WSU EUNOIA Volume III

COLLECTIVE
MARTIN TREJO | GRADUATE ARCH STUDIO | SPRING 2021
Comprised of an educational center,
community center with leasable office
space, and 70 residential units, the
Collective Project fosters positive social
interaction and energizes East Central
Spokane through four main principles:
(1) investing a large portion of the site
for active green space, (2) implementing
spatial variety for user experience
throughout building circulation, (3)
incorporating restorative program such
as volunteer, non-profit, and mental
health education into the space, and
(4) inspiring unscripted engagement
for families through community nodes
distributed throughout the site.
The Collective Project focuses on the relationship between social interaction and mental health while exploring design as a tool
for positive social interaction. Research has identified that social pleasure and social motivation decrease in humans starting from
early adolescence until the ages of 40-50 years old. This low social motivation could lead to lower social support, resulting
in poor mental health. This is especially true for adolescents in East Central Spokane, Washington. In fact, there are multiple
different factors that determine mental health status of adolescents, such as the quality of home life, relationships with peers, and
socio-economic problems. As a result, the risk of mental illness can be greater depending on adolescents’ living conditions,
discrimination, and/or lack of access to quality support or services.
By serving underfunded and underrepresented communities in the Spokane area,
the Collective Project strives to address the factors that threaten the mental health of
adolescents, and thus, tackle the issue of poor mental health among adolescents and
the general community.
Studio led by Mona Ghandi
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