4.2 ‘Healing Spaces’ Literature study

TANGIBLE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN HEALING

SENSORY ENVIRONMENT:

Deals with the relaxation and calmness of all the five senses, the peacefulness of these senses help in contributing towards healing.

TYPOLOGY OF COLOURS

For instances blue color of walls in a hospital results in reduction of aggression levels of the patients. Red and Yellow are often associated with excitement and engagement.

LIGHTING:

Natural light leads to faster recovery versus poor natural light leads to fatigue and depression.

MATERIALS:

Raw, exposed, warm. Materials true to its nature.

FORM/SHAPE OF ROOM:

Right angle is a key feature in our built environment, this recti linearity makes a person feel constrained. As nature is nonrectilinear, so the form/shape of the room or living space should also be organic.

figure 4.2 (a) zen garden pathways figure 4.2 (b) collage by author

figure 4.2 (c) psychology of colors figure 4.2 (d) collage by author

figure 4.2 (e) light and shadow play figure 4.2 (f) collage by author figure 4.2 (j)

SLOPE:

When a person climbs up the surface, negative acceleration is induced and person feels the fatigue provoking sadness. When a person goes down the slope, positive acceleration is induced as person feels exhilaration and thus provoking joy.

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SCALE OF ROOM

Size of room affects our mental health. For instances, bigger the size of the room more the feeling of discomfort and less social interaction. If the size of the room will be very small then there also will be discomfort maybe because it is overcrowded, because of such space the social interaction will also be very less, thus size of the room should be made according to agronomics otherwise will create a feeling of discomfort.

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LAYOUT OF ROOM:

When people suffering from PTSD were asked about the layout, they said they prefer circular layouts than square layouts as it there is more space in circular layout of then room. In square or rectilinear layouts, the field of view is restricted because of the corners of the room. Whereas, in circular layout the field of view is infinite without any restrictions.

figure 4.2 (g) warm colored material use figure 4.2 (i) collage by author figure 4.2 (m)

INTANGIBLE ROLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN HEALING

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COMPLEXITY OF SPACES:

Complexity refers to the variety and diversity in spaces. When there is lot of complexity in a space then confusion is created and this leads to stress. Also when there is very less complexity in a space the space becomes very monotonous and legibility of the space decreases, this also leads to stress. Thus, the spaces should be adequately complex, this will reduce the basic stress of human beings.

POSITIVE DISTRACTON THROUGH SPACES:

Positive distraction or good distraction needs to be created when people want to relieve their stress or are disburdening themselves by talking to a therapist. This can be done when their focus shifts from the particular problem to something else like a piece of art, a soothing table top, fountain etc.

COHERENCE IN SPACES:

Clarity and comprehensibility of spaces in buildings is called coherence of spaces. Stress occurs when there are incoherent spaces, which are generally created when size, texture, colour and other design elements have a sudden shift adjacent to other design elements. Coherent spaces can reduce stress levels.

LEGIBILITY OF SPACES:

Legibility is the ease of understanding the spaces in the spatial configuration. Regular geometric shapes of building, views of the external environment make a space more legible. Thus legible spaces reduce stress of people in an environment.

INCLUSIVE ARCHITECTURE:

“Inclusive” architecture refers to any space that can be seamlessly used by all the user groups possible in that particular context. Objective of truly inclusive design must be to make these spaces as barrier-free and convenient to use as possible. Inclusive spaces also have the potential to enable and empower users. [19]

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