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

Simonsen, TPH, Brown, SD ORCID: https://orcid.org/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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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:	85
ISSN:	1353-8292
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.healthplace.2023.103169 DOI 1863818 Other
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	15 Feb 2024 09:46
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2024 09:46
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50869

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