A new clinic that promotes healing through nature
Project Type - Clinic
Client - Icon Developments
Architect/Project Manager - Hoven
Quantity Surveyors - TMS Group
Year - Commencing 2022
Location - Johannesburg, South Africa
Project Size 4,000 m²
The philosophy for the day clinic design is to promote healing through peaceful interactions with nature. Interior spaces are designed to be environmentally calming and stress reducing.
The building explores the role of nature in healing, and the architecture seeks to bring natural elements into the clinic spaces to assist with patient recovery and to promote wellbeing. The building massing responds to the scale of the urban surroundings while the interior spaces adopt a more fluid and organic approach.
Throughout the communal areas, connections are formed to the landscaped gardens.
Day clinics are healthcare facilities that provide surgical services and allow patients to undergo diagnostic procedures performed on a same-day basis. Accommodation for recovery is limited, and not critically linked to the facility in the way that a hospital manages long-term recovery.
Part of the healing process is the ability to restore balance within the body. To connect with nature through a courtyard or balcony provides access to cleaner air, helps to reduce stress and anxiety, restore calm and bring about a sense of wellbeing. From a sensory perspective, plants provide the perfect combination of natural colour palettes to soothe and to bring life to a space, a textile or a brand identity, providing a diverse range of shades and hues.
‘In many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.’
- Oliver Sacks
‘A therapeutic garden is a health intervention and as a form of treatment, needs to be carefully tailored to the people who will be using it.’
- Sue Stuart-Smith
While science and technology are accelerating healthcare, the design of healing spaces need to follow suit. A patient’s physical surroundings can have positive effects on their ability to heal.
In healthcare, architects are expanding on the notion of health and wellbeing and are considering how the use of neuro-architectural principles can play a pivotal role in shaping human behaviour.
In the future, we will see a greater awareness of personal wellbeing and an increase in consumers taking an active role in their journey to health. Our role is to facilitate patient satisfaction through the healthcare experience.
