Hospitals can no longer be thought of as simply healing machines--they are healing organisms. It is Nature that permits every miracle of medicine, and it is Science that permits our understanding of medicine. By combining the two into a single idea, we aim to strike a balance between the duality of Nature and Technology, in order to design a space that relies more on the healing powers of Nature and less on the intrusiveness of Technology.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary Catherine E. Kingery-Page / Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is one of the fastest growing heart, cancer, and rehabilitation hospitals in the southern United States. Although once characterized as one of the greatest modern innovations of the early century, the exterior is now outdated (DCH, 2009). However, as the hospital has increased in size and new additions constructed the identity and character of the once prized facility have been lost. Today the existing campus is a juxtaposition of mixed architecture styles and hastily planned construction efforts. The patients and employees of the Druid City Hospital believe that the exterior of the hospital fails to reflect the diligence and care being given within (DCH, 2009). The creation of a unified and cohesive exterior landscape would bring a strong connection between the interior and exterior and once again showcase the hospital as a marvel of it’s time. Through the implementation of spaces designed specifically for rehabilitation, the design of a cohesive landscape will address the current needs and existing conditions of the Druid City Hospital. The application of a health care garden typology and rehabilitative design elements adapted from Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes as well as the American Horticultural Therapy Association will aid in the design solutions and creation of acohesive and rehabilitative landscape for the Druid City Hospital.

Improving the quality of remaining life for individuals who are terminally ill and their families is an issue that has become increasingly important in recent years. This issue has evolved from perceived deficiencies of conventional health care institutions in meeting the needs of people who are in the final stages of their life, when curative measures are no longer deemed appropriate. In response to deficiencies in care of the terminally ill and their families, there has been a movement toward humanizing conventional health care and making it more holistic. Hospice care, which is consistent with this movement, has evolved as an alternative to hospitals and nursing homes. The purpose (of this study was to investigate the physical environment (building and grounds) of a free-standing hospice facility to identify the features that would contribute to the design and renovation of other hospices and health care facilities that plan to adopt a hospice program of care. In this study, an attempt was made to examine how architectural factors combine in a hospice setting to meet the needs of the dying and their families and those who work in hospices. Specifically, this study used a qualitative, case study approach to describe and develop an understanding of the feelings and experiences of the users of a particular hospice facility concerning the physical environment of that facility. Post Occupancy Evaluation Methodology, which is a process to assess the performance of the built environment after it has been occupied for some time, was employed. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed three distinct environments within the facility to be of major importance to the users when discussing the physical surroundings. The three separate areas of importance were the grounds, the administrative offices, and the patient care unit. The findings of the study will be of use to designers, architects, and planners, as well as hospice advocates, as they will assist them in conceptualizing essential components of hospice design and in creating better hospice facilities in the future.

The Pre-Project Phase of building construction manages the communication between client organization, user groups and designers. Disconnects and miscommunication in this phase may result in a product that does not fulfill the expectations of the parties involved. It is expected that the adoption of more formal methods can streamline the communication and improve its precision. Based on a literature review, a triage of methods is introduced: (a) a method for initial criteria management, supported by the EcoProP software (developed by VTT in Finland); (b) a method to rationalize and manage criteria in relation to the design organizational instruments, supported by the QFD ProP software (developed by VTT in Finland); (c) a method that supports multi criteria decision making, supported by a range of commercially available software tools. In order to assess the effectiveness of these tools they have been applied in the specific case of Pre-Project Phase of a healthcare facility. A Case Study on a concrete discrete decision problem is dealt with. It concerns the choice between a central medication room and patient room dispenser closets (also known as Nurservers). The Nurservers Case Study is used to evaluate the applicability of the proposed criteria gathering, ranking and decision methods in the Pre-Project Phases daily practices. The claim that these rational methods increase efficiency, precision and satisfaction of the parties involved in this phase is investigated. The thesis evaluates how the introduction of rational methods benefits the communication between stakeholders.

My diploma thesis occupies with project documentation for building of house with the day care, with conformity of legal regulation and technical standards. My work solves the buildings dispositions with proposal of right construction system and supporting system with using right materials, important for me was the integration into near built-up area on the periphery of town. My diploma thesis evaluates the building from the point of view of building physics. It verifies warm-technical and sound-isolating properties of constructions, from the suggested materials and it verifies the materials with standards values.

This study investigates, within the current health care situation, the interrelationship of the user, resources and tool in the design of a prototype WELLNESS database-driven web site. A shift has taken place in health care, in which the base of conventional medicine has broadened to integrate other systems, practices and worldviews. These include complementary and alternative medicine, health promotion, disease prevention and wellness. Emphasis is placed on the need to take personal responsibility for one's own health and wellness. The global burden of chronic disease, reaching epidemic proportions, is increasingly linked to risk factors resulting from personal lifestyle choices. The growing evidence of the user's need to make personal, informed, lifestyle choices and their reliance on the Web for health information, required investigation. WELLNESS, a specific orientation to health and wellness, formed the framework within which the user and resources were defined and the tool designed. The user was profiled as the WELLNESS health information seeker, hereby contributing significantly to an understanding of the user in this new context. The user profile informed the establishment of resource selection criteria and tool design. The identification of WELLNESS content selection criteria, within a five-dimensional model, was required to ensure quality, relevant and credible resources. The tool is comprised of the WELLNESS thesaurus and WELLNESS database-driven web site. The WELLNESS thesaurus was constructed based on a combination of relevant thesauri. It will be used as an indexing tool. An investigation of existing health information web sites highlighted the importance of designing a specific WELLNESS database-driven web site. A database host was identified against which the original study's conceptual schema was assessed. A low-fidelity prototype web site was designed as the interface between the WELLNESS health information seeker and the database of WELLNESS health information resources. This study has epidemiological, philosophical, epistemological, sociological and psychological relevance. The provision of access to WELLNESS health information resources, made available in the WELLNESS database-driven web site, for personal, informed lifestyle choice by the WELLNESS health information seeker could potentially contribute to the reduction of the global burden of chronic disease. / Information Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

This study investigates, within the current health care situation, the interrelationship of the user, resources and tool in the design of a prototype WELLNESS database-driven web site. A shift has taken place in health care, in which the base of conventional medicine has broadened to integrate other systems, practices and worldviews. These include complementary and alternative medicine, health promotion, disease prevention and wellness. Emphasis is placed on the need to take personal responsibility for one's own health and wellness. The global burden of chronic disease, reaching epidemic proportions, is increasingly linked to risk factors resulting from personal lifestyle choices. The growing evidence of the user's need to make personal, informed, lifestyle choices and their reliance on the Web for health information, required investigation. WELLNESS, a specific orientation to health and wellness, formed the framework within which the user and resources were defined and the tool designed. The user was profiled as the WELLNESS health information seeker, hereby contributing significantly to an understanding of the user in this new context. The user profile informed the establishment of resource selection criteria and tool design. The identification of WELLNESS content selection criteria, within a five-dimensional model, was required to ensure quality, relevant and credible resources. The tool is comprised of the WELLNESS thesaurus and WELLNESS database-driven web site. The WELLNESS thesaurus was constructed based on a combination of relevant thesauri. It will be used as an indexing tool. An investigation of existing health information web sites highlighted the importance of designing a specific WELLNESS database-driven web site. A database host was identified against which the original study's conceptual schema was assessed. A low-fidelity prototype web site was designed as the interface between the WELLNESS health information seeker and the database of WELLNESS health information resources. This study has epidemiological, philosophical, epistemological, sociological and psychological relevance. The provision of access to WELLNESS health information resources, made available in the WELLNESS database-driven web site, for personal, informed lifestyle choice by the WELLNESS health information seeker could potentially contribute to the reduction of the global burden of chronic disease. / Information Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)