ALIVE INSIDE

by Anna Gregory

Alive Inside is a dance school located in Primrose Hill, dedicated for people over 60. It provides classes that encourage movement for those with deteriorating bodies and minds to feel ‘alive inside’ and reduce social isolation. The beauty of dance can reconnect someone, to parts of themselves that they might have forgotten.

This proposal encapsulates an ETFE system, comprising of pneumatic cushions restrained in aluminium extrusions and supported by a lightweight structure. When you have Dementia, you are lost in time as much as you are lost in space. Therefore, semi-permeable modular cushions, create a freestanding multi-sensory interior, that helps occupants to orient space using textiles and light. Whereas, the structure is like a drawing in space, marking out the territory and framing key visual landmarks to prompt memory when cognitive mapping fails. It also acts as a modest furniture walking intervention so, occupants intuitively wayfind yet feel in control. *Vola Winner for Best Design Diary*