Author: Nathalie Begin

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13:

All architectural spaces have the ability to support or hinder each person's wellbeing along their life journey. For patients, this idea becomes even more relevant. How are the spaces surrounding them, helping to aid in their healing journey? Healing is an ongoing journey towards a healthy state of living that is achieved with physical body healing, spiritual, cultural, and emotional healing practices, and is often measured by reaching certain stages in prognosis or milestones in recovery. Healing is a very complex and highly subjective practice. Many studies have discussed the linkages between the environment and mental and physical healing, and emphasized the importance of healing design research and of improving the quality of space design for people's healing. Since the mid to late 1900s, there has been ample research surrounding the improvement of hospitals and healthcare facilities to promote more significant healing for patients. Research has been conducted on various interrelated topics surrounding healing, including the negative impact of stress on healing, the benefits of nature on recovery, and the connection to the five senses during the healing process. The research surrounding healing and health care facilities is vast and dense. However, what happens to patients once they leave the hospital? How do they transition back to normalcy and return home from the hospital in a relaxed manner? This transition is typically not easy and has been identified as the area of focus and investigation for this thesis project. The motivation for this thesis project is to bridge the gap between hospital and home to ease the recovery process for people with physical conditions. This void is addressed through the identification of a set of five categories of design principles and the testing of these principles in the design of the transitional facility specifically designed to ease the healing journey and support people as they transition back to a sense of normalcy/remission before returning home. Background research on healthcare design, as well as site visits, case studies, and patient interviews, have created the basis for the identification of the healing design principles. In conclusion, this thesis project proposes solutions geared towards addressing the void in the healthcare industry in relation to the transition between the hospital and home. This thesis allowed for the compilation of a substantial list of healing design principles that can be applied to any environment. A transitional facility typology is proposed as a possible solution to this issue in Detroit. Through the careful design of a transitional healing facility, this project offers a new perspective on how architectural spaces can support the healing journey to promote ease and remission. Watch the thesis video here: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/6e6ee5d6-2e88-4003-b233-05b513907464