Breathing Space

Term                Harvard Graduate School of Design Fall 2021
Course            Seeking Abundance: Designing Engagement and Experience for All
Instructor     Sierra Bainbridge, Jeffrey Mansfield

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Breathing Space - Activity and Therapy Center, Tackling the State of Hyper-vigilance
A therapeutic space where one feels safe, allowing them to move on. Using light and sound as medium to create animated space with changing qualities. 

Based on the engagement with the social workers, I came up with three trauma-informed design principles:

1. Visibility: Clear organization layout, allowing visibility from one program to another
2. Choice: Allow the user to choose from different range of spaces from public to private, and from indoor to outdoor
3. Authorship: Allow the user to author the space and experience

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Homelessness

We probably all know, United States in a homeless crisis. Today, New York is experiencing homeless more than ever before. However, we might not know is that the majority of the homeless population is comprised of family. In the report of daily number enters the shelter system between 2013 to 21, around 75% are family, and 38% are children. Over the years, 1 in 10 students in public school is homeless. A child will experience constant transition between different shelters and schools, and the condition is especially challenging for single and pregnant moms.

Sensory Experiment

In order to better understand the traumatic experience, I look into hyper-vigilance, a common symptom of PTSD, which is the state of increase alertness, extreme sensitivity to the surrounding, and an elevated state of constantly assessing potential threats. I created an audio to use sound as a medium to simulate a hyper-sensitive environment with amplified stimulus cues.

After the audio, I conducted survey to ask the person how they feel at the moment, what do they recall, and where do they want to go right now. Home and nature are repeatedly expressed to describe a place where one feel safe. Yet, home and nature are very different, one is extremely enclosed and personal, the other is completely open and public. The question of how to design a place for one to feel safe and therapeutic is continued to explore during the later part of the project.

Engagement

Win NYC is the largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing in New York City. They founded as Women in Need, began as a shelter for four homeless women and six children. Over the years, the organization has expanded to provide shelter, supportive and transitional housing for homeless women, families, and children.

Win is particular focused on the clients’ mental condition which they conducted trauma-informed care treatment framework. This semester, I worked with Sarah J., a clinical specialist, and a licensed master social worker, who has previous worked as a client care coordinator in two of the win shelter on site for the past three years.