The Willows Wins AIA Design Award!
For those experiencing homelessness, Bridge Housing fills a critical transitional space between life on the streets and permanent housing. LA Family Housing’s newest bridge housing property ‘The Willows’ received a residential architecture award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for it's trauma-informed design, providing personal dignity and privacy for our participants. Designed by GGA Architecture, this project focused on empathy as a design principle to create a safe and welcoming space.
The Willows project sets a new precedent of the adaptive re-use of an existing County-owned building for a permanent facility. Built with our guiding principle for developing housing that is supportive and service-enriched, this space provides dignity to our participants through stability, care and quality in a recuperative and empowering environment. The building design also supports our focus on removing barriers to permanent housing. One of the primary barriers is the psychological trauma of homelessness, and its severe negative impact on the individual’s identity and self-esteem. Amplifying elements of trauma-informed and biophilic design, the building actively provides the residents an engaging and multi-sensory healing environment with opportunities of choice for different levels of socialization.
LAFH Director of Interim and Family Housing, Kelsey Madigan, will be speaking on an AIA panel at the Design for Dignity event this month about her role in working with the Real Estate Development team to create a trauma-informed care approach at The Willows.
Principles of Trauma Informed Design
Privacy - private sleeping areas, personal storage, private shower and dressing room area
Opportunity for Choice - control over degrees of socialization
Safe Space - open sightlines, supportive service-enriched
Personal Dignity - quality of materials and design
Elements of Biophilic Design
Direct and indirect connection to nature
Natural daylight
Natural ventilation
Indoor/Outdoor connection
Sensory richness, motion, serendipity
Resilience, prospect and refuge
Accommodation of support animals