The Caladh Centre - Intervention Project
The intervention project undertaken this semester posed fresh design challenges which had been previously unaddressed in other unrealised schemes. The main issue of this project was to deal with not only an existing building; but clients, and figuring out how to meet their needs and expectations. The Caladh Centre in Perth is a building which facilitates the mentally handicapped and serves as a community centre for the public, providing social activities to stimulate people in need of help or distraction from difficulties faced in everyday life. In light of the sensitive subject matter faced in this building the architect must design in a manner which is suitably responsive to the needs of the client. A philosophy for design came from this respect of the client and humanitarian approach to architecture. The concept for design arose from the sense of identity that the clients feel towards the building.
On entering the site the building itself seems unattractive and out of place in relation to its surroundings. The colour and scale of the Caladh Centre isolates it and as a student of architecture the natural reaction is to dislike the archaic façade and cheap render, in favour of grandeur notions of sleek modernist design with stylish straight edges that could be put in its place. However, on interviewing the clients it became apparent that the building was in fact far from ugly due to the atmosphere inside. The clients - the people using the space - made it a nice place to be because of the sense of identity they maintained and they way in which they personalised the building. People come to the Caladh Centre for refuge, the company of others or to partake in activities to occupy their minds and the reason it becomes a comfortable space is down to familiarity. Each room has pictures of the building drawn by clients themselves. This demonstrates the love the people have for the building, the connotations and memories and dependency on its function. During interviews one client said ‘I find it difficult at weekends when the place is shut because I am alone with my thoughts with nothing to do’. This highlights how important a role the building plays in these people’s lives and how it is the responsibility of the architect to cast aside personal ambitions for how the building could be of architectural merit and realise that the key issue of the project is creating something that will enhance the lives of those who use the space.
This philosophy began to develop in the design as site analysis led to research into the history of Perth and the formation of the site - the identity of the city. Perth is a small town which originally formed around a river with roads running parallel to the water and other roads running perpendicular coming from the train station located in the south east of the town. This formed a grid like pattern in which the roads and buildings were built. The floor plan for the Caladh centre celebrates this grid and the walls are strategically placed to follow a grid which creates a spatial balance throughout the building. Le Corbusier (1946) describes this balance formed from regulating lines, describing ‘The necessity for order. It brings satisfaction to the understanding.‘ To further emphasise the grid-like floor plan the walls running vertically are all glazed whilst the horizontal walls are formed of a thick masonry, creating a protective layer from the external street whilst negating any sense of claustrophobia. The interior is kept simple to and uncluttered to create a clarity in space the architect John Pawson speaks about his philosophy to design in a similar fashion: ‘I wanted the buildings to be unornamented and in a way have some sort of clarity so you could see things and I think when you do produce interiors with less in them the light becomes more interesting and there’s a sense of freedom in space.’ For this design, freedom in space was an important aspect to accentuate the comfortable living space hence the glazed walls and unornamented spaces inside.
The concept for the design therefore stems from the clients sense of identity which is then furthered by taking Perth’s identity, the grid-like plan, and transposing this visual aid into the building. The façade of the building is kept relatively simple with the same shape as was there before. The exterior of the building was clearly the biggest visual connection clients have with the Caladh Centre and therefore becomes a sacred part of the building‘s identity. Each drawing of the building made by the clients depicted the simple outline of the façade and so in the design the shape remains constant.
To conclude, the intervention project for the Caladh Centre in Perth required a definitive moral stance to progress in design. The driving force behind the project came from correspondence with the clients to understand and fully develop the brief based upon the philosophy that the building should be improved in terms of space and function but maintain the identity gifted to it by the clients. The architecture should merely facilitate the enjoyment of those using the space. Hence came the concept of a grid floor plan to mimic the layout of the city and make a more comfortable living space without destroying too much of the building and allowing it to be recognisable to the clients after the intervention process.
