ithaki

Residential Interior Environment

IDEC Student Competition 2020

Illustrator / Revit / Watercolor

floor plan

concept

Ithaki is a veterans’ living community that strives to provide a socially sustainable, healthy, and safe space that focuses on what residents need from their environment. The residence is an adaptive re-use of a former brick warehouse located in the Mid-City neighborhood of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ithaki , named for the famed home of Greek myth’s Odysseus, aims to provide the home that every veteran needs. By providing a space that allows for social congregation with neighbors, flexible working and gathering spaces, onsite dining, and an indoor-outdoor shared space, Ithaki connects residents not only to each other, but to their environment as well. The community hopes that through socialization, a connection to nature and responsibility, ample daylighting, and mental, emotional support, veterans can adjust back to civilian life.

design

The redesign of the living community is an installed interior, with new ethereal forms that are unrelated to the original building. Shapes and colors were inspired by 1980s postmodernism and the design largely focused on transition spaces; the main transition areas being widened corridors with curved apartment facades that offer bench seating for neighbor congregation. These arcade-style corridors feature arches and windows into the public space and sky-lighting for residents’ plants and wellbeing. They serve as a transition from public shared space, to individual spaces within a shared space, to private space. The public spaces provide flexible areas for gatherings and individual or group work, as well as socialization and dining space. These areas revolve around an interior courtyard that features dining and seating for indoor-outdoor living and a connection with the local environment. All areas are sensitive to accessibility and inclusivity for variously abled veterans, incorporating elements of inclusive and universal design with an emphasis on mental health and social sustainability.

sections

materials

process work

site

The proposed site is a lot located on Government Street in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The site is next to the historic Electric Depot, recently converted former warehouses, in the Mid-city neighborhood. The area has close access to public transportation, grocery stores, the Downtown Area, and the Mississippi River. The building will face east, with a direct sun path from its entrance to courtyard.

research

Research largely focuses on social sustainability and ways to provide inclusion, community, and communication in an environment that addresses loneliness and emotional wellbeing. Methods to approach social sustainability must also take into account veterans’ mental health, as many suffer from depression, traumatic brain injury, and PTSD. Windows of various sizes are incorporated to aid in veterans’ visibility and feeling of security. Material research emphasizes veterans mental health as well in order to create a healing, therapeutic design to instill value and worth. Materials are largely cleanable and anti-microbial to ensure a safe and healthy environment. Space planning largely revolves around universal design and allowing for variously abled accessibility. Wayfinding through floor delineation and color contrast aims to aid visual impairments in residents, while providing ease of flow for all residents.