St Wilfrid’s Village

Year | 2016

Location | Sheffield, UK

Clients | St Wilfrid’s Centre 

St Wilfrid’s is a day centre for vulnerable adults, opened five days a week, providing assistance to 50 individuals each day. Various services, such as welfare and personal development, alongside a range of activities are delivered by a team of staff and volunteers. These activities include a wood workshop, pottery studios, a photography club, and various arts/ drama groups. The centre currently has about 130 volunteers who form a key part to the St Wilfrid’s community.

The initial brief set out by the client looked to solving the immediate issues of the existing building. The main objectives were as follows:
– To improve accessibility, usability and appearance
– To make the workshops a healthier and safer place to be
– To think about what might be…

The Live Project Team recognised that a long term vision for the centre could be developed. This would celebrate the potential of St Wilfrid’s, and provide a greater variety of services for a larger number of people. Observing the excellent work undertaken at St Wilfrid’s, it was noted that the ‘Five Ways to Well-being’ closely reflect the ethos of the centre and could be used as a framework for future development. The ‘Five Ways to Well-being’ are a set of evidence-based actions, adopted by the NHS, promoting people’s well-being; Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give.

Through meetings with the client and engaging with centre users, proposals for ‘Today’, ‘Tomorrow’, and the ‘Future’ were generated. These three moves suggest both a long term and more immediate vision for the centre. The more immediate changes re-imagine the existing building and site, improving the layout of services and enhancing the quality of these spaces. The ‘Future’ vision proposes development over the adjacent site, increasing capacity and placing it within the wider context of the city of Sheffield. The ‘Five Ways to Well-Being’ are embedded within each of these propositions, ensuring service provision continues to be both holistic and engaging to a large number, and diverse group, of users.

This project celebrates community, demonstrating that St Wilfrid’s has the potential to become a significant and vibrant centre, enabling users to grow in confidence and well-being together. Collaboration between the Live Project team and centre stakeholders has informed a rich project dealing with both spatial strategy and design aesthetic. These are presented through a series of documents and playful animation.