Capstone Design Project | Danielle Jamieson

Fourth-year capstone project.

Co-Care.

Awarded the Interior Designers Institute of BC Award for capstone design project.

Awarded the Sandy Fraser Endowed Award for Outstanding Design for achieving the highest GPA of one's graduating class in studio design courses.

Concept.

'Co-care': Creating a healthy interdependent community hub through intergenerational co-housing for single low-income seniors, low-income single mothers and their children, as well as childcare, and a primary care network. It will be set in the Koret building, an apartment building in the heart of the residential area of Gastown. Through design, we will address loneliness and lack of support for these demographics, as well as accessibility of health-supporting resources. network.

The concept is represented through 'weave', a metaphor for community and relationship-building. This is reflected in the parti, where areas of overlap and density of the tartan grid are house conceptual drivers and key features.

Entry & Arrival.

The entry and lobby correspond with the heart of the parti, and therefore were chosen as a key location for predominant motifs of the concept, ‘weave’, seen in lighting, decorative millwork, lighting, and hardware.

Plans.

An atrium volume was created as the building has a very deep floor plate, which would not receive sunlight in it's core. The atrium assists in filtering daylight into the core to potentially reduce energy needs and to create a visual connection between residential floors, unified by a decorative light fixture.

Primary Care Clinic.

A Primary Care Clinic was included to address nutritional deficits faced by children of low-income single mothers in the Strathcona area, and to support the health of low-income seniors, who often face multiple co-morbidities.

Co-Care

Intergenerational Co-housing.

Low-income seniors and low-income single mothers create a community combating loneliness and lack of support, though settings bound through a conceptual driver of mid-century design, bridging intergenerational divides.

Communal Areas.

Seniors, single mothers, and their children bond in communal areas in the building. These areas offer universal design, playful furniture and textiles, and amenities which draw co-housing community members together.

Intergenerational Co-housing.

Child Minding.

A child minding area is located on the fifth floor for greater security, with an indoor and outdoor area. Resident low-income seniors and single mothers volunteer to look after neighbours children, in an area with lively patchwork motifs reflecting the concept 'weave.'