Scenario: Elderly and Orphans Home – Precedent Amsterdam Orphanage /Aldo Van Eyck.
The concepts of following an orthogonal plan distribution and creating interactive spaces between units were the main driving forces to create the unit design for elderly and orphans with an educational program. Taking into consideration the site slope, the existing elements as stairs, roads, and the wall, and following an organization system of interlocking 4 units back to back in lower part then adding another 4 interlocking units front to front in the upper part created a result of having common communal spaces between units in lower part plus communal spaces circulating around units in upper part, and a vertical block that’s actually “holding” the project together. Also, placing units in this way resulted in the creation of different levels that act as boundaries between one level and the other which made me imagine it as a city of stage where every level is “performing” to the other.
The ground floor plan related more to the public, while the first floor highlights “in between” spaces between units, the second floor has visual connections to the void in the middle, and the third floor has an external circulation around it.