Biophilia and Salutogenesis as restorative design approaches in healthcare architecture

Abstract

This study demonstrates the needs for developing the design of our hospitals to play a tangible role in the restoration of their patients. The investigative review of research literature highlighted there is a growing movement towards creating these restorative environments by reconnecting humans to nature. Which is based on extended research and analysis of the reasons behind the failure of today’s industrialized hospitals and the potential of turning back to nature by adopting Restorative environmental design (RED) principles to benefit both building users and the surrounding environment. How to implement this approach in the design of ‘restorative’ hospitals is however still uncertain. By using the mixed methodology of literature review and case study, this article offers a new design framework to utilize the therapeutic impact of the connection with nature to alleviate people’s distress, depression, anxiety and pain, by combining the principles of salutogenic and biophilic design. The applicability of the framework is tested in analysing the design of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The result demonstrates that the framework appears to be theoretically useful in introducing biophilic design to the design community; however, more empirical and practical assessment is needed to examine the impact of biophilic patterns.