The term wellness has been kicked around a lot in healthcare design circles lately. But what precisely do we mean by wellness? And, assuming wellness is a good thing, how can designers create healthcare facilities that enhance wellness?
Responses to those questions are embedded in a rigorous case study on “salutogenesis”—“the origin of health,” a term developed by Israeli American medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky in his 1979 book, Health, Stress and Coping.
Three healthcare designers at GBBN Architects, Cincinnati—Angela Mazzi, AIA, ACHA, EDAC; Marcene Kinney, AIA, LEED AP; and Jon Hofmann, AIA, LEED AP—wondered why healthcare environments are seen as places where the experience of treatment is worse than the disease. Instead of being a place of dread, they wanted to know: Could a hospital provide a therapeutic environment that is “truly immersive, encouraging a patient to feel at ease and be engaged?” If so, would that promote wellness?
To test this hypothesis, the team studied one of GBBN’s own projects, The Sanya Fuwai Center. Situated on 15 acres in the mountains of the tropical island of Hainan, in China, it is more like a resort than a hospital. It provides complete inpatient and outpatient care, along with complementary therapies in a spa and hotel to allow for “relaxing, resetting, and recharging.”
Their report, “A Healthy State of Mind: Psychosocial Triggers to Wellness,” explores “psychosocial behavior cues” that provide an antidote to the anxiety and isolation that patients experience in most healthcare settings. They discuss four “salutogenic design drivers”—prospect and refuge, sense of coherence, relaxation response, and the science of happiness (who knew?)—and discuss their impact on five types of spaces: quiet, communal, casual, interactive, and season.
The GBBN researchers found several factors contribute to a psychological state that is receptive to healing:
• Incorporating elements that visually reference familiar positive environments, such as retail, residential, and recreational spaces. Provision should be made for walking paths, work areas, areas of contemplation, and destination points.
• Allowing choice and control in how the environment can be used and manipulated, through the provision of movable furniture, “personalization areas,” and variety in the types of spaces.
• Reinforcing the level of socialization appropriate to the activity within the environment through the use of proxemics—how much space people feel it necessary to set between themselves and others.
• Connection to nature for wayfinding and as a focal point within a space. Access to natural light is another key dimension of nature.
Download the 28-page paper at http://bit.ly/29SNsqA.
Read about more innovations from BD+C's 2016 Great Solutions Report
Related Stories
Great Solutions | Nov 8, 2018
Public canopy system can be reconfigured by drones on the fly
The installation combines cyber-physical building materials constructed from lightweight carbon fiber filament with a collection of autonomous drones.
Great Solutions | Sep 28, 2018
When pigs fly? How about when cows float?
Merwehaven Harbor in Rotterdam will be home to the world’s first floating farm.
Great Solutions | Sep 17, 2018
Curtain walls go circadian
Catering to our natural circadian rhythm is a task designers are taking to heart.
Great Solutions | Aug 8, 2018
Warehouses rise up to serve downtown
Multistory industrial buildings provide the best chance at keeping up with the rapid growth of e-commerce in North America.
Great Solutions | Jul 13, 2018
Fungus may be the key to colonizing mars
A Cleveland-based architect and a NASA Ames researcher have a novel idea for building on Mars.
Great Solutions | May 14, 2018
It’s not Ripley’s loader, but this industrial exoskeleton makes physical labor a breeze
SuitX modules can be used separately or combined to form a full-body exoskeleton.
Great Solutions | Apr 5, 2018
IAQ monitoring for all
San Francisco startup Bitfinder debuts a commercial-grade version of its air quality monitoring system.
Great Solutions | Mar 9, 2018
Forget the wall thermostat: Wear one on your wrist instead
The Embr Wave Wristband acts like a personal thermostat and could become a user-friendly component in building energy-saving strategies.
Great Solutions | Feb 8, 2018
Stackable steel modules speed building core construction
With this patented, steel-and-concrete hybrid system, the service core will no longer be the schedule bottleneck on new construction projects.
Great Solutions | Jan 10, 2018
Blue lagoon technology brings the beach anywhere in the world
From coastal resorts to inner cities, these large-scale clear-water lagoons offer a slice of paradise.