Hames Sharley has announced three joint winners of the Junction Therapeutic Built Form – Children in Care competition. Researching designs for primary use as a residential care home for children or young person (YP), the competition invited entrants to consider four key elements in their approach:

• Careful consideration and balance of the needs and wants of occupants as outlined in the briefing document expressed as design principles
  - Young People (YP)
  - Carers
• The overall experiential and functional quality of the design
  - How well the design addresses challenges outline in the brief
• Suitability within selected site context
  - The project’s adaptability to any site in a suburban context
• Feasibility and Efficiency
  - The project’s feasibility both economically and in terms of buildability
  - The ability to adapt to various locations and configurations

The judging panel made up of five representatives (chaired by Hames Sharley’s Managing Director Caillin Howard) and two young people in Junction’s care, chose three joint winners, each resolving a different aspect of the brief.

The total prize fund was increased to $1,500 and will be split equally between the winners, with each awarded $500 each.

During the deliberation session, three entries were referred to as:

• The Colourful Scheme
• The Black and White
• The Courtyard

The Colourful Scheme

The proposal met the brief perfectly – producing a place of luxury for the children in each room. The deliberation summary noted that experientially an element of acoustic separation is missing of the shared space, making the place feel more like a school, rather than a home. More natural light and a better connection to the indoors out will also be required in the next stages of The Colourful Scheme.

The Black and White

The proposal was missing key spaces, but notably, these could be added in. The children loved elements within the areas which included beds in the windows and the chalkboard in bedrooms. The black and white (Wattle) avoided outdoor corridors and has good adaptability to context.

The Courtyard

The proposal was missing key spaces, but notably, these could be added in. The Courtyard (One House) has good layering of privacy and a great outdoor/indoor connection. Outdoor corridors can be avoided with better articulation of facades along the sides. The judges noted that the proposal featured good natural light and ventilation.

The judging panel chose three joint winners after deciding that all three proposals had merit and elements from each which should be developed.

Junction and Hames Sharley believe that a contextual and considered approach to providing homes, through design aspirations and project principles will achieve an outcome that can change lives and turn the tide for this segment of the community. Junction and Hames Sharley have endeavoured to include children and young people’s voices in the development of the design brief as well ask direct care staff to define important elements.

Hames Sharley ran the internal design competition to investigate a place for primary use as a residential care home for YP that will be developed and tested in built form. The selected project will be used as a prototype to inform future designs. This is also an opportunity to develop a set of principles that can be applied nationally and internationally to similar service models.

Click here for more on the Junction Therapeutic Built Form Research.