Blurring the boundaries ...

... integrating different user groups together through architectural spaces that extend beyond itself for a social developmental programme.
 

Fragmentation as Metaphor
 Fragmentation can be seen in the site through an absence of overlap between the residential, commercial and recreational zones. The zones cater only to user groups exclusive to each other, drawing a boundary between them. Likewise, single-parent family groups are often singled out of society due to negative preconceptions about them. How then does the center take leverage on the close proximity between the zones on site to create an open and safe environment for these single-parent families?
 

Programmatic Blurring
 Studies show that a healthy work-life balance results in improved productivity through having a flexible schedule to better organizational commitment. By blurring the boundaries between the programmes on site, both the user group and community will mutually benefit and in the process assimilate together.
 

Spatial Blurring
 The concept thus brings forth ideas of opening up the architecture to the public and the single-parent user group through a language that “extends outwards”. A subtracted horizontal plane was first considered to open up visual connection between floors but maintaining privacy and outward-looking views. A transitional quality was then formed through the permeability of space that allows for fluidity on the ground level.

 When considering walls, the aim was to limit the confinement of “rooms” and allow the interlock of planes to form the spaces. These planes also “stretch out” to the surrounding context of the zones through a progressive blur from the landscape towards hardscape, planes then volumes. This bleeding of exterior into interior spaces forms a contextual response to the natural context – developing courtyard spaces in between.

 The goal is to blur the boundaries between the fragmentation on site to aid these fragmented families find order and acceptance in their lives.