Creating life-changing architecture

David Givens, partner at Haverstock, an architectural practice in London, talks to Rory Coonan, co-founder of Coral Living and a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. David contributed to the design thinking around repeatable and sustainable designs, embedded in the ‘Coral Way’.

1. RC: “How long has your architecture practice been going, and what sort of projects do you undertake?

DG: The practice was founded in 1980 by four original partners who met at the National Building Agency, working on social housing. The founders were succeeded in 2006 by the three current partners, who still progress the original principles of public sector projects and working with a social agenda. Our company mantra is the creation of ‘life changing’ architecture.

2. What design challenges are presented by homes for those with autism and /or learning disability?

One of the most fundamental steps is to ensure the site is suitable and appropriate. People with disabilities require an accepting community and a place that will accommodate their needs for activity and social contact. This is to be balanced with a building and external setting that is nurturing, yet secure. Great steps have been made in recent years to integrate adults with disabilities into the community and to provide settings close to their family. The government’s NHS (national health service) ‘Transforming Care’ programme was key to this.

One of the most challenging aspects of designing homes for adults with learning or other disabilities is that there is no ‘one size fits all’. Every individual has their own needs. These must be understood first and then realised within the design of the home. Additionally, these needs may evolve through the life of that individual.

Whilst guidance for non-ambulant and supported living for elderly people is well documented in space standards and specification, there is little robust guidance for designing homes for adults with autism or complex SEND requirements. This may be a consequence of the unique nature of each design.

Designing for autism and complex needs requires a high level of specification robustness. Single storey, low density is preferred and groupings are not generally desirable over 10 residents. All these factors make for a challenging business case for developers. It is likely that these financial constraints have held back the expansion of these settings.

One of the most intriguing aspects of working with Coral Living is their desire to use intelligent design and manufacturing processes to improve the commercial viability of these homes and their settings. It is only with a fresh approach to this design challenge that advances will be made, so that an increasing number of these types of homes can be rolled out.

“One of the most intriguing aspects of working with Coral Living is their desire to use intelligent design and manufacturing processes to improve the commercial viability of these homes and their settings.”

3. How do Coral homes differ from your other work in SEND (special educational needs) buildings?

Our other work on SEND design is mainly within education. We have designed schools for a wide range of special needs, including for those with complex, profound and multiple learning difficulties, with autism or with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and for wheelchair users and for those with visual and auditory needs.

The most significant difference in designing these schools is that the students’ needs are very well defined through their education, health and care plans. Students are grouped, to enable a clear brief of how the education setting should respond to their needs. Unlike in the housing sector, there are defined standards and sizes that need to be applied to the design. This is a significant difference.

4. Architects in the UK are trained for several years. Did the subjects of autism/learning disability ever come up?

Architecture undergraduate and diploma or masters courses are developed to give aspiring architects a framework to be inquisitive and gain the skills to understand and distil a brief, to comprehend the needs of the client and apply all this to a built form. These general skills can then be applied to any project. They are bolstered by architects specialising in more technically led briefs.
Whilst autism wasn’t specifically discussed during our training, we were encouraged to ensure all design projects were accessible for all, and made aware of the Equalities Act and how individuals with more bespoke needs within our communities may experience a building.

For the architecture student’s final thesis design project, you are given an open remit to define your own brief and site for a project that is of interest to you. We have seen many job applicants to Haverstock who have chosen SEND schools and places for people with autism as their thesis project. They have identified Haverstock as a practice to support them to develop their research.

5. What encouragement is offered by the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) to help those with autism and physical disabilities to study architecture and become architects?

The RIBA has a remit to promote architecture as both an opportunity as a profession and for clients looking to engage the services of an architect.

One of the sub-groups of RIBA is the equality, diversity and inclusion committee. Their aim is to ensure that architects represent the whole of society, with a diverse and wide range of backgrounds, skills and experience. They acknowledge that this makes for a richer and more relevant built environment.

I have worked with architects with physical disabilities, including two with visual impairments, an architect who was deaf, and several who were wheelchair users. However, I believe adults with learning disabilities, including autism, within the industry are rare.

Architecture is a wide-ranging profession. A project team is made up of many skills and usually good communication and social interaction are essential. This is what many adults with autism find challenging. However, given that autism is a spectrum, and sometimes linked to an artistic ability, I would be surprised if there were not a number of higher functioning adults with autism working within the industry!

“Technology innovations make life easier for residents needing support and care. Intelligent decisions should be made on wiring infrastructure, accessibility of services and ‘open-source’ control systems.”

6. How do you design a building that anticipates how people change as they get older?

The most significant changes for all residents, with SEND or not, is the loss of mobility and motor skills as they get older.

For a home to be modified, we think about the methods of change, flexibility and adaptability, or ‘long life, loose fit’. For example, bathrooms can become en-suite through the moving of a door, ceiling hoists can be added to the structure, kitchens can be modified with accessible units, walls can take grab rails. These are just a few examples of what good design makes possible.

Two fundamental decisions at the outset of the design are the basic size of rooms, with a consideration that the resident may in the future require more space for mobility aids, and whether the home be single storey to remove impediments presented by stairs.

Recent technology innovations do much to make life easier for residents needing support and care, and whilst future proofing for all possibilities is difficult, intelligent decisions should be made on wiring infrastructure, accessibility of services and ‘open-source’ control systems.

7. Is it possible to ‘design in’ choices of interior layouts, or is everything always fixed?

This question goes hand in hand with future flexibility and adaptation. Thinking about how a home may be adapted and be made bespoke to an individual resident is essential to ensure designs can cater for very specific needs.
For example, we design spaces to enable choice, so a bathroom is sized for a bath but it is up to the resident if they prefer a bath or a shower. Most of these decisions are not just desirable. They may be essential for certain residents’ needs.

The kitchen is also a key consideration for complex residents. We design so that this room can be open plan to the dining room or closed off and accessed more discreetly. These decisions require forward planning of the layouts to enable such simple changes. They make fundamental differences to how a resident can be safely housed and cared for.

8. How important is outdoor space and gardens and how do you anticipate hotter and wetter weather coming with climate change?

We believe that external settings and ‘biophilia’ – that is, human empathy with nature – are essential for adults with learning and/or other disabilities. Much research has been carried out to show that access to nature has a therapeutic and calming effect. Just knowing that an outdoor space can be accessed if they wish is enough to calm some residents.

It is essential that the space is also secure and appropriate. This includes choice of plants, suitability of the size of the space for the resident and an allowance for shaded areas during rain or direct sunlight. Gardens offer not only a great sensory experience but also give the opportunity for hobbies and education through horticulture and food production.

External settings also provide opportunities for activity and play. Swings, sunken trampolines and basketball hoops re firm favourites.

Climate change is a key consideration in all design decisions. Haverstock are signatures to a campaign called ‘Architects Declare’. The profession is alive to the need to make a change. Generally, statutory guidance or laws promote an environment agenda. Our approach is always ‘fabric first’, considering the basics of orientation, form factor, high levels of insulation, etc. Reducing the need for energy is the primary goal.

For external settings, the choice of site is important as is the mitigation of any flood risk. Creating micro climates with dense and intense planting is a great resource for these settings, promoting biodiversity and sustainability. It is good that Coral supports the dense planting philosophy of the ‘garden for generations’, which can fill even small areas.

9. How could tenants be more involved in the design of their homes? What tools exist to help that?

Engagement and consultation are fundamental to the design process. We are passionate about understanding people’s needs.

In many cases supported living homes are not designed from the outset for one individual. When this is true, we engage with care providers and health professionals to understand the type of accommodation required. We use our own added value of previous projects to help define and develop the brief.

Where we are lucky enough to design for a specific resident, we have many tools to aid the engagement. The most important aspect is to understand what level of engagement is feasible. This may range from understanding plans, models and artistic representations, to a choice of textures, colours and materials through vision boards. Where a resident’s needs are complex or specific, we will use specialist support to help us work with the resident and their carers to help refine briefs to ensure it is special to their requirements.

10. Is there anything you would like to add?

It is heartening that we are seeing through Coral an increased desire to house adults with disability/disabilities more affordably within their own communities, understanding the importance of good design and keeping people near their family, friends and support group.

There is now an acknowledgment that as a society we need to see that there is life after school for such adults. They are within a very secure and organised education setting from birth to 18/19, but what next?

We cannot expect ageing parents to take full responsibility for their housing and care. The ‘Pathway to Adulthood’ initiative [2014] has started to address these concerns, and we are starting to see the result of this. At Haverstock we are excited to be part of this movement.”