9 THE PROGRAM 113 115 Program Development The process is key in establishing a program which caters for victims of sexual violence. It was important from the outset to have an idea which would order the sequence of events through which a victim would be carried. This ordering device intends on creating paths through the building which are defined in a way that creates thresholds of privacy and security. This ensures that each victim is lead through specific encounters at planned moments within the building. Each encounter is planned relative to the stage of the healing process. Thus the program is generated in accordance with the four stages of rape care described in ?A Journey of Healing? which include: ?The Womb, the Cave, the Nest?; ?The Cocoon, Healing the Body?; ?The Seed, Healing the Mind? and ?The Vine, Healing the Community?. The process of healing the victim is reflected within the buildings that will facilitate this journey. This results in a simultaneous opening up of victim and building whereby the victim becomes the survivor. (www.gettyimages.com) The Brief STAGE 1 ?The Womb, the Cave, the Nest? Main Level: Entrance 1 (Arrival of New Victim), Admissions, Dispensary, Site Coordinator?s office, Victim Assistant?s office, four Private Rooms with integrated facilities to treat the victim (medico-legal procedure rooms). Lower Level: Entrance 2 (Follow-up visit) Doctors? rooms, Nurses? change room, Common staff lounge, Meeting Room, Medical techniques room. STAGE 2 ?The Cocoon, Healing the Body? Main Level: Wards: Nurses? station, Waiting area for visitors, four Private Wards (providing for mother and child), one Day Ward, Patient Lounge. STAGE 3 ?The Seed, Healing the Mind? Lower level: Reception, Counselling Rooms (two for Permanent Staff and two for Temporary Staff), Observation room with outside play area, Counsellors? Common Room. Sacred Space Integrated (mind-body-soul). STAGE 4 ?The Vine, Healing the Community? Lower Level: Entrance 3 (Public), Reception with dropped seating bays, toilets, Caf?, Sculpture Studio. Main Level: Gallery, Arts and Crafts Studio, Change rooms for Dance Studio,. Upper Level: Dance Studio, Roof Terrace. 117 (www.gettyimages.com) Program Development STAGE 1 ?The Womb, the Cave, the Nest? A stone retaining wall leads the new victim into the admissions space where he or she is met by a nurse who immediately informs the ?victim assistance officer? of the arrival of the new patient. Instead of waiting in an exposed area, the patient is taken to a secure private room where all the required medico-legal procedures are conducted so as to adequately prepare a case against the accused. Here the patient is provided with something soothing to eat and drink and offered comfort and support. The patient is then debriefed and informed of the procedure to follow whereby he or she will be medically examined by one of the doctors, treated for any injuries and issued with any necessary medication such as ARVs; record his or her statement with a SAPS officer; and hand over his or her clothes and any other items necessary for the collection of evidence. The patient is then given a change of clothing and toiletries and offered a shower. Once the patient has been cared for, he or she is given the option of moving to the overnight ward if the circumstances warrant it, or scheduled for follow up treatment and taken home or to another secure location, of his or her choosing, by police officers. 119 (www.ebonycamera.com) (www.kristinaleo.com) (www.gettyimages.com) (www.gettyimages.com) STAGE 2 ?The Cocoon, Healing the Body? A patient who is in need of secure accommodation and has followed the process initiated in ?The Womb, the Cave, the Nest? stage, is taken to ?The Cocoon?. In this space he or she will be offered a sustained period of therapy and medical treatment. The patient is introduced here to the stage of the journey that focuses on healing the mind, otherwise known as ?The Seed?. ?The Cocoon? is therefore a transition space which prepares the patient for his or her emotional and psychological recovery. ?The Cocoon? consists of a nursing station, a visitor?s room, one day ward, four private wards, and a patient?s day lounge. When brought to the ward, the patient will be attended to by one of the nurses situated at the unit?s nursing station. From here he or she will be placed into one of the four private wards. Each room has an en suite bathroom and thus complete privacy is ensured for each patient. Two of the rooms also carry cots and cater for the likelihood of both a mother and a child being admitted. There is a common day lounge which opens out to the courtyard to the south of the ward. Family members visiting the ward section of the building enter through a separate entrance to that of the initial intake. They are lead to the wards where they enter adjacent to the nursing station. The visitors? room is situated next to the nursing station and looks out towards the courtyard, offering the victim opportunities to engage with nature. Patients and visitors are able to walk outside along the reflection path leading to ?The Seed?. This introduces the patient to the archetypes which characterise the outside spaces of the CCC. 121 (www.gettyimages.com) (www.notcot.com) (www.pbase.com) STAGE 3 ?The Seed, Healing the Mind? ?The Seed? is synonymous with rebirth. It is the stage in the journey where the patient is counselled and equipped to rediscover or reconstruct his or her self identity. As the building opens up, it frees the counsellor and patient to explore the landscape and to encounter the therapeutic archetypes which aid the rediscovery and reconstructive process. ?The Seed? receives patients from the wards as well as those returning for follow up treatment. Those returning access ?The Seed? through a different entrance so that they can avoid encountering new patients being admitted and reliving their own traumas as a result. There is a clear separation between the first encounter a patient has with the CCC and all subsequent encounters for follow-up treatment so as to reduce the patient?s chances of experiencing secondary trauma. The entire facility is about the interaction between the human body and the environment through all sense modalities, but this connection is most strongly expressed in this space. ?The Seed? promotes a search of the landscape for encounters which can nourish the self. ?The Seed? consists of a reception area, two counselling rooms for permanent staff, and two counselling rooms for temporary staff. Each of the counselling rooms carries its own secluded pre-entry space in which patients can wait prior to being seen to. There is one observation room with an outer play space so that counsellors are able to observe patterns in child play that assist in assessment of child victims. There is a common office space which can be used by temporary staff for administrative tasks. 123 (www.gettyimages.com) (www.bluemountainsjournal.blogspot.com) (www.gettyimages.com) STAGE 4 ?The Vine, Healing the Community? This stage of the journey centres on the collective. It is about facilitating the process through which the victim can find meaning by interacting with a community. Through an experience of the creative arts, the CCC is able to offer something more to the surrounding community than the treatment of rape and abuse. The CCC not only facilitates the rediscovery of self and personal meaning but the rediscovery of one?s self within the broader context of a community, which is constituted by both fellow patients and the community that extends beyond them. ?The Vine? is essentially open to the patients and others who may come to the centre to engage in creative activities. This requires a third entrance which is more prominent and open to the surroundings than the other two entrances, and a different parking area. ?The Vine? consists of three levels. The lower level provides the entry point for the building. The entrance consists of a double volume foyer that contains a reception area and toilet facilities. From here, users of the building take the outer circulation route to move around to the ?caf??. Beyond this is the sculpture studio. This is the social part of the CCC and most public zone. This building as a whole speaks of permeability from its design to the ways in which people will regularly move through it. The lower level opens out onto the landscape. Behind is the inner landscape which is where the sculpture garden is situated. The front opens up to the deck which faces east, looking out towards the coast. In this way, there is a flow of space between the front and the back of the building and the building itself becomes the mediator of the two. 125 (www.gettyimages.com) (www.gettyimages.com) (www.gettyimages.com) The vertical connection through the building is expressed through double volumes in the foyer and the caf?. This connection is experienced further as users ascend the staircase along the east fa?ade, adjacent to the foyer. As users arrive at the main level there are change rooms and toilet facilities for the dance studio on the top floor. The staircase directs users to the double volume space above the caf? where they move around the side of this element to reach the gallery space which is to the right as they step off the staircase. The gallery has swivel screens so that it can open up for events making it a multipurpose space. Beyond the gallery is the arts and crafts studio, which takes advantage of the views to the east. There is thus a visible connection between the sites of art production and exhibition. Moving up a level, users enter the dance studio which is suitable for a variety of body movement classes as well as self defence classes that can empower community members and assist in the prevention of rape and abuse. The dance floor opens out to the roof terrace above the caf?, gallery and art studios. This allows classes to be conducted both inside and outside to create unity between self, community and environment. 127 (www.gettyimages.com) (www.gettyimages.com) 129 Initial programmatic sketches 131