POLLY ASPINALL

Care Home | Waterloo

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A care home for the elderly and a young offenders unit are not obvious bed fellows but this was the brief for my final degree project at Cambridge.

 

The site was next to the river at Waterloo – replacing or enhancing an existing building called Elizabeth House.

My scheme focussed on the creation of green spaces – similar to allotments – which would improve the quality of the air in the area and provide an activity for the young offenders and old people to do together.  From the second floor down these ‘garden slabs’ would form a series of cantilvered platforms leading to street level and creating a beautiful public walkway through to Waterloo station itself. Above this level were a series of private rooms for the elderly and below, a skate park to replace the one being demolished (at the time) at the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hall.

 

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Images from top:

The public walkway – designed to fulfill a similar function to the New York highline, part walkway, part park, brimming over with flowers and vegetables.

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Cafe space and working area – a space where the young and old would come together to have a cup of coffee, prepare their plants for consumption (in the background you see camomile being dried on racks) and work together on various projects.​

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View under the public walkway – a cool and quiet space where people could sell the flowers and herbs grown on the allotments above.