Vivid Health, Dundee
Therapy Garden View
A building who’s life cycle is celebrated, as an overt reminder to visitors who come seeking improved mental wellbeing that life is an ever changing collage of our experiences, past and present.
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The ancient art of kintsugi is a technique of ceramic repair in which the lacquer used to restore a piece of pottery or ceramics is mixed with a fine gold dust to highlight the joins left from the repair. The golden seams illustrate the life the item has led, telling the story of resilience. These refurbished pieces became heavily sought-after as people found great value in their originality and saw these illuminated cracks as inspiration to find beauty in the imperfect.
Vivid Health Dundee proposes a wellness centre through which acceptance of the imperfect nature of a composite building will encourage visitors to accept the ‘imperfection’ within themselves. A new timber structure lightly separates itself from mature brick walls, celebrating the dichotomy between old and new while acceding the building's industrial roots through the materiality of the concrete service core. The mutual respect illustrated through the coexistence of new and old architecture will empower visitors to seek positive change in an environment which reflects their own internal challenges.
Although sensitive, the new structure is also joyous. The building emanates life and vitality through expressive architecture as it addresses Dundee, recounting to the city the joy of existing!