Initial thoughts...

Initial thoughts are that the focus of this thesis will be on phenomenology & architecture of the senses, particularly those ‘forgotten’ by architecture (smell, touch), in relation to hospital design. A more pragmatic research component will involve how to best represent these elements and ensure they don’t get lost in translation during the actual building process.

The programme will be a hospital or similar healthcare facility, most likely involving mental healthcare as these patients are potentially more sensitive to their surroundings than, for example, a maternity or oncology patient (the latter are already well represented in current research in this area).

Cultural elements are hugely important for some groups of society in aiding recovery from mental illness. These may include considerations of different cultural requirements for privacy (visual, acoustic, sensory), a sense of place or feeling of comfort in being in that environment. They often have a phenomenological component.

Many new hospital designs have an emphasis of making the environment appear welcoming and almost like hotel accommodation – I’m not convinced the latter is always desirable. For example, if you’re feeling anxious and out of control you may want the environment to make you feel like there are other people in control who know how to help you, rather a feeling of being in a strangely quiet hotel lobby (you can’t relax anyhow). Perhaps you want the security of knowing (and seeing) that there are efficient people and equipment to deal with any emergencies. This will of course depend on the medical emergency and cultural background of the patient. So  in addition, I would like to explore what the different users of these types of buildings require and desire from these places (the sometimes conflicting desires of healthcare professionals and patients from this perspective could be interesting).

 Critical Questions

Do phenomenological considerations, when used in the design of mental healthcare buildings, have the potential to enhance recovery from acute mental illness? How can these sometimes esoteric design components be translated with minimal dilution into pragmatic but enduring design?

(a) How do different building design elements aid the recovery of mental health patients? Do these have a phenomenological/sensory component and/or are they enhanced by phenomenological considerations? What relationships are there between the form of the building and these sensory elements?

(b ) Communication of these sensory design elements

How are sensory elements represented in traditional presentation formats and how can we ensure these are not lost during the building process (how to ensure they are not ‘lost in translation’).
If drawings are not adequate, how else should we represent and emphasise the importance of these elements? That is, how do we ensure that those working on the building understand the importance and relevance of these elements?

Key References 
Ackerman, Diane. A Natural History of the Senses. New York, USA: Random House, 1990.
Benoit, Jacquet & Vincent Giraud (eds). From the Things Themselves: Architecture and Phenomenology. Kyoto Japan: Kyoto University, 2013.
Boyle, Sheryl & Marco Frascari. “Architectural Amnesia and Architectural Smell.” AI Architecture & Ideas 9, (2009): 36-47.
Classen, Constance. Worlds of Sense. Exploring the Senses in History and across Cultures. London UK: Routledge, 1993.
The Smell Culture Reader, edited by Jim Drobnick, 187-189. Oxford UK: Berg, 2006.
Junichiro, Tanizaki. In Praise of Shadows. Translated by Thomas J Harper and Edward G Seidensticker. London UK: Vintage, 2001, 9-10.
Okakura, Kakuzo. The Book of Tea.
Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin. Chichester UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Zumthor, Peter. Atmospheres. Basel Switzerland: Birkhauser, 2012.

Also, recent thesis work (Sventje Rieber, David Chen plus others), the history of healthcare design, ancient hospitals, precedents, culturally significant elements when designing hospitals.

I’m also currently working for a practice which specializes in hospital design (Fitness Fleming Architects) so have contributed to the drawing sets for a couple of mental health units over the past year.