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Aaron Neal
Open Doors: Through the Lens of Trauma Informed Design
Open Doors will be the home to many different individuals with different backgrounds and different traumas. The existing host structures are composed of three inexpensive brick apartments sitting on a plinth, which contains a sloped site with a busy rail line sitting behind it.
Open Doors utilizes the two host structures as shell interventions and the last host structure as a semi-ruin intervention by treating each parcel separately. The interventions accommodate new programs within the existing structures by moving the existing stairs to the exterior.
Trauma informed design is intended to support individuals, specifically children, who have experienced trauma by providing a space where all feel safe, secure, community, control, and dignity. In terms of trauma-informed design, relocating the stairs to the exterior of the building allows the residents to achieve dignity through having their own front door.
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Open Doors
Digital Rendering
2023
Exterior perspective highlighting the addition to the existing host structure.
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Digital Rendering
2023
Exterior perspective displaying the transition between the courtyard to the outdoor greenspace.
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Digital Rendering
2023
Interior perspective highlighting the integration of the small kitchen within a compact dwelling unit.
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Mystery Garden
Digital Collage
2022
Biomimicry collage highlighting organisms and their symbiotic relationships.
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Model
2022
Biomimicry collage highlighting organisms and their symbiotic relationships.
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Model
2022
Mystery garden highlighting how the organisms within the garden interact with each other.
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Model
2022
Mystery Garden displaying the relationship between the information within the home spills out into the garden.
