Mobius

Mobius is the name of the centre that I have designed, this centre is for Autistic children.

 

What is Autism?

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. Without the right support, it can have a profound – sometimes devastating – effect on individuals and families.

 

 

Why is it called Mobius?

The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface.

I called the centre Mobius because of the ribbon that starts at the floor of the reception and it goes around all the building on walls and ceiling, this ribbon goes back to the reception but on the ceiling. If this ribbon was followed from reception, it would lead the person to go round all the building and it will bring him back to the point that he/she starts from, which is at reception.

In order to wrap this ribbon inside the ground and first floor there was a need to create two voids; this ribbon it goes on floor, walls, furniture and ceiling.

 

 

The Idea Behind Creating this Ribbon In The Design

As this centre is for Autistic children, there should not be a lot of things in order to make sure that children will not get any visual distraction, because of that I had to look for only one thing that can create a relationship or link between floor, ceiling, walls and furniture.

Beside that Autism has a symbol, which is a ribbon, I took that ribbon and I tried to develop it into tangible thing that can be a key thing in my design.

While I was designing, I was looking for something that could be in the design and at the same time it could be a symbol of equality and humanity, I used the ribbon in the design as a symbol of that to tell that Autistic children are important part of our community and we should treat them with equality and humanity.

 

 

Where is the centre?

While I was looking for a building, I had to think about 4 key things, which are:

1- It should be close to the city centre

2- Easy to get there by different kinds of transport

3- It should have sufficient domestic size, which will be enough for different rooms for activities and at the same time not very big to make sure that children will not feel lost in a big space.

4- It should have a garden to do activities such as gardening, when the weather is nice.

These key things were at Hallam Nursery, which is located  in Sheffield at 23 Broomgrove Road. At the moment the building is used as a nursery that takes up to 74 children from age of 6 months up to 5 years, the building was built nearly 100 years ago.