The Horace Mann Community Center for the Deaf
Allston, Massachusetts
Connecting to the core.
For this project, I wanted to reimagine the purposes of a community center. This being a Community Center for the Deaf I believe the integration of this building into both the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community is an extremely crucial component of the space.
The Main idea of this building is The Urban Integration which supports the assembly of both deaf and hearing communities. This is done by creating a lobby that connects the nearby Horace Mann School of the Deaf, to the Community Sports Fields, as shown in the image below.
Community Sport Fields
Floorplans
Unconditionally Connected
As Sustainable as it gets.
The Majority of the building is made out of Ashcrete, Ashcrete is a mixture of fly ash, borate, bottom ash, and a chlorine compound. About 93% of the resulting substance is made of recycled material, making it immediately more environmentally viable. Ashcrete is more acid- and fire-resistant than concrete, and also has higher compressive and tensile strength.