Healthcare workers' overall performance and patients' well-being are crucial to wellness design and the overall productivity of the working environment. The purpose of this thesis is to narrate how natural light - a key aspect of biophilic design - can give great health outcomes and enhance the placemaking of a healthcare setting.
Hence, this dissertation attempts to deal with placemaking and formation as an inside-outside dialogue that connects users to nature by implementing the idea of transitioning natural light through space and structure. In doing so, lighting explorations were conducted as series of physical models and case studies to help understand and analyze various effects of light at different times of the day.
These explorations narrate a story about the journey of the medical worker and the patient throughout the setting of the apertures, walls, path, and canopy. Also, in response to the topography, a south-facing aperture wants to be framed, while a north-facing aperture can be an open wall, a smooth polished continuous wall and path can act as a canvas when the filtered light falls on it, while rough fragmented walls rise from earth acting as structural walls, and a cluster of trees can act as a natural canopy to provide shelter from the sun, while a steel canopy can shelter other areas from the rain or sun. / Master of Architecture / Biophilia, the innate human instinct to connect with nature, is a foundational concept to biophilic architecture. This concept seeks to enhance the well-being of users when in a human-made environment, by incorporating vital aspects of nature in a building. Therefore, applying a biophilic-based design approach to a high stressed place like a hospital can be worthwhile in numerous ways to patients, their families, and healthcare workers. The thesis addresses the aspects of Biophilia and looks deeper into the effects and benefits of natural light in a healthcare setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/105035 |
| Date | 20 September 2021 |
| Creators | Al Hourani, Ehab Faisal |
| Contributors | Architecture, Jones, James R., Gibbons, Ronald B., Ishida, Aki |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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