Traces of Repair

Several studies have demonstrated the connection between health and the built environment; our surroundings influence us. The project will be a rehabilitation clinic for patients recovering ecovering from trauma and physical injury. The ultimate goal is to provide a facility that helps patients regain independence and transition back to their daily lives.

The scope of the thesis is to explore a selection of elements that meet the needs of a specific target group. The diploma will focus on daylight, access to nature, and flexibility. However, several subcategories exist within these categories, such as color and materiality, multi-sensory experience, social life, physical activity, stress, and spatial orientation.

Daylight

The topic of daylight has been about the quality of light exposure, protection, and light experimentation. Since light sensitivity is a common brain injury symptom, it is essential that the building allows people to move through it without excessive sun exposure while still providing access to more daylight for those who benefit from it. 

Since the first room patients will enter is the reception, adapting it for light sensitivity is essential. This space requires a healthy balance between protection and exposure to daylight. The solution for this reception is to borrow daylight from light pools in rooms next door.  The space will also use indirect daylight through windows facing away from the sun.

The exercise room also plays with reflected daylight. With the help of daylight simulations in Climate Studio, it was possible to determine where the space could cath daylight from the south and southwest, filtering through the branches of the trees. The space utilizes daylight by reflecting it downward from a beam structure and walls that redirect the light through a circular opening in the room.

Access to nature

One of the challenges with designing healthcare institutions is to make psychologically supportive environments, primarily by limiting the stress associated with illness. Several studies suggest that being surrounded by natural elements can have a calming, stress relieving effect on patients. Private gardens can, therefore, have a positive impact. They don't only serve as views but also as social arenas and orientation points in the building. Several elements in a building can lead to stressful experiences for patients. Way-finding can be a major stress factor, especially for patients struggling with disorientation. An intuitive building layout and orientation points around the facility can solve this.

One of the advantages of the site is how close it is to hiking trails. These trails are popular for running, bicycling, and cross-country skiing. Physical activity is crucial for rebuilding muscles and creating muscle memory. The easy access to these trails is supposed to encourage the patients to improve their mobility in healthy environments. The rehabilitation clinic’s activity rooms and patient wardrobes are placed at the south end of the building for easy access to these hiking trails.

Flexibility

Trauma, especially brain injuries, can cause great variations of complex symptoms that require the rehabilitation clinic to be flexible enough to meet the different patients needs and difficulties. The activity rooms will be used as transformable spaces that is set to meet the individual needs of each patient. These can range from relearning how to paint again to decorating a table. Some patient will spend most time of their day inside their bedrooms. Therefore, it is important that the space in the central area is furnished and adapted for multiple use.

Nausea is considered to be one of the most common symptoms after a minor head trauma. That requires a spatial strategy of how to deal with the smell of food coming from the kitchen, offering the flexibility to either isolate it from or open it up to the rest of the facility. The scent may create a positive or a negative experience depending on the physical state of the inhabitants.

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Contact

Jacob Bringedal / jacob-bocaj@hotmail.com