The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About
Location Canterbury CT2 | ARB/RIBA courses BA (Hons) Architecture, MArch Architecture, Architect Degree Apprenticeship Level 7 | Head of school Chloe Street-Tarbatt | Full-time tutors 21 | Part-time tutors 29 | Students 325 | Staff to student ratio 1:21 | Bursaries available No
Undergraduate
Victor Williams Salmeron
Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Health (Group 22)
Project title Forget Me Not
Project description This project, providing almshouses for former carers, is both a sanctuary and an archive. It responds to other buildings of care, which are often perceived as too hospital-like and sterile. It aims to contradict how anthropologist Marc Augé describes the traditional care home typology – as a ‘non-place’ – spaces that are transient and have no sense of belonging. It is a scheme that is defined by its residents – through their culture, narratives and memories. It is never finished, but rather in a state of being and becoming, to show awareness of the inevitability of change. Sited on the remains of a former Victorian chapel, it builds on the vernacular tradition of the almshouse, yet reinterprets the familiar spaces of the corridor, canteen, ward and hospital room for former hospital carers.
Tutor citation This is a project that adopts a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to its site and inhabitants. The result is a scheme that has a strong sense of place and inhabitation that acknowledges the past, present and future.
Victoria Lourenco
