URBAN THERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENT A Cancer Research and Rehabilitation Center
Mission Statement The design of today’s health care environments is primarily focused on the advancement of medical technology and the facilitation of staff efficiency and patient quantity rather than experiential quality. For these reasons, the environments in which we treat those suffering from both acute and chronic illnesses become less focused on the positive experience of the patient, and more intimidating to the surrounding community in overall physical scale and character. A cancer center is proposed as a vehicle for reconsidering the scale, design, program, and outreach of medical facilities. Cancer generally requires several consecutive visits to health care facilities and extended periods of treatment per patient, and such facilities can be separate from major hospitals. This presents unique design opportunities to improve the quality of patient experience; maintain the focus on staff efficiency; facilitate community outreach; and promote interaction amongst patients, staff, the surrounding medical community, and the general public.
Re-thinking the current model
This project is located in Corryville (Cincinnati), Ohio in order to foster an innovative “urban therapeutic environment” while also preserving the proximity to surrounding medical services. The design responds to the scale of the surrounding area while creating a ‘campus’ that encourages community involvement as well as internal interaction. Easy transitions among the various facility programs, and the use of large public spaces in conjunction with private courtyards and gathering spaces at various scales will create a less intimidating medical environment and a more comforting facility focused on promoting both physical and emotional health.
Learn
Heal
Diagnosis Patients are informed of the procedures / treatments that will hopefully cure them of cancer. This process is completed through a series of consultations, recommendations, and sellf-education techniques.
Armed with the knowledge of the time period in which the treatments will take place, the severity / number of the treatments necessary and the intended outcome at various intervals, the patient enters into a physical and mental battle to survive.
Live This aspect of the process constitutes both the beginning and end of a grueling process that can take anywhere from a few months to several years. Patients’ lives are changed on both an emotional and physical level. Lifestyle adjustments are made and treating the disease in the most efficient manner becomes top priority. Maintaining a sense of normalcy becomes a goal.
The Cyclical Model The proposed model is a more cyclical process in which the patient receives a diagnosis, is presented with the facilities to cope with and deal with the effects of the disease through a more socially focused arrangement and is informed of and encouraged to participate in complementary treatment methods along with their medical treatment. Our current health care environments do not suggest, much less promote, this type of model.
Consider This...
Exterior Rendering - Central Courtyard
Creating the LEARN - HEAL - LIVE Center Considering the Needs of the Users and the Community
Heal
Live
Live
Integrating the medical and social needs of the Corryville area. Mega-hospital design has dominated the community’s landscape for years. How can a new type of institution engage with the surrounding community as well as those seeking medical care?
m a r g o r P e h t n g o n i i t t a n t e s e m f i e Impl sical Man y h P A
Learn
Learn Program 27’-0” Roof Elevation 15’-0” 0’-0”
Highland A
ve.
-12’-0”
Parking Level 1
39’-0” Roof Elevation
Burnet Ave
.
Live Program
Holistic Health Center / Research Offices Holistic Health Center / ACS Offices / Community Center / Classrooms
Heal Program
Donahue S
t.
Ground Level Plan Scale: 1/32”= 1’-0”
^ N
27’-0” 18’-0” 9’-0” 0’-0” -12’-0”
10 Single Living Units 10 Single Living Units 10 Single Living Units 10 Single Living Units Parking Level 1
51’-0” Roof Elevation 39’-0” Chemotherapy / Infusion Therapy / Exam 27’-0” Chemotherapy / Infusion Therapy / Rehab 15’-0” Examination / Consultation / Research 0’-0” -12’-0” -24’-0”
Breast Center / Main Lobby / Pharmacy / Radiation Oncology Parking Level 1 Parking Level 2
Interior Rendering - Community Center
Implementing a Cohesive Architectural Language Merging the Various Programs
How does the community come to terms with the realities of cancer and can an architectural typology aid in this process? What characteristics of the facility itself promote social interaction amongst patients? Patients and visitors? Patients and medical staff? A comprehensive architectural language will be employed that will both establish the institution under a single goal yet serve to differentiate between the various functions Private and public spaces will use both landscape and architectural design to provide patients / family / visitors / medical staff a comfortable stay
A Connective Strategy
Structural Wall
Tactility and materiality in design will reinforce the positive effects of environment and play a key role in the psychological and social aspects of the space
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Central support system for the main stariwell along the southern facade of the medical facilities building. Column systems on either side provide support for the various floors and glazing system to the south.
SECTION BREAK
NORTHERN FACADE OF MEDICAL FACILITIES
Similar system employed in the residential facilities and Holistic Health Center / Community Center.
Exterior Column System
Acting as support for the roof structure, a series of arching columns (steel columns with wood veneer) will be placed (every 10’-0” OC) along the facade. They will respond to the the scale of the particular facility to which they correspond
Infusion and Research Offices Operable louver system provides the appropriate amount of transparency depending on the types of activities occuring at each level of the medical building.
Residential Courtyard
Exterior Louver System
Infusion and Research Offices
With activities such as radiation treatment and imaging occuring at the lower levels and infusion treatment and research occuring on levels 2 through 4, the louvers can be adjusted to allow the desired amount of daylighting in each space.
Exam Rooms and Consultation Center
0’-0”
Radiation Treatment and Imaging Center
Parking Garage Level 1
Access Bridge Beyond
Connects the third level of the medical building with the fourth level of the residential units
Shared Courtyard
Medical and Residential Units
Parking Garage
Accessed off of Donahue St. to the south
Accessed off of Highland Ave.
Parking Garage Level 2
Accessed off of Burnet Ave.
Section Scale: 3/32”= 1’-0”
Exterior Rendering - Living Facility and Medical Center
Defining the Edge Creating the Coral Reef
A Challenge to Designers... “To make hospitals more hospitable, the edges of their campuses should live like coral reefs - full of energy and activity pulling neighborhood residents in rather than shutting them out... so in addition to offering traditional treatment, health care providers in the city have a public health role to play. Community based planning should be utilized to produce hospital programs and services that address what ails the community, and not merely what physicians and health care administrators know how to do.”
Cincinnati Children’s Medical Facility
Wanda Jones - Hospital Reformist Quote from 1993 Manifesto
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University Hospital Emergency Services
University Hematology and Oncology
Cincinnati Cancer Research and Rehabilitation Center
Relationship to UC Medical Campus - Small Scale
Exterior Rendering - Entry Drive off of Burnet Avenue