A series of curated nodes guide the user on a therapeutic journey towards the central Chamber of Reflection.

The rhetoric of local need has been developed in response to declining mental health and high suicide rates in Neath Abbey, Wales, through undertaking an act of change. This was defined as ‘repairing’ and ‘celebratory’.

The concept was defined through ‘kintsugi’, a Japanese practice that seeks to emphasise the beauty of imperfection within ceramics. Here, gold lacquer is used not to recreate what once was, but to highlight the item’s flaw and transform it into something even more valuable than it was before. The aim is to normalise the act of engaging with difficult mental health, proving fundamental to the everyday experience.

The curated hempcrete nodes each respond to unique mental health criterion, from the solitary cabin to the performative music therapy pavilion. The central scheme within the ruin is centered around an auditorium ‘chamber of reflection’, with a stage for the local choir to perform. A curated journey encourages users to weave between nodes, facilitating a free journey that allows users to ‘stumble’ across other nodes within the context. The terrain blends into the ruin, as the landscaping captures a numinosity that encourages the user to descend into the ruin and engage with the fragmentary and the flawed.

From the masterplan to the tectonic detail, the project proposes a celebratory ‘kintsugi’ repair, that seeks to recognise the inherent value within the flawed context. The community is encouraged to engage in a free yet purposeful journey of repair. Through the nodes, a multi-sensory experience guides the therapeutic journey.