Value
Role
Full Service
Client
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
Project
New Build
Type
Medium Secure Unit
Location
Hampshire
£7M
Ashford Learning Disabilities Residential Unit
Southampton, Hampshire
The design’s south facing orientation was dictated by the requirement to allow sunlight to penetrate the garden, and into the building, over the woodland screen throughout the year. The placement of the garden then dictates the positioning of the adjacent rooms such as day areas, lounges, and a quiet room.
Interior décor and furnishings are important, to create a character that offers a feeling of belonging and personalisation, achieving a feel that is removed from the overtly clinical, whilst still ticking the compliance criteria. This was achieved through close liaison between service users, staff and the design team.
The building’s form is complex, as it reacts to the brief, the flows, sight lines and site constraints. This also creates interior spaces that break away from the existing rectilinear form, which generates interesting volumes and outlooks. A generosity of space and airiness is created by the use of generous ceiling heights throughout the service user areas.
Externally, the entrance approach is where the architecture is playful and striking, flagging the point of entry. To its right, the staff and plant wing is simple, stark and modern, contrasting with the bedroom wing which is more domestic in scale and character, with a pitched roof and individual windows.