LA VIE HOSPICE

This project focuses on the last experience and final moments the child will have to enjoy... The aim was to allow these children to experience life once again, this time through an innocent and simple lens, as any child should. These children have undoubtedly gone through things that even most adults haven’t, so it was crucial we created an environment through which they could live a normal childhood. Because children are known to have outgoing traits, in addition to loving exploring, we focused on an appealing outside design, through unique aesthetically pleasing facades that work perfectly with the landscape which was our main priority in the design process. We managed to give every zone a unique character and identity, allowing these kids to explore their personalities, hopes and dreams that perfectly bounce off the design of different zones.

When the child first enters the hospice they see an eye catching curved linear light beside the entrance path, they then enter inside and see two playgrounds and a path in between one of the them, with the same qualities as the curved line that children can see from their rooms, between those curves we created small Fountains that kids would enjoy to explore and play with, between those ground glazed isolated lights. Beside this joyful playground we had fruitful trees that were planted on a lower ground, in order to allow these young children to pick fruits from the trees easily, giving them the opportunity to enjoy meaningful parts of life. When further entering the land of the project we are met with sitting areas for the children’s’ families, an outside dining tables surrounded by large playgrounds to play, explore and LIVE, also there lots of playing areas and a silly shaped sitting area near them for kids to rest. The overall landscape is loud and calm at the same time. It is a perfect balance between the two sides of what these kids have experienced in life, through a twist of hope and positivity that these kids are in desperate need of.  This design has a unique character that gives families and kids the desire to explore it and rest between the green spaces filled with serenity and peace.

Another thing that stands out and has it’s dominancy on the project is the grid design that was implemented, we were looking for something that added soul and dynamic characteristics of life to the building, we also chose the grid with wooden material, making it soft and beautifully integrated with the rest of the project, and we found it to be a different and refreshing idea because we know kids have the tendency to climb on and play with random designs for fun.

When we started with zoning the spaces inside the building, we made sure to focus on the main idea -letting kids live a normal life as they should- knowing how much kids love to play with each other and socialize while learning new things, so we organized the rooms in a way that is opened to combined and shared terraces and playgrounds between multiple rooms, in addition to creating a vertical connection between terraces with stairs.

Experiencing illness at a young age is not easy. Most of these kids have been robbed of their childhood so early on. Focusing on a positive experience filled with hope and peace will truly allow the child to live what they have left of life through a fulfilling experience. This was our main priority in the design, and at the end of the day, it’s what architecture is all about, focusing on the experience we live through thoughtfully designed spaces.