A PROPOSED BIOPHILIC RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN

TOWARDS THE ENHANCEMENT OF CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Fe Isabel A. Adarne

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY44% of all Filipino children are living in poverty under the age of 15.  A 4 percentage points increase in the figure for three years result to increase equivalent to approximately one million additional poor children.The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and UNICEF retrieved from (http://www.unicef.org/philippines/mediacentre_14178.html)

CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL PROTECTIONBACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

21%

54%

3%

12%

1%9% 1%

5,691 total cases served by the DSWD in 2011

ABANDONEDNEGLECTEDSEXUALLY EXPLOITEDPHYSICALLY ABUSED / MALTREATEDVICTIMS OF ILLEGAL RECRUITMENTVICTIMS OF CHILD TRAFFICKINGVICTIMS OF ARMED CONFLICT

MAIN CATEGORIES OF VULNERABLE CHILDRENBACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1. Street Children

2. Orphans

3. Children Under Severe Poverty

4. Children Facing Abuse (Physical Abuse, Neglect, Emotional Abuse, Substance Abuse)

5. Children in the Forms of Child Labor

6. Children Living with Disabilities

7. Children Affected by Armed Conflict

VULNERABLE CHILDRENLOUKIA AGATHOKLEOUS

“An average of 2.6 months that children spend in a Romanian Orphanage cost them a month of normal growth.

Children that enter the orphanage in a very young age had dramatically lower IQs and levels of brain activity.

Institutionalized children are more likely to have social, emotional and behavioral problems, such as aggressive behavior, lack of concentration and hyperactivity.”

THE RISK OF HARM TO YOUNG CHILDREN IN INSTITUTIONAL CAREKEVIN BROWNE

“The human interaction, either visual or physical is very important for the child development, if this interaction is negligible, some parts of the child’s brain have never been triggered and this can easily cause lower IQs.”

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMAccording to Ng Suet Yuan Vivian (2012), problematic orphanages include the following:

1. congested space

2. inappropriate design such as the interior and exterior

3. dull environment

4. unsuitable space planning and circulation

5. less interaction between the orphans and the society

E x a m p l e o f c o n g e s t e d d i n i n g s p a c e o f a n o r p h a n a g e .

E m p t y i n t e r i o r d e s i g n w i t h l o o s e f u r n i t u r e w h i c h i s n o t w e l l - m a i n t a i n e d .

S i m p l e a n d s t i f f f a c a d e .

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM1. What kinds of spaces does this type of residential care institution need

today?

2. What is the appropriate design that will help engage in public interaction?

3. What is the appropriate design to achieve a proper built environment for the children to improve their social, physical and emotional growth?

AIMS OF THE PROPOSAL

1. Enhance their needed human development

2. Integration of both the public and orphan youth.

3. Applying design innovation to boost the creativity, productivity, cognitive and psychological development of the children.

4. Design towards creating healthy and productive environments.

GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

Playful and Comfortable Environment

Community Integrated

Biophilic InnovationPositive environmental impact

Social Interaction

Cognitive Creativity Development

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY• Awareness to the public about the social welfare institutions that need

attention by the people.

• Improve the built environment for the vulnerable children

• Developing the independent, social and emotional growth of each orphan child.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONThe architectural design of existing residential care institution and the behaviour of the orphans in the community.

Understanding the space planning and the exterior and interior design of the existing building

The study will be limited to institutionalized children in their community

ASSUMPTIONS• Increase adoption and recognition to the children of the orphanage of not

being just an orphans, but children with potential and skills.

• Increase their educational and social skill and to also improve the well-being.

• A positive design impact to the built environment.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

WHAT KINDS OF SPACES DOES AN ORPHANAGE NEED, TODAY?

- VALERIE RACHEL HERRERA

1. Residential

2. Educational

3. Cultural

4. Communal

Orphanages have traditionally provided children in its care with :

• shelter

• bedrooms

• bathrooms

• dining

• living room

• library

• occasionally in-house schooling

• outdoor spaces

• gathering space (usually chapel or small auditorium).

These spaces typically separated the orphan youth by age, gender, race, and class.

WHAT KINDS OF SPACES HAVE ORPHANAGES TRADITIONALLY PROVIDED?

- VALERIE RACHEL HERRERA

WHAT LIMITATIONS DID THESE SPACES PRODUCE AND THIS LIMITED IDEA OF ORPHANAGE PRODUCE?

- VALERIE RACHEL HERRERA

Due

to:

the introverted internalized worldfocus on the safety of its orphan youth

Became:

isolated and merely secluded to societyproducing a restricting or eliminating public engagement Many orphan youth never went outside the orphanage grounds without a supervisor

Causi

ng:

many of the orphan youth to not understand the ordinary urban life as typical children their age mightLack of independenceLimited social interaction

BIOPHILIC DESIGNDesign innovation for places where we live, work, and learn that reconnects us to the natural world

NATURE- DESIGN RELATIONSHIPS:

Nature in the space: direct, physical and ephemeral presence of nature in a space or place.

Natural Analogues: organic, nonliving and indirect evocation of nature.

Nature of the space: addresses spatial configurations in nature.

14 PATTTERNS OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN

ST. RITA ORPHANAGE CASE STUDY

INTERIOR

EXTERIOR

NEED ANALYSISA play in the environment both indoor and outdoor.

Activities where children can explore and increase their social development.

Design aimed for higher standard to provide a better environment of the children to have a higher human development.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONSInstitutionalized children receive delay in their social and cognitive growth are less expressive.

Recommendations:

• Design approach to have the target users to be exposed.

• Every institutional care facilities must have a communal area for the public for social interaction with the children.

• Implication of Green design approach.

SITE OPTION DESCRIPTION Potential Sites:

• Trece Martires

• Calamba, Laguna

• Cainta, Rizal CRITERIA

SITE SELECTION AND JUSTIFICATIONTrece Martirez, Cavite

• Average Slope: 1.67 %• Area: 4 hectares• Terrain Characteristics: Plain• Zoning: Mix used Residential, Institutional, and Commercial• Boundaries: North: Main Road• East: Provincial road and Residential Lot• South: Lot• S West: Puting Ilog and Lot

MACRO ANALYSIS

LAND USE MAP

MICRO ANALYSISSU

N P

ATH

AN

ALY

SIS

WIN

D A

NA

LYSI

S

TRAFFIC FLOW ANALYSIS AND SITE ANALYSIS

SPACE PROGRAMMING

BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

“Settlements distributed along hexagonal patterns can most efficiently cover a uniform and plane field, minimizing the distance of any particular location from the nearest settlement center”

Asserted that settlements simply functioned as ‘central places’ providing services to surrounding areas.

CENTRAL PLACE-WALTER CHRISTALLER

Corals in the aquatic world are communities for sea creatures where they are supplied with food and other neccessities, thus will be applicable for a community design such as the proposed residential community for the vulnerable children.

The concept of the coral community will be applied on the biomorphic form of the structure through the combination of its geometric pattern, and vibrant colors to achieve the objective of having a playful environment for the users.

CORALS

Hexagonal Pattern from Walter Cristaller’s Central place, and from the geometric shape of the coral

Vertical an horizontal allocation of each zones

Circulation is within the edges of the hexagons Each space has many outdoor opportunity

Matt Foundation

Matt foundation will be used as a sustainable approach in the structural design. It also supports all type of structure and is a safe design for soft soils. This structural concept utilizes the decrease in the loads of the structure.

Post and Lintel

This will be applied in structural framework with the materials of steel and concrete for the framings. The outer skin will comprise of light materials such as wood and glass, together with concrete.

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT

Louvers - Passive Ventilation

Below shows the typical bay section of the louver design application on walls, windows, and ceilings. The design aims to encourage passive ventilation to decrease the use of technological approach to cooling such as air conditioning or electric fan. This is increases the use of natural lighting to lessen the use of artificial lighting. The types of louvers will be applied depending on the orientation.

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT

Green / Living wall installation

As a biophilic design approach, the use of green walls will be highly used on the design of the structure. The most economic design will be the use of recycled bottles placed either on a wood container or hanged on a wired fence

STRUCTURAL CONCEPT

Grey water collection system – funnel roof and Reuse/Recycling system

Water collected from the grey water resources and rainwater resourced such as from roof gutters will be distributed to green walls or other source of greeneries to automatically water the plants. Excess water can also be stored in a cistern tank for future use.

UTILITY CONCEPT

Indirect lighting

The concept of Indirect lighting will be used in achieving a additional effect on a relaxing environment for the users, especially at living or communal areas.

ELECTRICAL CONCEPT