Earlier this month, David Hamel and I took a trip to Christopher’s Haven, a home for children with cancer located adjacent to Massachusetts General Hospital. We brought our HTC Vive Virtual Reality equipment to offer a fun and playful escape for the kids and families.
Christopher’s Haven is more than a place for the children and their families to stay while undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy. We soon realized the facility also creates a comforting support system made up of the ten families living on the second floor of the apartment complex. At the end of the hall, a community space called “The Loft” serves as the social center for the families.
The organization also arranges a volunteer program that includes college students coming to cook dinner for the families and entertainment such as movies, arts and crafts or a magician. Earlier this month, Dave and I were lucky enough to provide the entertainment for the evening.
A group of about ten people from Christopher’s Haven joined us as we took them through a few demo games and stereoscopic videos. Some of the kids were a bit shy and were just as content with watching their parents experience the virtual reality. After the initial apprehension, the families started using the equipment and were amazed by the experience. We were happy to give the families a way to take their minds off their stressful schedule and hospital visits, and relax just a little bit with others going through similar circumstances.
The group thanked us for stopping by, but Dave and I gained much more from the experience. It was a humbling night that truly puts life into perspective. We look forward to our next visit to Christopher’s Haven!
Sandrine Héroux, Sophie McKenzie, and Emily Chowdhury are each members of our in-house Fabrication team. Their day-to-day work centers on a simple question: what changes when design becomes something people can physically test?
These women challenge the notion of fabrication as a support service, framing it instead as an essential component of architectural authorship, a way to test ideas, share agency, and widen the boundaries of what architectural practice can include.
In our most recent blog, they discuss their individual paths in architecture and reflect on their experience using fabrication as a tool for fostering shared agency, community engagement and broadening the role of the architect. Link in bio!
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