New initiatives, however, are highlighting the importance of adaptive reuse, which focuses on the refurbishment.
In other words, at Circle Reading, there is the dual benefit of both a sense of community, as well as a sense of peacefulness.Wendy Bonard-Williams says that her favourite area of the hospital is the glass walkway up on the second and third floor.
‘It’s in a big figure eight,’ she says.‘Hardly anyone goes down there and it’s just a complete glass wall so you can see out...see across to the hotel and things like that.’ She talks about the quietness of the space.‘You can literally go up there for five minutes and escape and you won’t see another person… So that’s quite nice,’ she says, laughing.’.
Raj Goel sums up the general mood about Circle’s Reading facility.‘It’s a great place to work,’ he says.
‘It also encourages a positive attitude when you come in because even the patients...when they come in...look impressed.
So they have a positive approach to it and even the staff, really.’.We’ve definitely seen an increase in collaboration in the past months.
There’s a lot of enthusiasm around sustainability in design, but we need it to manifest.The next generation are incredibly aware of the climate emergency and these types of issues, but we can’t wait for them.
If we wait any longer, we’ll miss the boat.The building blocks are in place and the time has come to make the change.
(Editor: Affordable Diffusers)