Thesis Book

Sober Living Home
&
Animal Shelter

Ohio University 2015
Interior Architecture Thesis

By Abby Collins

Personal Statement:

I grew up going to AA meetings with my father in Cincinnati.
My high-school best friend became addicted to heroin four years ago.
Recently he checked into a sober living home and is re-purposing his life one day at a time.
I am grateful my best friend and my father are alive today thanks to the recovery community.

Content

1 . Intro...................................Page1
2 . Site Analysis.....................Page3
3 . Design Process.................Page 9
4 . Floor Plans.......................Page15
5 . Interior Renderings..........Page21
6 . Inspiration........................Page37

Project

Sober living home for women

Most women have children, yet only one recovery residence in Cincinnati allows children.
Giving mothers a place to recover and grow insures a better future for their children.
Sober living homes are more successful than rehabs.
They bridge the gap between institutionalized care and everyday living.
Recovering addicts stay sober due to the support they receive from other addicts.

Sober living homes give residence the skills they need to survive with the disease of addiction.

Reason

Ohio’s Heroin Epidemic
“A Public Health Crisis”
19,000 Ohioans overdosed in 2014
366% increase in drug overdose deaths from 2000 to 2012

1,200 Ohio newborns were diagnosed with drug withdrawal syndrome in 2012, up from just 310 in 2005
Ohio has the 12th highest drug overdose mortality rate in the country

1

Concept

Re-Purpose

The neighborhood > community > residents
The building > Interior > materials

“The quest to breathe new life into something that has been discarded”

- ‘Rematerial: From Waste to Architecture’ by Maria Camila Sanjinés& Alejandro Bahamon

2

Site Analysis Over The Rhine
Cincinnati Ohio

Dubbed an urban waste land and Americas most dangerous neighborhood in 2000
Ranked #1 neighborhood in Cincinnati by popular City Beats magazine in 2014
The largest surviving historic urban district in the United States,
and home to the largest collection of 19th century Italianate architecture.

CINCINNATI

1

3

Year Built: 1876 The Kauffman Building
Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: George W. Rapp 1721 Vine Street
Acreage: 0.232 Cincinnati Ohio
Assessed Value: $31,400

4

History:
Built in 1876 by John Kauffman, owner
of the Kauffman brewery. Originally
constructed to house Kauffman’s
employees that worked at the brewery
down the street.

Significance:
One of the most architecturally
distinguished buildings associated with the
historic Brewery District in Over The Rhine.

Status:
The building suffered two serious fires
over the past two decades. It was declared
a public nuisance. Community action was
taken to save it from demolition.

Novembbeerr 211,,220000

Areal photo of building after fire

5

Street view from front of building Alley to left of building
View of back of building and Republic Street
6

Reason for this site

Location: (1725 Vine Street)

• Provide a valuable service for restoring & empowering the community
• Within walking distance of facilities to be utilized by residents (and vice versa)
• Located near Findlay Market and Street Car Route
• Located on Vine Street; A highly trafficed route to downtown
-Attract recoveing addicts from outside of OTR
• Storefront for animal shelter will attract adopters and volunteers

Building Size: (19,000sqft,4 stories)

• Large enough to implement rehabilitating functions in relation to resident occupancy.
- Animal Shelter, Rooftop garden, Yoga room, ect.

• Potentially more energy efficient and cost effective to condense sober living facility
- Instead of renovating individual apartments/ homes

Large Backyard: (6,000 Sqft)

• Necessary for Animal Shelter
• Therapeutic space for recreation and relaxation

Sun diagram Front Elevation

7

Community Map

11 10 6 Sober Living Home

9 7 1721 Vine Street
8
1 Free Store Food Bank
12 5 2 Rothenburg Elementry
4 3 Womens Help Center
3 4 Soup Kichen
5 Employement Services
2 6 OTR Community Garden
7 OTR Recreation Center
8 Westend Daycare Center
9 Senior Services
10 Our Daily Bread
1
11 Findlay Market

12 Boys & Girls Club Of America

OTR Community Garden Findlay Market 8

Concept:

Re-Purpose

Design Process Considerations: Environmental Sustainability
Psychology
• Resident Wellbeing
•Economic Urban Renewal

- Non-profit organization Goal:

• Cultural Rehabilitation

- Respect for women
- Addiction stigma

Requirements:

• Therapeutic Environment
• Access to recovery community
• Connection with nature
• Engage with local community

2

9

Sober Living Home First Step Home
2203 Fulton Ave, Cincinnati,OH
Design Process
Brighton Center
Sober Living Homes are communal-living settings that provide safe affordable 375 Weaver Rd, Florence, KY
transitional housing for recovering addicts. There are 375 sober living homes
in Ohio and thousands throughout the US. There is no standard model of Charlie’s 3/4 House
sober living home; they range from more social & independent to more 2121 Vine St, Cincinnati, Oh
structured & institutionalized (similar to rehabs). There is limited research on
effectiveness of different models, and success rates per sober living home
are difficult to measure.
I began this project by touring three very different sober living homes and
interviewing the director of each. I then interviewed a family friend who
stayed at two of the three I had toured. She helped me understand which
functions within each home were most beneficial for her. Because I did not
design this project for a specific client, I combined the best aspects of various
sober homes into the layout of my design.
The animal shelter on the first floor is intended to be therapeutic for the
residents and the community. It allows some residents to keep their pets with
them, since most people consider their pets their family.

Various functions incorporated into my design: 
• Allows children (First Step Home)
• Mixture of newer and older residents (Brighton Center)
• Public AA/NA meeting room (Charlie’s ¾ House)
• GRE training space (Brighton Center)
• Yoga/meditation room (Freedom House)
• Large kitchen for cooking classes (Brighton Center)

Research:

“The National Institutes of Health found in a study of sober-living houses that drug
addicts and alcoholics who cycle directly out of inpatient treatment and into their old
lives and habits face a greatly elevated chance of relapse. Without sober-living homes
or other ways to bridge the gaps from total-immersion residential care facilities to
the unrestricted environments that they came from before entering care, compulsive
substance abusers are far more likely to revert to their old patterns of use very soon
after being discharged.”

“Sober living homes began to appear during the second half of the nineteenth century
when diverse addiction treatment services began to flourish. These systems collapsed in
the wake on the 20th century with prohibition.“Following this collapse, cultural authority
for control of those with severe alcohol and drug problems passed to the criminal justice
system (e.g inebriate penal colonies, federal prisons), to the emergency rooms and “foul
wards” of large public hospitals, and to the backwards of aging psychiatric asylums.
Compassion and care gave way to sequestration, punishment, and control ”(White,
2012). The resurgence of a specialized addiction treatment field took decades of
advocacy and development of replicable models of treatment between 1940 and 1965.”

10

Research

Concept Topics

“We must first realize that ecological and social and economic issues are all deeply intertwined.
There can be no solution to one without a solution to the others”.
- Jean-Michel Cousteau

Sustainable Design

American Design & The Environment Interior plants

• United States is home to %5 of the global population but • Improve mental health and reduce stress
produces 22% of the worlds green house gasses. • “NASA contracted an environmental engineer to preform a study on

• According to the EPA, transporation (cars, trains, airplances) house plants combating pollution. He exposed various plants to high
account for 27% of Americas green house gas emissions, levels of chemicals and found that houseplants were able to remove
while 48%, nearly twice as much, is produced by the 87% of air toxins in a 24hr period. NASA recommends 15-18 plants in
construction and operation of buildings. a 1,800 sqft home to purify indoor air. “

• %10 of the entires worlds greenhouse gas emissions are Passive solar design
produced by America’s buildigns
• Reduces heating, cooling and lighting energy consumption and cost
• The United States produces more waste than any country, • Improves indoor air quality
contributing 30% of total global waste • Heavily insulation greatly reduce exposure to street noise
• Maximizes natural light & natural ventilation
• 2013 - 254 million tons of trash sent to landfill. That’s 4.40
pounds per American per day. Indoor Air Quality

• In 2009, furniture accounted for 9.8 million tons (4.1%) of • According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2009;
household waste EPA, 2013a), indoor pollutant levels may be two to five times higher
than outdoor levels. Given that the average American spends about
Historic Preservation 90% or more of his or her time indoors, these indoor contaminants
are vital factors that may contribute major health problems,
• “The greenest building is one already built” -Carl Elefante including asthma and other respiratory problems, allergies, or even
• Reduces the need to extract, transport, and manufacture raw cancer-related deaths (EPA, 2013b).

materials from the environment for new building materials
• The EPA estimates that construction waste accounts for 25%-

40% of solid waste in sent to landfills each year.

11

Urban Redevelopment

“Sense of community is often defined as “a feeling that members have “Urban Regeneration has a substantial impact on all three dimensins,
of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the sometimes known as pillars, o f sustainability: society, economics and
group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their environment; it is therefore an activity of considerable importance to
commitment to be together” (McMillan & Chavis, 1986, p. 9). Ironically, achieving a more sustainable society. “(Na, 2014)
as our awareness of the benefits of a strong sense of community grows,
there are concerns that sense of community is declining throughout the “Successful community change requires
Western world” (Bonaiuto, Fornara,&Bonnes, 2003; Scopelliti &Giuliani, 2004). ownership of that process by the community ”

“A strong sense of community has been associated with improved -Ramsey Ford of Design Impact
wellbeing, increased feelings of safety and security, participation in
community affairs and civic responsibility” - Francis, Jacinta, Billie Giles-Corti, Lisa

Wood, and Matthew Knuiman. “Creating Sense of Community: The Role of Public Space.

Environmental Psychology

“We are dependent on our external environment in very direct ways Therapeutic Design
(Fitch, 1970). Our physical environments affect who we are as individuals
(Hall, 1970). We consciously and unconsciously react to the space • Empower and inspire
around us (Germain, 1981) as it stimulates emotions and anticipatory • Encourage safety and belonging
thoughts (Gutheil, 1992; Proshansky, Ittelson, & Rivlin, 1970; Resnick & • Increase sense of control
Jaffee, 1982). Consequently, our physical environment can reduce or • Reduce environmental stressors
increase stress as it affects physiological comfort (Fitch; Ulrich, 2000). • Positive distractions- stimulating and calming
Since our well-being is dependent on physiological comfort, attending • symbolic comfort of home
to the environment can have an overall beneficial effect.”( Goelitz 2008) • Foster social engagement
“Environmental psychology considers the role of external factors on
human behavior, viewing the relationship between humans and the “Addiction an adaption due to environmental factors"
environment as symbiotic. It evolved from the fields of behavioral
geography and urban sociology, and is based on perspectives of • “We have created human societies where it is easier for people to become
physical and social science” (Kopec, 2006). cut off from all human connections than ever before”
- George Monbiot ‘The age of loneliness’
Place Identity Theory
• “A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn’t bond as fully
• Through ‘good’ or ‘bad’ experiences with a place, a person is then with anything else” “Human connection is the cure to  addiction”
able to reflect and define their personal values, attitudes, feelings -- Professor Peter Cohen
and beliefs about the physical world.” - ‘Chasing the Scream’ by Johann Hari

12

Materials

Design Process

Environmental Sustainability
Psychology
Second Hand Furniture
Thereputic Design
thrift sotres, craigslist, antique stores
Symbolic comfort of home
Stimulating environment Material Re-use

Sense of community surplus, scrap, salvage, waste

Urban Renewal

Inspire & Engage
Community

Locally &Sources
Locally Assembled

13

Waste is the term people use to describe something they don’t know what to do with. This is the result
of a poorly designed system. Within nature this concept does not exist, all by products become food for
something else. The rate of consumption has far surpassed what the planet is capable of replenishing. 
Utilizing existing resources reduces consumption and creates sustainable employment.

Local Materials Inventory:

• Reclaimed wood
• pallets
• railroad tie
• fencing
• stump
• telephone pole
• wooden spool
• barn wood
• sheet metal
• garage door
• barn door
• shutter
• window
• 55 gal. barrel
• wire mesh
• iIbeam
• iron fencing
• pegboard
• PVC pipe
• metal pipe
• IBC tank
• bike tire
• car tire
• water hose
• shutter gate
• plastic crate
• railing
• bar grating

Doors

Shutters
Windows

14

Addition to Building

6,059 2,773 2,800
NASF NASF NASF

4,166 480
NASF NASF

Floor Plans Existing Building Shell & Backyard Existing Building + Addition

3

15

Building Diagram

4th Floor

Mom + Kid(s) Room

• 9 Total

3rd Floor

Single Room

• 4 Total

Mom + Kid(s) Room

• 7 Total

Green Roof

• 2,000 SQFT

2nd Floor

Single Room

• 12 Total

1st Floor

Sober Living Home Facility

• 3,031 SQFT

Public AA/NA Meeting Room

• 1,514 SQFT

Animal Shelter

• 2,530 SQFT

Backyard

• 2,773 SQFT

Total= 32 Bedrooms

16

1st Floor 15
14
Floor Plan
10
1 Animal Shelter Lobby
2 Cat Room 9 11 13
3 Animal Shelter Lobby 6 12
4 Public Interaction Rooms 8
5 Cat Isolation Room 7 16
6 Exam Room
7 Animal Shelter Office’s
8 Meeting Room
9 Storage / Wash Room
10 Shipping Container Extension
11 Dog Room
12 Dog Isolation Room
13 Resident Pet Interaction Room
14 Meeting Room
15 Yoga Room
16 Sober Living Home Office’s
17 Sober Living Home Lobby
18 Sober Living Home Office’s
19 Public NA/AA meeting room

5 19
4 18 17

3

2
1

17

2nd Floor 4

Floor Plan

Single Room

• 12 Total
1 Living Room
2 Laundry Room
3 Large Kitchen
4 House Shared Dinning Room
5 Outdoor Patio

5 3
1 2

18

3rd Floor Rooftop
Garden
Floor Plan

Single Room

• 4 Total

Mom + Kid(s) Room

• 7 Total

Kids Play Area

19

4th Floor

Floor Plan

Mom + Kid(s) Room

• 9 Total

Kids Play Area

20

Interior Renderings Meeting Room

1st Floor

4

21

Ceiling Design Option 1 Lecture Seating Arrangement Inspiration
100 Seats
Designed by Paul Caudamy

Requirements:

• Acoustics for lecture & share meetings
• Stackable/ light weight chairs

22

Meeting Room

1st Floor

23

Animal Shelter Lobby

1st Floor

24

Catroom Storefront

1st Floor

CAGE- FREE ANIMAL SHELTER

Similar to humans, cats and dogs are social creatures by nature. When isolated in cages they develop physical and mental
health problems (anxiety, depression, and aggression). Solitary confinement deteriorates the well-being of animals, which often
leads many to be deemed un-adoptable and euthanized. In America 2.7 million shelter pets are euthanized each year.
The cage-free animal shelter model has proven more successful at the promoting the wellbeing of homeless pets.  

For more information:
www.shelterrevolution.org/
www.cathouseonthekings.com

25

Front Elevation Design Approach - Arranging materials

55 Gal Barrel Telephone Poles Requirements:

• Seating for multiple visitors
• Litter-boxes hidden
• Play area within reach
• Access to other cat room

Tires Staircase Dresser Drawers

Inspiration

Ghetto 2 Garden Project

By Colectivo Revark and designer Tomás De Santis

26

House Dinning Room

2nd Floor

27

28

Living Room

2nd Floor

29

30

Entry Room

3rd Floor

31

Kitchen & Dining Area

3rd Floor

32

Bedroom

4th Floor

The Luna Crib Collection

By Casa Kids.
This crib can be transformed into a
toddler bed, a twin bed or even a bunk
bed, using just a few additional pieces.
33

Kids Play Area

4th Floor

34

Re-purposed Furniture

Locally Assembled

Create Jobs

35

Existing Used Furniture

Locally Sourced

Craig’s list
Thrift Stores
Antique Stores

36

Inspiration “What we really need down here are places to work.
We’ve got 16 year olds that have to support themselves and
they realize its better money to hustle than work at Kroger”

- OTR Resident

5

37

“I get $2.50 a pallet.
This is how I feed my babies”

-Columbus Ohio Resident

38

‘When we exploit the earth we exploit the people and create untold suffering.
Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, but a way to be rich.”-Paul Hawken

“I think we should look at design as gathering together
and revealing potential rather than just investing and
streamlining”
“We need to recognize, rearrange, and reuse so as to
create environments that are, even in some small way, more
beautiful, accessible, and affordable”
‘Grow seamlessly out of the urban landscape, but give
entirely new significance and meaning’
- Aaron Betsky ‘Working With What We Have’

39

“REFUNC is a laboratory for design based on the idea that
everything can be used to create another thing. They create
experimental structures based on local waste material flows.”
Their motto: “the world without a manual”.

“We see abandoned objects as a daily challenge”
“The streets are full of stuff, so it seems strange to us to go on buying new things”
“There is nothing difficult about what we do, anyone can do it”

-John Korbes of REFUNC

www.refunc.nl www.refunc.nl

Conclusion,

In my attempt to re-purpose human lives,
I can only do so through the built environment.

40