JUDKINS COMMUNITY CENTER
Crack patterns are common in nature yet overlooked—the domain of the practical discipline of fracture mechanics, the physics of failure. But most importantly, an opportunity for life to re-emerge; like grass between pavements and moss between rocks.
THE CONCEPT: The Crack
Metaphorically, Judkins Community Centre is a response to the failure of a six-block strip of green enlivens and a multipurpose green corridor aimed at the Central Area of Seattle neighbourhood to provide community engagement. Judkins Community Centre aims to re-introduce community activities with the minimum green footprint disturbance.
The key location of the crack encourages a continuous flow of people passing through the neighbourhood; regular citizens, residents of the neighbourhood, and users and staff of the community centre. The design considers their stay, penetration, interaction, and different behavioural patterns such as strolling, gathering, reading, training, exercising, and health consulting among others.
While the visitors have designated spaces for such behaviours, they are also able to actively interact with each other in an open and fluid space.
4000 sq of greenery taken off for pedestrian walkway is compensated with green bridge
THE PROGRAM: Community
Through three one-story buildings, Judkins Centre provides a set of health, recreation, and creativity activities to support a strong sense of togetherness. A library, a communal kitchen, a wellness clinic, and senior and preschool classrooms are a few of the programmatic elements that target a wide population.
The three buildings have their own skylight introducing natural light into the deep space. An operable glass curtain wall blurs the boundary between the interior and exterior, visually and physically merging the whole space with the sky, trees, sunlight, and breeze, which can eventually create a lively co-existing relationship between artificial structure and natural landscape. The buildings frame the crack, where the main pedestrian flow occurs. As suggested by the movement analysis, the crack becomes a significant path for moving across the neighbourhood.
