Architecture of Healing environment

4.3 ARCHITECTURE OF HEALING ENVIRONMENT

Depending on the individual’s requirements and viewpoints, healing settings get arranged in a variety of ways. In 2004, the Samueli Institute created the term Optimal Healing Environment (OHE) as a definition of a healthcare system aiming to initiate and promote families’, patients’, and care providers’ innate healing potential. Individuals in relationships, their health-generating activities, and the physical world together make up an OHE (Sakallaris et al. 2015). The external surroundings set up a favourable material environment helping the body, mind, and soul find serenity, happiness, and vitality. The ambient aspects of healing environments, such as colours, sound, light, temperature, and air quality, are the most important factors to consider. When it comes to controlling the stress of users, physical surroundings are essential. Internal, interpersonal, and behavioural involvement of its occupants must receive supports in healing settings. The primary goal of the design research is to promote morbific prototypes of symptom management towards the material world that supports health. (Sakallaris et al. 2015)

Biophilic Design is a kind of architecture that inspires inhabitants to connect with nature in order to establish a healthy habitat for them to inhabit. There is proof that Biophilic Design is a beneficial approach in decreasing mental pressure, boosting brain inventiveness, enhancing wellbeing, and speeding up the healing progression in the built environment (Browning, Ryan, and Clancy 2014). The fourteen patterns of Biophilic Design Elements have been divided into three categories: nature in the spatial patterns, natural analogue patterns, and nature of spatial patterns, according to an article published by Therapin Bright Green (Browning, Ryan, and Clancy 2014). In his essay, Stephen R. Kellert argued that Biophilic Design is about humanity’s role in nature and the natural world’s place in human civilisation, not only about greening the space design by adding plants (Kellert et al. 2008, 7). Nikos Salingaros (2015) supports this assertion by further claiming that creating a biophilic environment requires more than just adding green components and technology; the structure of the building itself must try to be therapeutic. Then, he developed “Eight points of Biophilic Effects,” a set of variables that can contribute to practical Biophilic experiences that can be used as a standard to measure the effectiveness of Biophilic Design interferences. Life, Curves, Fractals, Gravity, Water, Color, and Light are those eight points of Biophilic Effects from Salingaros (2015).

View to nature

A view of nature has been shown in several studies to act helpful in assisting patients to relieve stress and discomfort. According to Ulrich (2006, 41), numerous windows with views of wildlife are a beneficial architectural component since they can alleviate psychological anguish and help patients heal faster. Because people’s perspective of nature is beautiful, pleasant sights are vital in offering comfort and delight to the victim, and the resulting pleasant mood can be beneficial to their health (Ulrich 2006, 41).

Figure 10. View to nature illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 11. Garden illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 12. Indoor plants illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le.

Garden

Several hospitals have begun incorporating “healing gardens” even within their buildings to accommodate family members, patients, and employees. The reason is that patients’ contact with wildlife will enhance their health and wellbeing due to such various processes as promoting access to social support, physical activity and providing appealing and revitalising vistas. (Malkin 1992, 73)

Indoor Plants

Plants have long been associated with personal wellbeing and identified as a calming and therapeutic thing. Giving plants or flowers to a sick friend is an intuitive concept supporting the increasing theory that indoor plants and flowers may enhance individuals’ wellbeing (Malkin 1992, 75).

Natural Light

According to recent research, natural light plays a vital role in helping individuals feel better and recover quicker. Daylight gives the necessary warmth to give one’s house a welcoming atmosphere. (Karlin & Zeiss 2006, 1377)

Figure 13. Natural light illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 14. Colour illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 15. Water illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le.

Colour

Colour perception and pigmentation harmony can have a direct influence on our emotions. The psychological impacts of colour are profound, and the advertising industry makes considerable use of (and misuse of) them. Colours and colour harmonies are favourite mediums for interior designers to influence persons’ psychological states. (Salingaros and Nikos A. 2006)

Water

The presence of water, whether stationary or flowing, produces a relaxing sensation. Water’s stillness offers calm, allowing for a pure meditation process to take place. Moving water, on the contrary, not only covers road noise by generating harmonic sound in places, but it also has a solid physical presence and may provide exciting or relaxing sensations, comparable to waterfalls in environmental settings. (Malkin 1992, 237).

Gravity

Numerous studies have shown that looking out the window at nature can help patients reduce stress and pain. Pleasing sights can give comfort and pleasure to the patient since, in general, people perceive nature to be beautiful, and thus generating good feelings can help health (Ulrich 2006, 41). Multiple windows with views of nature, according to Ulrich, are a beneficial architectural component since they help minimise psychological discomfort and speed up patient recovery time. (Ulrich 2006, 41) Many hospitals have begun to incorporate “healing gardens” within or even within their buildings to accommodate patients, family members, and employees. This is because patients’ access to nature will not only give appealing and restorative vistas, but it will also enhance people’s health and wellbeing through other processes such as physical activity and facilitating access to social support. (Malkin 1992, 73)

Figure 16. Gravity illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 17. Fractals illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le. Figure 18. Curves illustration. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le.

Fractals Curves

Plants have long been associated with individual wellbeing and have become identified as a calm and therapeutic thing. The intuitive beliefs and practices of bringing plants or flowers to a sick friend lend credence to the accumulating evidence that indoor plants and flowers can enhance people’s health. (Malkin 1992, 75)

5. Case Study