PROJECT
interiors
Light, Sound Contribute To Comforting Experience Duke Cancer Institute’s Quiet Room serves as an oasis, addressing users’ physical and emotional needs.
T
he Quiet Room at the Duke Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Cancer Center in Durham, NC, is a meditative oasis for individuals, families, and staff facing emotional, life-altering
events. Set within, and in contrast to, the rectilinear lines and the hubbub of the cancer-treatment facility, the Quiet Room’s curved walls and textured surfaces, awash in soothing sound, light, and color, provide a calming sensory experience amid the Cancer Center’s institutional atmosphere. The Cancer Center administrators wanted a self-contained oasis that would serve its users’ differing emotional and physical needs. The designated site was located incongruously across from a wig shop and pharmacy, near elevators, and beneath public restrooms. There was no access to skylights or daylighting. Further, regulations prohibit water features in hospitals, which presented an obstacle to the Quiet Room’s desire for a meditative focal point. “Time is an essential part of both treatment and healing, so I want-
ed the room’s experience to transcend and echo the passage of time,” explained Turan Duda, FAIA, founding principal, DudaPaine Architects of Durham. “I wanted a place to lose yourself in.” Driven by the desire to accommodate a range of human emotions, Duda created three rooms within one. Labyrinthine rings of paths, walls, seating, and canopies lead to and encircle a central sculptural feature. This configuration of spaces presents opportunities for varied, intimate activities from private conversations to guided meditation and yoga. The single room provides contemplative space for one to a dozen people. Though water features aren’t permitted, Duda nonetheless sought to provide a fountain-like focal point for the space that would offer the calming influence of water. He commissioned a layered glass installation from glass artist Ken von Roenn (Kaiser/von Roenn Studio
Above. The Quiet Room at the Duke Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is a meditative oasis for individuals, families, and staff. Photos: Courtesy DudaPaine Right. Through simple references to nature and subtle manipulations of light and sound, the Quiet Room’s small space provides a gently shifting experience and a soothing, meditative oasis.
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COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE
NOVEMBER 2017
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com
