Amicus

illustrarch Team23 January 20242 Mins read265

Vanja Divic

Umeå, Sweden

2022

@divic.vanja

Since the early 1980s, patient parents in Europe have been allowed to stay overnight in the patient rooms. During this time, it was scientifically proven that parents are the primary source of psychosocial support for their children in the hospital (Shepley, M. n.d). However, the size and overall architectural design of the rooms were never adapted to the doubling of the occupancy rate. Research is urgently needed to better understand the needs and preferences about family accommodation during a child’s hospitalization.

The purpose of this project is to reach young patients’ mental health and physical independence by challenging the current set-up of patient rooms used by young patients in long term recovery from cancer treatment. Research is questioning the mental health in young patients after they have gone through therapy treatment and need to go back into social life. Patient rooms are the space where kids spend most of their time and design needs to compliment their stay during the process of recovery after the intense treatment. This could be achieved by implementing the concept of rooming-in. Additionally the parents and siblings needs are included in the rooming-in concept in order to reach the support for the whole family .

By carefully designing these rooms we can encourage their physical independence which can improve mental health. This principle is the foundation for the design of the other spaces in a care center. Rooms with different levels of privacy and different programs can encourage patients to be more independent and feel like themselves despite the health condition thus resulting in better mental health as the final result. The project is a smaller care center based on universal and salutogenic design with an emphasis on mental health and patient independence.

The location is green hill under the name Hamrinsberget, north of the Norrland University hospital in Umeå. The care center is an addition to the existing hospital and it is placed on the top of the hill, in the area surrounded with greenery protected from noise. It is used by patients that are going through post cancer treatment recovery and are up to 18 years old. The project is divided into three phases : research for design with the support of theory, project context with a closer investigation into the site and volume and final design development.

The research methodology of this project includes a qualitative exploration of salutogenic and children-based design along with case studies with a similar topic. The research also includes workshops with children who spend some time in the hospital for different reasons as well as interviews with an architect, experience expert and a child psychologist.