Vitality and nature in psychiatric spaces: challenges and prospects for ‘healing architecture’ in the design of inpatient mental health environments

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Simonsen, T.P.H., Brown, S.D. ORCID: 0000-0001-7841-3225 and Reavey, P., 2024. Vitality and nature in psychiatric spaces: challenges and prospects for ‘healing architecture’ in the design of inpatient mental health environments. Health and Place, 85: 103169. ISSN 1353-8292

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103169

Abstract

Historically, nature has been considered central to healing and recovery in institutional mental health settings, with inpatient spaces designed to mirror the restorative forces nature may afford. Within contemporary healthcare architecture, the discourse surrounding nature’s role has once again become prominent, especially in the concept of ‘healing architecture’. While the literature on ‘healing architecture’ primarily considers how to connect recovery to nature through interventions in the built environment, less interest has been directed towards how nature is configured in design processes and what implications that has for the everyday experiences of patients and staff. In this paper we consider the design and implementation of one particular psychiatric hospital in Denmark to show that the ‘nature’ brought into this healthcare space can be experienced as anything but ‘natural’ and may reduce rather than enhance a felt sense of ‘vitality’ amongst patients. Based on our analysis, we end the paper by suggesting four principles for future healthcare design.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Health and Place

Creators:

Simonsen, T.P.H., Brown, S.D. and Reavey, P.

Publisher:

Elsevier BV

Date:

January 2024

Volume:

ISSN: