The Haven

Type: Commission
Client:
Size: 5,163 SF
Location: Tampa, Florida
Status: In Progress
Principal in Charge: Everald Colas AIA, NOMA
Visualizations: Storyn

The Haven is a sanctuary that aims to reconnect people, revitalize, and promote a future to a neighborhood in Tampa. As a renovation project, it negotiates between a previous building’s past and present physical structure while providing a platform for its new inhabitants to acclimate to the next chapter in their lives.  Defined as a halfway house, the Haven offers residents a space to rehabilitate, heal and interact into life outside of prison with direction from counselors from a nearby Church. There is a material engagement starting with existing masonry walls that unfold into new walls that wrap and terminate with a whole new facade on the upper level. The existing old structure stands in stark contrast with the new one, but it is resolved through a convergence of the two. The overall form generates a material slippage where the entry is positioned, arriving at communal programmed spaces which serve as a “keystone” and anchor to the more private neighboring programmed areas. This building aims to celebrate the importance of community in the journey towards rehabilitation.