aurora commons

Aurora Commons is a community hub for many unhoused people in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle, WA, and with a several years long partnership with Harborview Medical Center, provides basic medical and social work care. The expansion of their space into the adjacent suite granted them the opportunity to expand their care into a permanent medical clinic. The beauty of this organization is that their mission is people-centered in a very genuine way. Those who come for assistance are not patients or visitors, even if a large motivation is to receive services, but are foremost neighbors and friends. They are active participants in the vitality of the space, which I could feel the moment I walked in. This informed the design concept and process, with close attention paid to the principles of trauma-informed design, to enliven the built environment to reflect the generous warmth the people bring to the space and support the sustainability of the staffs’ services so every community member can experience wellness as fully as possible. 

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