Care and support

Adolescent Resource Centres

Design approach

Homely

Every attempt has been made to ensure that the places provided are homely rather than institutional. The brief for the adolescent resource centres asked for a large building which had outreach support offices, administration areas and many other areas not normally found in the home. The fact that we did not want long corridors and an office environment presented a challenge, so we looked for examples of homes that also had other functions.

Our search led us to the farmhouse, a large homely house with a series of out-buildings traditionally used for the workings of the farm, but which today could be converted into offices or homes. This seemed an ideal precedent, enabling all the functions to work together seamlessly while retaining the homely feel.

Some of the ideas were taken further, such as having farmhouse kitchen with a farmhouse kitchen table that could be the real hub of the house: the table could be used for many informal things such as homework, having a chat over a cup of tea, writing up care plans or even cooking and eating.

The bedrooms are in the roof space and have vaulted ceilings, giving character to the space and softening the corners.

Quiet spaces

We believe that quiet areas should be available to all, to give space for contemplation or study. We have purposely located the bedrooms in the four corners of the house to maximise separation, so one young person can be playing music while another can be studying. The rooms are physically buffered by the en-suite bathrooms and other rooms.

Other quiet spaces are also available, for example the study and the quiet room in the education building. It is important that the education and family rooms are physically separate from the main house, as this helps the young people to separate them psychologically. This enables a change of environment and attitude when going to school or wishing to escape from other members of the home. Other quite spaces will also be available in the garden for both children and staff.