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Flowers overhead landscape arch4/3/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The therapeutic program and the characteristics of the site suggested the idea of a “backyard” combined with a “village green” would be the working narrative. Although the scale and context differ from the Pete Gross House, the student designers at Fircrest had a similar challenge to mitigate the displacement that residents undergo and provide a reconnection to a familiar “home” landscape. ![]() The quarter acre garden site abuts the residential housing for youth, with a parking lot to the north and an access road to the west. Responding to the comments, a team of five students synthesized the plans into a preferred option and the remaining eight weeks were devoted to its construction. Teams of three students developed five master plans which were presented in a public venue to staff, administrators and residents and reviewed. Over the course of the twelve week quarter the students toured Fircrest, met with therapists, staff and administrators to understand the programs and services. The Friends of Fircrest raised $30,000 to fund the garden and approached the University of Washington Design/Build program and the project was undertaken for the 2008 undergraduate capstone studio. Washington State requires that facilities housing youth provide appropriate recreational facilities, which initiated the idea for a therapeutic play garden. The mental disabilities include inability to focus, low IQ, difficulties with social engagement, compulsive and/or violent behaviors. The younger residents have a range of conditions poor to no mobility, frequent seizures, lack of physical coordination and nervous disorders. The existing campus was built upon the infrastructure of a WW II military barracks and was used as a tuberculosis quarantine center following the end of the war until acquisition by the state in the 1960’s.įircrest served primarily adult and aging residents until a 2007 mandate to enroll twenty four youth. The eighty six acre facility is located in Shoreline WA, just north of Seattle. Fircrest School is the only state Residential Habilitation Center located in the Puget Sound urban corridor and provides housing and services for two hundred of the most severely disabled residents of Washington State*. ![]()
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