KEW SQUARE
 

Kew Square is a community square that aims to enhance the lives and wellbeing of the local community by better connecting them with each other and the environment that surrounds them.
 

The Kew Square will be a renovation and retrofitting of the former Kew Lunatic Asylum site. A relic of the past, the former Kew Lunatic Asylum was an institution that aimed to segregate the mentally ill rather than heal. It had failed its patients by enforcing unhealthy social dynamics which led to the deterioration of the patients mental health. This was enabled through segregation of the patients from one another, segregation of the patients from society and surveillance which was all enforced by the built environment that made up the site.

As society has moved on and learned from these archaic methods, we have discovered the importance of mental health for everyone, not just specific individuals. Now recovering from the covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, we have seen a decrease in mental health due to the segregation of people from one another. Combined with the acceleration towards a more digital lifestyle with working at home becoming popular, the importance of public/private facilities that enable integration of people has risen.

Link to folio