The Haven

Project Info

Appointment 2021
Type Commission
Client Private Owner
Size 5,163 SF
Location Tampa, Florida
Status Design
Principal Everald Colas, AIA, NOMA
Project Lead Daniel Nash Monsó
Designer(s) Kristel Bataku

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.