Kings Cross undoubtedly represents the
hub of drug, alcohol, and domestic problems within the greater Sydney area. The
conceptual theory behind my project is based on the common needs between what are
essentially three separate, but related agencies. These three agencies specifically
being; an alcohol rehabilitation centre, an alcohol mediation court-based
setting, and a ‘sober bar’.
The fact that these issues of alcohol
related harm are so visible within the area has resulted in the view of them as
an accepted part of the social fabric of ‘The Cross’. As per the project title,
therapeutic advice has come to form a major part of my architectural position.
These therapeutic qualities emerge in all aspects of the project, from the
conceptual ‘bandage’ that wraps the three towers together, the fact that the
three towers lean on each other for support both in a physical and conceptual
sense, through to the sense of therapeutic justice applied to the
mediation-based justice settings.
While the O’Farrell government had promised the introduction
of 3 ‘Sobering-Up Centres’, which would have proved a useful precedent to this
previously unexplored program , this promise is yet to be enacted. As such my design intent could also
be looked at as a means to provide a precedent for this style of ‘Pilot System
- Sober Centre’.
