2024 - Light, Perception, Experience, Freedom

Most of us are curious enough about the mentally challenged community, which is often featured in the news, literature, film and television, but we lack real concern and understanding for them. Many mentally ill people have a wide range of hobbies, innocent qualities, and profound thoughts, but they are actively or passively isolated from society – from us, the ”so-called normal people”. What limits them may not only be the strictly regulated, single-light space, but also society’s lack of understanding and discrimination against them.
War and discrimination are madness invented by mankind. The world is sick, but the good news is that the sun looks at everything equally, and light gives more or less freedom to everyone who sees it. As buildings are containers of light, they should also be places of freedom. We are all looking for that door of light, trying to stay sane in a crazy world.
Human freedom is built on perception and experience, and this is exactly what light can bring us – inward perception of time and space and outward experience of scenes and behaviour. The proposal draws on the Chinese garden’s method of landscape creation – framing, leaking, counter-viewing, barricading, borrowing, etc., to create a richly layered, inclusive space for activities and meditation; at the same time, it adopts a variety of window openings to guide the behaviour of light and shadow, creating a variety of dynamic and static spaces.
This design hopes to bring rich perception and experience to the mentally disabled group through the creation of light and space. At the same time, the design focuses on the light environment of the public space to create a place for communication and thinking. It also explores a way to guide people to understand and care for people with mental disabilities, and creates a place where they can relieve anxiety, accept themselves, and breathe emotionally. The design will be human-centred, emphasising understanding and caring for individuals with mental disabilities, so that they can integrate into social life and reduce the sense of social exclusion.