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Clare Kilty

Clare Kilty

New York, NY, US

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Mental Health Respite Centre - Thesis 2012

This project seeks to investigate permanence and continuity, or transience, in architecture - permanence being the elements that are part of our conscious and unconscious memory. This was investigated through the lens of Irish Vernacular structures and how they mediate the Irish landscape.

The Mental Health Respite centre is a non-acute centre to facilitate residents of the Irish Midlands suffering from mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression and stress disorders. Sited in Drumann bog to the North of an artificial lake, the centre maximises its rural location through the use of sensory gardens and a manipulated landscape as part of the retreat element of the scheme.

The programme is accommodated by three main courtyards, ranging in degree from public to private. Each courtyard has its own identity which is articulated through function, materiality and scale.

I am interested in the natural and planned nature of civilisations and communities, and the visual and physical effect which that has on a landscape whether permanent or not. This is an investigation into how the Architect today deals with precedence and distills from that a set of values and reasoning, those of a timeless nature, and applies them to design in a comtemporary manner.

 
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Status: School Project
Location: Derrygreenagh, IE