CHARLES JENCKS

Landscape designer and architectural historian

The Architecture of Hope Cancer Care Design

Married and partners in creating Maggie Centers

Stephen Verderber Maggie Keswick

Architectural researcher & professor of architecture with research focus on healthcare design & wellbeing

Innovations in Hospital Architecture and Hospice Architecture

Verderber references Gehl in book Sprawling Cities and Our Endangered Public Health (2012). Both share philosophy of influence of urban design on human condition

Writer, artist & landscape architect popular for her heartfelt writings on her cancer experiences

A View from the Frontline

Cofounders of Sustasis Foundation, a research group which looks to collaborate contemporary thinkers in the field of human environment

Co-authours of The Architecture of Hospitals (2006) Have given seminars together in the field of health space design

Professor of architecture frequently cited internationally for evidence based design

A View through the window may influence recovery

Sternberg referenced Charles & Maggie Jencks in her book Healing Spaces, the Science of Place and Wellbeing (2013) & their Maggie Center in Dundee by Gehry

Architect & urban design consultant Professor of medicine & psychology

Cities for People & Life Between Buildings

Healing Spaces, the Science of Place and Wellbeing

Share philosophy of human psychology within architecture & urban design . Focussing on human centric design

Cancer Center

Architectural Placebo Effect

Architectural manipulation of space can act as a catalyst in creating a healing environment that may affect the physical and psychological behavior of the patient.

A thought-provoking example of this is Roger Ulrich’s work in fitting architectural equipment in hospitals. The equipment led to patients recovering at rapid rates despite medication dosage remaining same or even going lower. The equipment was nothing other than a window that looked onto a scene of nature.

Charles Jencks conceptualised the Maggie Centers in 2010. He was a firm believer in the architectural placebo effect.

The therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors, are emphasized by placing the single-story building in a pleasant garden landscape.

Sliding glass doors, skylights, and generous glazing blur the lines between the indoors and outdoors and allow for natural light and garden views.

A kitchen with a large communal table is located at the heart of the building and surrounded by a variety of spaces, from private niches to an exercise room.

Support offices are placed on the mezzanine level, while a greenhouse on the south end offers people the opportunity to work with their hands and garden.

Lord Norman Foster states:

“Our aim in Manchester, the city of my youth, was to create a building that is welcoming, friendly and without any of the institutional references of a hospital or health centre –a light-filled, homely space where people can gather, talk or simply reflect.”

Factors contributing to the positive emotional responses:

Orientation

Recognisable surroundings help patients orient themselves and adjust to newer spaces.

Circulation

No obstructive or alienating elements present; this exhibits continuity in circulation.

Geometry

Local building style used.

Nature

The built environment is integrated with natural landscape which elevates mood.

Wayfinding

Presence of an ambulatory path around the landscape helps people navigate through the space.

Case Study

Alzheimers Village

France by NORD Architects

NORD Architects have created a community living concept integrating the individual residents, the health care staff, and the local culture and nature, so everyone, from relatives to researchers, will experience living in an environment that prioritises dignified aging.

Recognisability creates continuity and a sense of belonging. Alzheimer’s Village is designed to create a safe environment, in which residents, relatives and health care professionals all get a feeling of well-being, which is also a major prerequisite for providing qualified care. The architecture of Alzheimer’s Village caters to the needs of both communities and individuals, providing each resident with options that are reassuring and diverse.

Alzheimer’s Village has integrated familiar functions within the complex – a grocer’s, a hairdresser’s, a restaurant and a market square – reminiscent of the residents’ previous lives in their neighbourhoods.

The architecture style has an explicitly local feel, featuring elements from the local building materials. The built environment provides a cultural extension that alleviates the transition from living at home to living with a severe mental illness in an Alzheimer’s centre.

The complex is integrated with nature, transforming the existing landscape with its characteristic ancient pine trees to a recreational space, where residents can relax or go for a walk within the area. A path runs through the landscape, drawing its own loop, so none of the residents will experience dead ends or get lost along the way.

Factors contributing to the positive emotional responses:

Orientation

Strategically located in the masterplan on the primary circulation path.

Nature

Garden connects indoors and outdoors through large openings extending into campus pathways.

Illumination

Use of glass and translucent walls for large openings ensures maximum natural light as well as frames views of the outdoors throughout the day.

Colours

Expressed through extensive views of the gardens and use of oak in the interior evoking a sense of calmness.

Case Study

Duke Student Wellness Center United States

by Duda | Paine Architects

The Center weaves health and wellness together into everyday student life, with Student Health, Nutrition, Counseling and Psychological Services, Wellness and Case Management programs coming together under one roof.

This facility both answers the needs of clinical care and expands the role of wellness in ensuring healthy students.

Strategically situated between athletics, student services and residential complexes, the building abuts Duke’s historic forests and a primary campus circulation path.

The transparent two-story entry brings natural light into the building and allows for views of the outdoors. Oak harvested from the site was used extensively for interior surfaces and exterior seating.

A contemplative garden reinforces connections to nature and extends to campus pathways. A monumental entry stair follows a translucent wall up through the lobby to celebrate the intersection of care, prevention and social interaction in achieving wellness.

Public and private functions are layered—the entry is open, but presents circulation options for students seeking care, privacy, socializing or wellness programs.

Factors contributing to the positive emotional responses:

Volumes

Circular windows providing outdoor views to landscape.

Colour

Use of primary colours uplifts mood of students and acts as micro-wayfinding elements.

Illumination

Ample daylight through multiple large windows and atrium space.

Circulation

Introverted corridors opening into the atrium provide a near-ambulatory circulation which helps students orient themselves inside the school.

Case Study

KLE Sanskruti Pre-primary School India

by Shreyas Patil Architects

Sanskruti School is an exclusive pre-primary school for an already existing school campus at Gokak. The planning philosophy is directed by considering the psychological and physical needs of kindergarten children who have tendencies to explore spaces with exciting avenues and colorful vistas with minimum boundaries. The campus stands in the foreground of the existing buildings.

The architectural language of openness, continuity, vibrancy, and unity is noticed throughout by the positioning of the courtyards, classrooms, staircases, corridors, and double-height spaces which connect students across grades.

In response to the shape of a triangular site, three blocks are looped into each other enveloping all the spaces around a central triple-height courtyard.

The circular windows and the colorful Brise-soleil in shades of yellow and red are a metaphor for the kindergarten kids’ energetic nature. The indoors and outdoors are framed through circular fenestrations.

The massing of the built form is created by stacking rows of classrooms within the three sides of the triangular shaped site. With a rhythmic twist and turn of these blocks, a volume of cubes jutting out at perpendicular and angular degrees assists in creating simple yet powerful volumes.

Factors contributing to the positive emotional responses:

Volume

Volumes created are suitable for children, not imposing.

Nature

Outdoor spaces as extension of classrooms and openings framing the landscape; responds to visual and olfactory systems.

Circulation

Seamless integration of indoors and outdoors.

Illumination

Ample daylight through multiple openings of various sizes.

Colours

Expressed as materials responding to the visual and haptic systems.

Case Study

Athenia High School India by Studio Next

Athenia High School is located off the main Saharanpur-Dehradun highway. The serene and green natural surroundings provide a vibrant setting for an activity focused K-12 school. The school believes in a transformative learning experience where students grow both in and out of the classroom.

The G+1 junior school building is primarily designed with the intention to trigger the senses. The built environment sensitises the students to color, light, texture, smell, sound. The students are always connected and have a vision of the outdoor spaces as they move all through their building enabling them to experience various sounds, smell, light.

Varied textures and colors is experienced by using natural materials such as exposed brick & concrete on the façade and mosaic & Kota stone flooring. There is play of light through openings and brick jaalis at various locations, which change through the day as the sun moves.

Outdoor spaces are an extension of the classroom and promote participatory engagement. The outdoor and indoor spaces are seamlessly integrated which resonates with the school’s open ideology.

Ample daylight, cross ventilation, projections, jaalis achieve comfortable environment in the classrooms and reduces energy consumption drastically.

Why is nature a health factor?