Learning from The Existing Infrastructure To Create A Site-Specific Architectural Response Which Can Address The Growing Youth Homelessness In Cardiff

16-25-year-olds are currently disproportionately impacted by homelessness in Cardiff, but the city is yet to accommodate the demographic effectively. The Foyer model for housing is one such effective means. By looking at homelessness holistically, the Foyer model seeks to provide accommodation which prepares dwellers to transition from insecure accommodation to secure accommodation successfully. The Foyer model is rooted in the virtues of education and employment as a means of fostering personal development.

Initially established in Post-War France, the original model sought to provide youth accommodation for a growing trend of mass-urbanisation into war devastated cities. As such it sought to provide a relationship between its young dwellers and their surroundings. Whilst ‘foyer’ directly translates into English as ‘hearth’, its closer translation would be ‘home’. This is also true of its Welsh translation – ‘yr aelwyd’ meaning both ‘hearth’ and ‘home’. Yr Aelwyd seeks to provide a home by linking itself with its context. The mixed-use development provides education, employment, and recreational opportunities for dwellers and the public alike.

As such its blends public and private spaces subtly whilst ensuring safety and security for its inhabitants. By undertaking surveys and interviews with staff and residents of the provisions currently available in Cardiff, this thesis was able to achieve a better understanding of the situation. First-hand accounts allowed a more informed approach to design and subsequently began shaping the brief. By investigating the issues with the current provisions, an architectural response was formed; strengthened by anecdotal evidence and existing architectural literature. The 100 dwellings at the development meet and surpass current demands whilst ensuring a density and scale appropriate to make the proposal feasible. The familiar scale of the dwellings at Yr Aelwyd fosters ideas of domesticity and the materiality creates a link to the site’s heritage. The architectural response was one which responded to the site’s history, context, socio-economic and political situations, and its future. With a mixed-use past itself, the site informed the initial layout of the proposal.

By reintroducing the canal, the layout can be orientated based on its programme. It does so by creating a linear canal side park which links Butetown with the City Centre and as such it removes the boundary currently placed by the homeless facilities to the North of the area. This thesis demonstrates the gaps which exist in Cardiff’s current homelessness provision and by using existing literature and models it addresses this with an architectural response rooted in its place with suitability for future redevelopments.