ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
The architects said: “The Centre’s design is both contemporary and timeless, with an outward appearance and inward feel that are welcoming to all its users.”
and wholly inclusive, it had to be welcoming and not institutional. A series of complementary facilities, including a gym, consultation and training rooms, and the charity’s office accommodation, are anchored around a bright and cheerful double-height ‘hub’ space, which acts almost like a drop-in centre and connects all who use the building. Thistle Foundation wanted this double- height space to be the convergence of everything they do, and to ‘act as all things to a lot of people’. Scale was key in offering a multifunctional space of a size and openness that could host a multitude of different activities, while still imbuing this point of arrival with a more homely feel, projecting a comforting welcome for the people who use the Centre, many of whom would find a large expanse the cause for acute anxiety.
The ‘hub’ space is proportionally well- balanced, particularly with the more private, enclosed breakout spaces creating a domestic scale, and avoiding the space feeling too empty and expansive. Everything is accessed from
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The ‘hub’ space is proportionally well-balanced, particularly with the more private, enclosed breakout spaces creating a domestic scale, and avoiding the space feeling too empty and expansive
the hub, which has improved the wayfinding and minimised the need for corridors. This, in turn, has helped reduce trigger points for anxiety, and minimised the institutional feel.
Therapeutic activities
The building includes a gym – a key facility for people who have lifestyle management issues, as well as consultation and training rooms that are utilised to offer individual support, staff training courses, and therapeutic activities such as tai-chi. Thistle Foundation’s offices are on the first floor, separated for practical purposes, but connected through large glass screens to the hub space. Facilities on the ground floor, such as the gym, need as much
The design saw the exterior of the building clad with pressure-treated Norclad Scandinavian Redwood, with the same timber ‘wrapped into the interior’.
46 Health Estate Journal June 2018
Designing for the individual Thistle Foundation’s core approach is to view each person as an individual, ‘working with the person, not the condition’. 3DReid put the same person-centric viewpoint at the heart of its design, carefully considering how the building could be designed to respond to the specific needs of those who pass through its doors – examples of this being people living with Parkinson’s or autism. A specific consideration for people with autism was balancing the contrast and vibrancy of the colours in the spaces to avoid triggering anxiety. 3DReid’s design limited vibrant tones, and placed them very carefully within the overall colour scheme. People who suffer from Parkinson’s find that thresholds between different types of flooring, be they in colour or strong textures, can cause ‘freezing’ – where their ‘flow’ of walking is interrupted by a perceived object, and they feel their feet are glued to the floor. To help prevent this, the entrance matting, both in texture and colour, was not too heavy or harsh a contrast to the preceding or succeeding spaces. The concrete floor itself has a matt finish, as shiny surfaces can be perceived as wet and slippery, and will physically stop people living with Parkinson’s disease from stepping forward.
natural light as possible, but the charity was keen that these ‘should not be on display’. To address this, 3DReid reshaped the site to provide a secure and private garden area that avoids overlooking from the public realm.
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