Naturally surveilled space: the design of a male drug rehabilitation center

The increase of drug addicts in Indonesia has not been supported by adequate facilities, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Despite being treated in a rehabilitation center, drug addicts may still use drugs surreptitiously and put themselves in danger. Architectural design may contribute to this either positively or negatively. This article elaborates a therapeutic design of a male rehabilitation center in the borderland of Bandung city, Indonesia. Employing the notion of natural surveillance, the rehabilitation center is designed to allow continual control over attendees without them feeling suppressed. The center design uses the behavioral approach to consider both attendees' physical and psychological comforts, as well as their security. Building masses are designed in a way that forms an inward orientation and are laid out circularly according to the therapy processes that attendees must undertake. Moreover, rooms are planned differently in response to attendees' unique conditions and restrictive physical requirements, such as their restriction on lighting and requirement of water for treatment. The landscape uses shady trees and vegetations as natural borders to demarcate the private zone, where attendees live, from the public area, where visitors may enter. The design is intended to provide a model for a responsive drug rehabilitation center that facilitates drug addicts' recovery.