Given the word 'Sleep' by my Tutor, I was given the task to design an structure for a particular site in Sheffield, one which has currently no purpose. In groups, we analysed the site together, to later inform our individual designs. The design would need to be for no more than 12 people at once.
My chosen audience was the students of Sheffield, as I saw an opportunity arise in the number of drunk students who found themselves alone, in potentially-dangerous situations. So I decided to create a 'safe haven' for those intoxicated students to go to if they are unable to make their way home alone, and can't afford the transportation, either.
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I started by locating 12 surrounding popular student nightlife. I then brainstormed how the students would arrive at my site safely, and came up with a subterranean mode of transport which brought them directly from the bar to my site via a London tube-like infrastructure.
Due to space restrictions, I created two separate 'warrens' which are composed of six rooms, each with an entrance tunnel or 'root', a stairway exit and a central monitoring office core. The office acts as an emergency fire exit for the users as well as an emergency entrance for supervisors to access each room via their lift-like operating office.
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The drunk students are placed in a pod with two front-facing seats and driven to their room, where they have access to a be, sink toilet and mirror. The next day, they are woken via the diffusion of daylight into their room, and the entrance to a stair case is opened for them to exit back to the surface. This idea of 'rebirth' is reflected in the flower-like shape of the structure at ground level.
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I've also re-landscaped the site to include more green spaces and shape in the landscape, which act as 'hobbit holes' for the students to emerge from in the morning. I want the space to be aesthetically pleasing for the surrounding residents to use as a park, while also aiding the students to emerge comfortably. Although, the design cannot be too comfortably for them, as I don't want them to abuse the system.