Rehabilitation center for physically disabled people

Rehabilitation means the ability to restore someone to health. This rehabilitation center was designed for physically disabled people for whom the definition of normal has changed. This change brings both physical and psychological challenges. They have to learn to focus on their abilities rather than disabilities.

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change" - Stephen Hawking The decision to design this rehabilitation center for physically disabled people was based on two factors. The first one was the location of the site, as the site is located in Lefke, North Cyprus, next to sea and is surrounded by nature. It gives you a sense of adventure which is physically challenging. The other factor was the idea of rehabilitation center itself as earlier they were designed to isolate people but now they are designed to help integrate people back into society. Both of these factors target the fears of physically disabled people. As they think they are not physically capable anymore and they develop social anxiety since they are physically changed they don’t consider themselves conventionally handsome anymore. So the idea was to help them get rid of their fears by focusing on their abilities rather than their disability. This idea was the base of the concept upon which this rehabilitation center was built which is "The Drive within..." The idea involved five stages of success and stresses the fact that you can rise up to greater heights despite having a disability. The first stage is the decision stage which has human chess as an activity and provides psychological therapy. Then the second stage is the patience stage and has gardening activity which provides psychological and aroma therapy. The next stage is third stage called drive stage which has sitting spaces and provides psychological therapy and also targets one of their fears. The fourth stage is called perseverance stage and has an activity of sitting volley ball which provides physical therapy which targets their second fear. Then the last stage is called success where they have their own paradise in the form of fruit trees in the courtyard and they can reach the fruit and pick it - both literally and figuratively. These stages are the core element of the building and tie all the blocks together also. The other blocks are also designed to help them get better. They are fitness block, educational & vocational block, administration & entertainment block and residential block.