Nadeen Hassan

Studio led by Professor Julie Nelson

The Institute for the Study of Human Resiliency

An educative building that connects spaces, materials, and structures to educate its users on restoration while helping guests begin their healing journey.

The Institute for the Study of Human Resiliency reconnects individuals to nature, water, and elliptical movements to experience meditative and contemplative qualities. The project involved research into the science of healing through green space, blue space, and circular movements. It also included historic precedents such as cloisters, sanctuaries, and Zen gardens to understand how architectural elements (ex: arches and columns) were designed to promote healing.

The Queens Botanical Garden is a 39 acres garden located in Flushing, Queens at the end of a vibrant and busy stretch of Main Street. Adjacent to the main entrance of the botanical garden is a water channel, circular garden, and ellipses that reference a labyrinth. The intersection of these axis leads to the point of location, near the busiest corner at Main Street and Dahlia Avenue.

The Institute proposes a mixed-use project composed of the main research building, classroom pavilion, and a labyrinth garden. It employs concrete material to create different spatial characteristics through thin and thick walls to block street noise at the dense street corner, while being porous, through a perforated screen, looking to the garden. The path to the institute, influenced by the perforated screen pattern and its shadows, is derived from the extended elliptical axis.