VENICE    METHADONE    CLINIC

Type Competition    

Location Venice CA

Design Aneesha Dharwadker

Awards Jury Shortlist, Emotions, Architecture, Opioids Competition

Date 2020

This proposal engages the emotions of safety and hope for visitors and families who have experienced opioid addiction.

   
Along Electric Avenue, a hidden entrance emerges when the concrete facade folds away from the sidewalk, creating a semi-enclosed walkway that leads to the main door. This move seeks to increase patients’ privacy and sense of security. The entrance opens into a welcoming reception area and a double-height gallery, which acts as a spine for the other building programs to gather around. Public and shared programs are on the ground level, while the therapy rooms and medication storage are on the second level. A semi-private meditation room on the ground level offers additional waiting area space and the gentle sound of water in a shallow pool as a calming soundtrack to the clinic.          
 

Double layers of channel glass on the exterior and interior create visual privacy between the primary building programs while allowing natural light to diffuse through. A warm wood plank floor softens noise and provides subtle directionality for movement.   
 

With interplays of form and light, each therapy room offers a different experience. The room interiors are molded to evoke the cave and the womb, primal spaces that remind us of safety, warmth, and maternal protection. These rooms reassure patients that regardless of their past challenges, the future offers new possibilities.