1. Healing architecture is bollocks
2. Faith is what you need - the architecture must support, enhance, & inspire this
3. Thus, the 'architectural placebo' - a belief that you will feel better in this environment, supported by:
- faith - staff, therapists, other patients, who also 'believe'
- calm - restorative surroundings
- contemplation - spaces which enhance spirituality and inspiration
- contrast - between these restorative surroundings and those that are not (reinforcement of the place)
- time - to live and dwell in these surroundings
- trust - no locks, no bars, no obvious fences - enclosure will be subliminal, implied rather than enforced
- home - domestic details, personalisation, imperfections, textures, smells, sounds of 'home'
- therapy - spaces to support this
4. Reasoning to produce the results will be based on inference or abduction rather than deductive reasoning (see end of previous post, 'Eating Architecture').
This helps to refine my critical question. Rather than asking if architecture can enhance the therapy of mental health patients, I should ask how does the architecture support the belief that the patient will get better/how does architecture inspire this belief or faith? (how does the architecture become the placebo?) But how would I ever prove or validate this?
This helps to refine my critical question. Rather than asking if architecture can enhance the therapy of mental health patients, I should ask how does the architecture support the belief that the patient will get better/how does architecture inspire this belief or faith? (how does the architecture become the placebo?) But how would I ever prove or validate this?
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