Architectural Design by LM2A architects, Landscape design by Super Natural with Big Al
In the Reimagining Where We Live design competition, Al worked as part of the Super Natural environmental design team with LM2A Architects. Their entry, Scales of Care, won first place in the urban metro category in 2024.
The Brief
”In this competition, we invited architects and designers to help shape the aged care accommodation of the future. We asked competition entrants to test the draft National Aged Care Design Principles and Guidelines by using them to design innovative aged care homes that are welcoming, safe, accessible and dementia-friendly, and that consider small-home models.”
— from the Australian Government, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Instead of presenting the four design principles as separate categories or a linear progression, our team reconfigured them to hold one another radially in an interconnected, cyclical relationship——challenging the conventional prioritization of building as a linear, business-as-usual progression.
Al’s contribution focused on diagramming and integrating design principles with the individual ‘carers’ and the ‘cared for’ within the proposition. This included adding the concepts of ‘me’ and ‘you’——introducing ‘us’ as designers and ‘you’ as the judges themselves. This addition arose from reading the brief and noticing the in-depth personalities described in each character, emphasizing that everyone will be either a carer or cared for at some point in their lives. The invitation of ‘me’ and ‘you’ was a direct nod to anyone viewing the designs, encouraging them to imagine themselves in either role while engaging with the proposal.
Jury Comment on the Scales of Care Winning Entry
“An exceptional proposition successfully designed as a dynamic connection between the individual and the community to create a “productive relationship … between the practice of care, and the environment in which it takes place … a positive feedback loop … fostered between the resident and the world around them.”
To learn more, visit the Reimagining Where We Live Competition
An interconnected relationship between outside and inside, carer (dark blue) and cared for (light blue) - some extra characters (a mixture of blues) as they were both caring and cared for, Scales of Care by LM2A Architects and Super Natural studio with Big Al.
2024/05/17 Reimagining Where We Live
CATALOGUE : Archived
LOCATION : Noongar Boodjar, Western Australia
WITH : LM2A Architects and Super Natural Studio
this project is dedicated to my elders Carol, Jenny, Peter and Frieda