Location: Knoxville, Mechanicsville, Tennessee;  Knoxville College Campus

Designer: Breanna Williams

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Design Year: Fall 2017

The campus of Knoxville College has stood as a beacon of hope to the African American Community of Knoxville, Tennessee since 1865. The campus is rooted in the labor, strength, hope, and determination of the students that attended. These students and their legacy of community servants and leaders is what the Family Sanctuary is all about. This Sanctuary will provide a service to the community of Mechanicsville and allow for an outreach for Knoxville College. The program acts as a domestic shelter for women and children in need. The housing units located in the historic faculty cottages will consist of four two-bedroom units, four studio apartments, and a standalone single-family home. These units open to a grand lawn in the rear. This space takes on many forms from a grove of trees for privacy and fun games of hide and seek to the peaceful garden located on the east end of the lawn. The east end also houses a humble community room that blends with the landscape. To the west end of the lawn sitting atop a hill is Wallace Hall. The former nursing school will house financial assistance, GED class, child care, psychologists, and housing assistance. Wallace will act as the threshold onto the college campus and allow for the residents to enter the campus. These resources are in place to create a stable ground for these families to
continue beyond this tragedy.

Reflection
 

Knoxville College Campus holds significant value to the lives of alumni and the African American community in Knoxville. This campus once presented opportunity to the neglected African Americans. The hope and opportunities that the campus once thrived upon is now dwindled, however, I perceive that the placement of a Family Sanctuary would allow for these values to still be withheld on the campus while presenting opportunity for future enrollment to the school. This design does purpose its challenges that I have fallen short in addressing. The issue of security is a very important part of a domestic shelter, and the facility I purposed does lack this necessity. The use of trees and groves has begun to buffer these edges, but not solve the issue. The residence staying at the sanctuary need to feel safe to heal and my neglect to place these measures in to my design is a down fall. Although this is true, the idea and research behind the design was a key driver for the design and became the design itself.