Healing Aesthetics: A Cancer Care Clinic

Healing Aesthetics is the design of aesthetics that can heal the human body through the human mind. With a focus on the human experience, design can be manipulated to trigger positive psychological responses that result in positive physiological changes.

The project combines two programs, a Cancer Clinic that focuses on the physiological and a Cancer Care Center that focuses on the psychological. Ultimately, it becomes a Cancer Care Clinic that addresses both the physiological and psychological.

Research has allowed us to create 8 points of healing aesthetics that will be implemented in the project. (1) Windows with views to nature; (2) Forms that encourage natural light & air; (3); Stairs that are visible from the exterior; (4) Healing Gardens with different programs, (5) Hallways with views out; (6) Double Height entry spaces; (7) Natural Materials; (8) Forms that mimic the context.

*Note: The “8 Points of Healing Aesthetics” presented in this section have since been further refined and elaborated upon in subsequent research. The points discussed here may differ from the most current interpretation or framework.

8 Points of Healing Aesthetics

Precedent Research

Cancer Clinic

Cedars-Sinai Ventana Cancer Care Clinic

CEDARS-SINAI VENTANA CANCER CARE CLINIC

ARCHITECT ZGF

LOCATION TARZANA CALIFORNIA

SQUARE FEET 29,477

Cedars-Sinai Ventana Cancer Care Clinic is a clinic that acknowledges the architect’s role in the overall healing process of patients.

The clinic is designed in an on stage/off stage layout. It has a reception area that “flows into” a “living-room style” waiting area, which acts as a welcoming point to the rest of the spaces. This includes an infusion room with a pharmacy, a phlebotomy area, private consult rooms, and clinical spaces. The project draws inspiration from the design of first-class airplane seats and the interior design of hotels. The aesthetics, with designs that mimic sunrises and the use of natural materials, draws from patterns of biophilic design.

Their design concept, to create a space that supports “the journey of healing” through the use of aesthetics as “colour, materiality, and lighting”, which is intended to create feelings of “safety and tranquility”.

Their intent, to create a “treatment environment” that could “ease the mind and heal the soul” of patients.

A perfect case study to support the ethics of aesthetics as a healing component of architecture.

Keywords: Light, View, Materiality, Colour, Residential, Hospitality.

Cancer Care Center

Maggie’s Leed Center

MAGGIE’S LEED CENTER

ARCHITECT: HEATHERWICK STUDIO

LOCATION: HAREHILLS, UK

SQUARE FEET 5,000

Maggie’s Centers were created by Maggie Keswick Jencks, a garden designer, author, and cancer patient. Her ideology was based in creating a “blueprint for a new approach to cancer care”, which involved providing information, stress-reducing strategies, psychological support, and social support.

The design comprises three ‘planters’ that have counseling rooms. The heart of the design is the ‘kitchen’, which is a major design necessity in all of the Maggie’s Centers. The materials used are all sustainable, and mimic elements found in nature. The large glass facades also aim out towards views of nature while bringing in ample amounts of natural light. The design intent is to create a social and comfortable environment that feels ‘home-y’.

Maggie’s Centers often supplement hospitals and cancer care clinics, however, they can also aid in hypothesizing other methods of healthcare design

Keywords: Light, View, Sustainable Materials, Glass Curtain Walls, Plants, Residential, Home.