Yueyao Xu

This Place is a Shelter

Inspired by insights from YIRP's responses, we recognize that subconscious and mental health issues often go unnoticed until they escalate. Home should be a sanctuary for the spirit, yet this 'healing' aspect is frequently overlooked in collective residential design. It needs to be formally integrated into actual spaces to emphasize the importance of mental health care.

More importantly, this approach should be inclusive, offering healing spaces accessible to everyone. What exactly is the definition of `healing' within the context of collective housing? How can space help to release minds? These questions guide the entire design process. The bathroom has been chosen as this formal space, focusing on the most relaxing moments of daily life. Beyond basic cleaning, it includes resting spots where you can read, lie down, and enjoy the sounds of water and birdsong. Most importantly, it offers time to spend with yourself.

Additionally, the insights from the Hawthorn site's community and land-scape patterns urge us to rethink the definition of community form. The eternal proposition of human existence as social groups involves both dispersion and connection.

Now at the end of the proposition, below is the my understanding : The large untamed greenery of the site, calling for the simplicity of nature's touch, healing lies in nature's roots - earth, wood water. And in everyday life from collective housing, it is about sleep, dwell, mend , linked as isolated islands.

From the present, solitude and connections, and from all the life vignettes that emerge from the space. Its not a result but more like a process.