This thesis discusses the role of side openings in museums, in relation to users’ visiting experience.The research particularly focuses on the feature of view, analysing if the connection with the outsideenvironment provided through windows, results in an enriched museum’s experience and enhancedcultural identity. The analysis is based on the case study of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, wherethree rooms with stronger, moderate and weaker connection with the outside environment have beenevaluated through visitors’ surveys. Results show that the public revealed considerable awarenessabout windows and their landscape and yet the view was rarely considered a distracting feature. Theavailable literature on daylight in museums hardly includes view among the acknowledged daylightbenefits, and, also due to the difficulty in controlling the daylight intake, side openings have gained abad reputation in the museum field. However, as in the analysed case study, the view was consideredby many as an enriching part of the visiting experience, this thesis calls for further research on therole of view in exhibition rooms and on how to include it properly in museums’ design.

As the greatest considerations in health-care design have traditionally been functional —hygiene, efficiency, and flexibility for changing technology— hospitals have evolved to become dehumanizing spaces. In this thesis two specific groups of chronically ill children who have among the longest inpatient stays are studied: cancer and organ transplant patients. Being under immunosuppressive drugs, these children are physically vulnerable thus are kept completely isolated. These long stays and isolation can be very depressing for them. This thesis undertakes the challenge of designing a fully isolated space that doesn’t feel like one or in other words “a micro-town within a bubble”. The author intends to achieve this goal through strong visual connections, natural lighting, and creative space planning.