Final Project: Community Support Centre for Single Parent Families
In the definition of the use of the word ‘community’ as given above, two very important factors in the idea of community are highlighted therein: space and commonality. Since the conception and experience of architecture is obviously connected to the same factors, the discussion of the parallel between communal activities and the architectural spaces that enable them opens up an interesting area of exploration. The pressures of modernity have brought about many issues related to communities experiencing socio-economic disadvantage; in particular the ‘marginalised’ single-parent families involving large number of children being brought up by women especially experiencing real economic hardship (Evans, 2011).
​
Within this context, we are required to ask questions pertaining to this particular marginalised community in terms of their hardship; what can be done to support them so that they can sustain their livelihoods; and how architecture can provide a setting for such support. In line with the learning outcome of the module, students shall explore within the framework of the physical Context, both natural and man-made; the socio-cultural Context as embodied by the User’s Experience of those involved within the community in question and the support from the community at large; the need of the environment and in what ways can the clustered spatial typology can be used as a strategy in design.
Site Analysis
Site Analysis in Taman Fair Park, Ipoh, Perak
The proposed Leisure and Recreational centre will be on two different sites located on sites adjacent to the Taman D.R Seenivasagam in Ipoh, a large urban park dating from the early 1950’s. Also known as Coronation Park in the past, the edges of the sprawling park is defined and united by the linear blocks of the Waller Court council housing to the South, the Kinta River to the West and the main thoroughfare Jalan Raja Musa Aziz to the East. In the immediate vicinity of the park are residential areas as well as institutional facilities such as schools and a youth hostel. With its loose collection of pavilions, playgrounds, open fields, a small pond, a Japanese Garden and a Tin Mine Museum, together with its connection to the Kinta River Walk, Taman DR Seenivasagam is a green lung and can be considered as the urban fringe of Ipoh. The class will be analyzing the the two sites located on the fringe of the city in distinctively residential and institutional districts.
​
My group will be analyzing Site B, surrounded by a diverse community made up of commercial, residential, educational, religious and institutional buidlings. What we have found out about the site is that it is lacking a sense of community, where everything and everyone is stuck in time, stagnant in urban development and community engagement. Therefore, this project allowed us the opportunity to build a community support centre there to bridge the gap between the existing community and also single parent families.
​
Conceptual Approaches & Analysis
Interdependent
Taman Fair Park, Ipoh is a well-planned, functional and cultural diverse community, where different races and groups of people co-exist in the same neighbourhood. Even though it is seen to be a multiracial society, people is still living in an individualistic lifestyle, thus it lacks the sense of community and it has taken away the colourful essence of Ipoh. A strong and rare element that is seen in single parent families, which is the interdependent bond between the parent and their kids. Single parents and their children has lived by a close and positive dependency with each other but at the same time, they are both self-reliable on their responsibilities and taking care of themselves.
The concept of the community support centre is to reconstruct the interdependent relationship within the community. The objective towards this concept is to design interdependent spaces that encourage sharing between single parent communities and the existing neighbourhood. By sharing a common trait or experience, people has the opportunity to engage and interact with each other, and therefore leads to a sharing of responsibilities and companionships between each other in the community. Redesigning the common shared spaces on the existing site, and turning them into interaction spaces is one of the key approach to allow engagement for the existing community. With these shared spaces properly designed, the shared spaces introduced in the community support centre could play a role in building a symbiotic relationship between the single parent community and the existing neighbourhood.
Final Drawings & Renderings
