DOMESTITUTION
 

By adopting domestic planning, domestic scale, and domestic features, Domestitution sorts to enhance connectedness within the grounds of the former disconnected asylum. Connectedness was first achieved by bleeding the surrounding domestic urban fabric into the grounds of the former asylum to connect with the surrounding environment and the community, while also physically connecting the existing street network into the site. The overlay of this fabric and path network helped to break up the mass of the site to a more humanistic scale while also disrupting the ‘e’ plan of the asylum. Adjacent roads were projected into the site as new paths of travel, serving to connect the grounds of the former asylum back to its surroundings. Through the implementation of new paths piercing through the site, the connection between community and nature is strengthened, allowing for easier access down to the river.

 

Given Kew's historical value, all demolished built fabric is preserved and repurposed in the sensory garden as relics representing the history of the site. The architectural language of the former asylum building has been reappropriated through the investigation of three different strategies: extrusion, scaling, and domestic architecture features. The elements were also designed with double-functioning features in mind. Furthermore, the materiality was informed by the architecture of the local Kew district and Victoria domestic architecture.

Link to folio