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By Paul M. Sachner
Architectural Record
November 1988
page 108
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Photos © Mark Citret
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Alcohol abuse affects more people in the United States than any other form of drug addiction. Although alcoholism cuts across all economic, ethnic, and geographic barriers, no population is more vulnerable to the feelings of low self-esteem and isolation that so often feed this disease than single mothers struggling to raise children in poor inner-city neighborhoods. Recognizing that reality 10 years ago, a group of recovered alcoholics in San Francisco founded the Women's Alcoholism Center, an outpatient clinic located in the city's Mission District. W.A.C.'s underlying goals then, as now, were not only to address the specific problems of addicted women but also to break the intergenerational cycle of alcoholism by including children in treatment. In 1983, the Center's staff decided to take its successful day program a step further by developing the then-radical concept of a residential facility where women and their children could live together in a sober, structured setting. Far too often, the organization's founders had witnessed, women determined to recover from alcoholism were forced to release their children to institutional or foster care and hope to be reunited later. W.A.C., by contrast, offers a more humane alternative—a comprehensive treatment program whose intention, according to director Rhonda Ceccato, is “to encourage abstinence as a way of life while maintaining family unity.”
In 1984, W.A.C. turned to Asian Neighborhood Design (see page 104) for assistance in planning a new facility that would consolidate its day and residential programs into a single complex comprising separate but related buildings. Besides its role as project architect, A.N.D. helped W.A.C. obtain a conditional-use permit from the city and investigate public and private funding sources. Together, A.N.D. and the Center combed San Francisco for potential sites until they came up with a three-story bow-fronted row house on a double-width lot on Bryant Street (right in photo opposite). The architects converted the existing structure into a comfortable residence for 21 women and children, and designed a stylistically compatible 3,400-square-foot building next door—the Lee Woodward Counseling Center (left in photo opposite)—that houses W.A.C.'s offices, child-care facilities, and individual and group-therapy rooms. The two buildings are joined by an interior courtyard (top left) that maximizes natural light in both structures and provides a sheltered entry (bottom left) to ground-floor community rooms (Alcoholics Anonymous holds public meetings at the Center four times a week).
W.A.C.'s clients reside at the Center for periods ranging from six months to one year and, depending on income, pay between $400 and $600 a month for rent, food, and treatment (nearly all residents receive public assistance). During the first six months, residents spend at least four hours a day in individual counseling and group therapy; the rest of the time is occupied by household chores, including food shopping and preparing two meals a day. After six months, therapy continues, but on a reduced schedule that allows the women one or two days off a week for outside job training. Beyond all else, perhaps, the Center simplifies its clients' lives by giving them the physical resources and emotional support they need to carry out even the most prosaic everyday task. “A lot of real life-changing work gets done at the house just in the course of the women being with their children, cooking meals, and talking late at night with the house manager,” observes W.A.C.'s president, Mary Pat Power. “For the families living here,” she adds, “the house itself helps them heal.”
© Architectural Record
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Architect
Engineers
Consultant
General contractors |
More information on:
Women's Alcoholism Center
San Francisco
Asian Neighborhood Design
R. Thomas Jones, director of architecture
Harry Wong Leong, project architect
Lily Pai Soo Hoo, project manager
Kwan & Associates (structural)
S & J Engineers (mechanical)
Pete O. Lapid & Associates (electrical)
Jeffrey Miller (landscape)
Gonzalez Construction
PFW Associates
Landmark Building & Engineering
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