 Kitchen
 Meditation and yoga centre
 OAT
 Seminar hall
 Guest apartments
 Soft Scape area
List of Case studies:

1. Literature studies
 Sister Margaret Smith addiction Treatment Centre

2. Case studies
 Kanthari, Kerala
 Muktangan rehabilitation centre, Pune