Healthy Environments, Healing Spaces by Timothy Beatley Carla Jones & Reuben Rainey

Author:Timothy Beatley, Carla Jones & Reuben Rainey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Figure 1. Natural forms and materials at Credit Valley Hospital near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, covey the sense of a safe haven. (Tom Arban Photography)

It was clear that “first in the hearts and minds” design would not be achieved through generic elements derived from corporate office park and hospitality design. Recognizing that people are at their most emotionally vulnerable in a hospital setting, the design draws on a range of elements and concepts from nature that overcome stress and worry. Every aspect of the experience is designed to make patients, staff, and visitors feel better. It was agreed that this legacy project would communicate the message “you are in good hands here.” CVH’s strong new identity was also intended to motivate donors and attract the best staff.

Everyone understood that an anonymous steel structure would reduce Credit Valley’s vision to empty words. Two fundamental questions kept everyone focused: “What are the most basic needs when patients are worried or feeling vulnerable?” and “Do we have the courage to advocate for human-centric places that truly provide healing and hope?” When we asked cancer patients what is important to them, they responded, “Cancer is a devastating illness; the space we come to for treatment should give us hope.” When asked what gives them hope, they said, “Something that is alive!” Such insight, gained through conversations with patients, reinforced the hospital’s resolve to carry through with a design inspired by nature.

Implementing this breakthrough design required not just perseverance and vision, but also the ability to attract champions who could envision Credit Valley Hospital as more than a “healing environment.” It could be a place that causes health.

When you walk in the front door, the soaring tree-like shapes create feelings of both protection and inspiration. These shapes look like trees as well as function like trees. Similar to a walk in the forest, there are places of canopied refuge as well as open spaces that provide visual orientation. The clustered seating areas promote social interaction in natural safe havens with openings to a larger field of vision.

The plan has organic aspects while overall being a clear and logical arrangement of space. The prevailing sense of being sheltered (“in good hands”) in this enduring biophilic space is reassuring. Other health-causing elements are the “lanterns” that bring natural light down into the radiation treatment area.

The curved lines of the dynamic wood elements convey the energy of life. All of the structural components are glulam Douglas fir, which, in addition to being a warm, natural material, truly improves with age. In contrast to sterile finishes that are manufactured to be perfect and therefore subject to damage, wood has a genuine quality and texture that gains character with imperfections over time. As imperfect beings, human are comforted by such natural imperfections.

The combination of nature-derived materials, shapes, and spaces achieves Credit Valley’s vision to be “first in the hearts and minds” of its community. This dramatic architectural and social centerpiece for the hospital provides a special identity that appears on recruitment advertising and the hospital’s website.

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