LANDSCAPE

 
The earliest hospitals in the western world were infirmaries in monastic communities where herbs and prayer were the focus of healing and a cloister garden was an essential part of the environment. Over the centuries, the connection between healing and nature has been gradually superseded by increasing reliance on technical approaches. The idea that access to nature was all but lost. In recent years however this idea and its importance in the design and development of contemporary healthcare facilities is now becoming widely appreciated once again.

We believe in a comprehensive, integrated approach to the design of healthcare facilities which combines our experience of creating exemplar public realm with sensitivity to specific needs of the user to create a holistic healing environment.

 

We appreciate the landscape setting can be healing and restorative on a number of levels. The aesthetics of nature creating a beautiful verdant space that provides a powerful enticement to go outdoors. The combination of being outside in a natural setting, experiencing sunlight, viewing trees and flowers, listening to the sounds of water and birdsong can have measurable stress relieving benefits.

Our design approach focuses on the important qualities of the spaces created such as; providing opportunities to experience nature, sensory stimulation, feelings of safety and comfort, providing privacy and solitude and is fine tuned to respond to differing medical conditions and cultural influences. However we believe that the provision of these spaces is only part of the story. We would ensure that these spaces are contained within an overall cohesive masterplan. Circulation and spatial hierarchy will be developed and a unified palette of materials will be utilised to bring about a series of varied spaces and routes that minimise stress and maximise healing. The use of art and hard and soft landscape materials to facilitate wayfinding thereby reducing the need for extensive signage is one example of how this may be achieved.
 

 

 

 
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