Transitional Home: House of Three Gardens

Adaptive Reuse of What Cheer Studio 101, Providence, RI

Nowadays, autism slowly enters the public attention. In 2021, approximately 1 in 44 children in U.S is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. While autism in childhood received increasing amount of attention, autism in adulthood is still being negelected. Over the next decade, an estimated 707,000 to 1,116,000 teens will enter adulthood and age out of school based autism services. Many young adults with autism do not receive any healthcare for years after they stop seeing a pediatrician. More than half of young adults with autism remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the two years after high school.

This program aims to help autistic teenagers to go through transitional period from school to society by pairing teenagers with high-functioning autistic adults to form group livings and mentorships. The aimed user group & tenant would be individuals of 16+ in age, that are on the Level 1-2 of the autistic spectrum and high-functioning autistic adults.

Programs include: Underground Sensory Room, Gym, Therapy Center, Sensory Pool, Makerspace & Computer Lab Autism-friendly Cafe as internship opportunity, Media Hall, Classroom, Co-working Space, Community Kitchen, Rooftop lounge Key Features: Garden of Sound (Atrium with Terraced Seating), Garden of Scent (staircase library facing interior garden), Garden of Taste (2-storied Vertical Farm) , Wall of Escape bubbles.

Virtual Reality Version of the Staircase Library (Garden of Smell)

Unit Design:Group Housing for 6

4 autistic teenagers and 2 hihg-functioning autistic adults form a “family” to live together. Tenants live temporarily here for approximately 1-2 transitional years. This group living system provides Support on independent living, employment, community engagement & relationship building.

CandiceLuhua Chen

Candice
Luhua Chen