Spokes
Commercial Interior Design / Vancouver, BC, Canada
Project Detail
Designing a hub for the homeless, the centre will connect people experiencing homelessness with nonprofit organizations and transitional shelters. The centre will provide holistic health care, focusing on chronic physical and mental health issues. The centre will also be a place that encourages dialogue between the community, healthcare providers and government.
Concept Statement
Spokes Community Centre will be located in downtown Vancouver, BC. It will help connect people in need of housing with organizations who can assist them. The concept for the Centre is based around the metaphor of “spokes”. Like the spokes of a wheel, it is a crossing point where many lines converge. This is where paths cross, and lead outward to new places and opportunities. Located on the liminal space between the DTES and the greater downtown core, people from different walks of life will come together to meet in this lively and supportive space.
The word “spoke” is also a homonym which has a secondary meaning: “speech”. This design recognizes the need to center the voices of the community in how it is created and operated. We want to embrace this other meaning of “spoke” in order to keep the voice of the community in mind as we shape this centre.
Location Rationale
The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is an area with a great need for services that can help the homeless. A site in close proximity to this neighbourhood would be able to serve many people. When interviewing individuals who have required services like this in the past, they suggested that a location just outside of the DTES would be welcomed. The Eastside core itself offers people community, but its active drug culture can create distractions and criminality which could reduce a feeling of sanctuary. Our methodology was to trace the perimeter of the DTES, in order to locate a site on its edge.
Within this boundary line, we selected a site at 99 W Pender St. Located across from the International Village Mall, it is already a kind of halfway point between the Eastside and the rest of the Vancouver downtown. It is at the midway point of multiple housing shelters, one of which is a five minute walk, which makes it an ideal location for shelter referral. It is not far from crucial government services, including the nearby Orange Hall BC Housing Office, the Ministry of Social Development, and a Work BC Centre. There are many transit connections nearby, and the nearby mall, supermarket and restaurant locations provide existing community features.
3 Goals
Unity
We want to encourage a shared identity between guests, whether they are currently housed or not. Both those who are in need, and those who can help, share the same mission. All those who meet here will meet as equals participating in the same goal.
Communication
It is important to foster a community where people are listened to. The space will promote an environment where everyone can speak, and be heard. People will be encouraged to respond to the voices of others.
Hope
All of those in need of a home will be supported with an empowering message. This community will provide a message of hope, with signs and symbols showing that they are already on the path to finding a home.
