Architecture can be described as the tailor of our sensual experience of space,

possessing the ability to deprive or stimulate the human senses.

Architectural phenomenological theories regarding spatial experience are mainly
concentrated towards the stimulation of all the human senses, in order to ultimately
formulate an intensified experience. Architecture can be considered as a container of
human stimulation through the experience of its environment, by means of the senses,
namely touch, sound, smell, sight

Architects and designers should not only be aware of how the built environment
affects our behavior, but should also strategically design living spaces that
consider this relationship.
Human health is essential for human performance.
Architects should strive to create spaces that properly drive performance through
a strategic and structured utilization of the built environment that stresses
rigorous analysis of social, physiological, and psychological impacts. It is
important to understand the role that spaces have on people and their emotions.
By providing a healthier, more productive way of living that may reduce peoples need to
go to a hospital in the first place.
The visualization to the left illustrates the inception of how the idea of Therapeutic
Architecture came about (Figure 1). Components of both the built environment and the
human-health environment illustrate spatial, luminous, thermal, and sonic design with
respect to the human brain, mind, body, and behavior.

Creating a design index for designers and architects to refer to ensures not only a

healthier natural environment, but also a healthier human environment. The proposed
relationship (Figure 2) will be studied from the experience of the experiments that have
been discussed. In the context of this paper, special attention is paid to luminous
intensities.

Elements

Building Performance
Energy efficiency is one of the most cost effective ways to enhance the environment.
Humans are affected by energy through climate change and scarcity of resources.
Humans are also directly affected by energy efficiency.
As spaces are more efficient, humans could be provided with improved indoor air quality.
Dr. Chalfoun has established ten built environment impact areas that have been
considered and used in the development of this design index.
Luminous Intensities

They can be either more or less agreeable, more or less attractive, or they could be more
or less appropriate to the function of the space. Variations of luminance and colors can
strengthen attractiveness, trigger emotions, and affect our mood.
The impact of lighting influences individuals and their state of mind. Lighting should be
designed to provide building occupants with the right visual conditions to help them
perform visual tasks efficiently, safely, and comfortably.
The luminous environment acts through a chain of mechanisms on human physiological
and sociological factors, which further influence human performance and productivity.
Daylight

Through history, daylight has been the primary source of light in buildings. Natural light
improves liveability, adds visual excitement, and reduces electricity consumption.
Virtually all buildings in all climates can benefit from correct daylight design. People
perceive the luminous environment through their eyes and process it with their brain.
Light scenes are therefore evaluated in connection to expectations.
Energy Consumption

Human Performance
Human performance has become as important to architects as building performance.

The built environment plays a major role in human productivity in the workplace and in
happiness at home. Indeed, human performance is influenced and changeable by the
environment.
Human performance, body impact areas, and human thermal comfort were studied
thoroughly in development of this design index.
Different techniques
Accommodation and Technical Requirements
In order to design a space for therapeutic healing, it is necessary to know what the exact
requirements are that could assist the specialist in optimising his/her work.
Following the four spheres of healing mentioned before, the programme of the building deals
specifically with three separate but related therapy departments and also a more public section
that would include spaces that will serve the local community and general visitors etc. The therapy
divisions are:
occupational therapy,
physiotherapy, and
psychiatric therapy.
Occupational Therapy
(OT)
This form of therapy is the careful rehabilitation of patients (more often called clients) with
disabilities, mental/social disorders or physical injuries to assist in performing daily activities such
as brushing teeth, tying shoe laces, or climbing stairs.
In the aim of achieving this, an occupational therapist may use a number of different spaces or
apparatus to
evoke the desired emotion or physical strain in the client. Some of these requirement
Examples
0/a snoozelen room, aquatic
therapy pools and a waterbed
as used by occupational
therapist globally.
Psychiatric Therapy
Although psychiatric therapy
can take on a number of
different forms, this project will
only accommodate a form of
hydrotherapy specifically
designed for patients with
mental disorders. For the
purposes of this thesis, we will
refer to
this as thermotherapy as
explained previously in this
report.
Although psychiatric therapy
can take on a number of different forms,
this project will only accommodate a form
of

hydrotherapy specifically designed for patients with mental disorders. For the purposes of this
thesis, we will refer to
this as thermotherapy as explained previously in this report.
Physical Therapy
This division would house some of the more public therapeutic amenities and is divided into two
sections: the fitness
centre and the
physiotherapy rooms.
This division would house
some of the more public
therapeutic amenities
and is divided into two
sections: the fitness
centre and the
physiotherapy rooms.
Massaging waterjets
in the Hydrotherapy
pool.
An example
of an underwater
treadmill.

hydraulophone. A
haydraulophone is
basically a musical instrument
that works with water - a water
organ. It was first developed at
the University of Toronto
by electrical and computer
engineering students Steve
Mann, Ryan Janzen and Mark
Post. They describe it as a
"velocity-sensitive music
keyboard in which each key
is a water jet." It produces a
very unique eerie but
surprisingly
beautiful sound very similar
to that of a whale.
When I came across this concept, I immediately
saw how this could be employed as a form of informal therapy

The therapeutic effects of nature

The theory of biophilia suggests that humans have an innate preference to
connect with the natural world. This, in combination with experiments
undertaken by Ulrich and various other scientists, suggest that the integration of

our natural surroundings into our living areas can induce healing and positive
emotional changes, which have an indirect impact on stress levels and physical
and emotional well-being.
Ulrich suggests four probable reasons
for the beneficial effects provided by
nature. One, we associate nature with
physical activity which evidently
stimulates health. Two, socializing is
also in most cases directly linked with
nature, for example walking or sitting
on a bench in a park with a friend.
Three,
nature provides a temporary escape
from our everyday reality. The fourth
possibility is that nature itself has a
significant influence on the mind.
Bearing this
in mind, do these social and physical
activities alone contribute to healing and
well-being or do people gain extra benefits from engaging in these activities in a
natural environment
There are several ways in which nature can contribute to health and well-being.
Natures inherent beauty has the ability to promote stress relief, improve moods
and even induce mental restoration.
Ulrich revealed the power of the window through a science experiment that
confirmed that patients in hospital recovered faster when their rooms had a
direct view of the external natural environment rather than a blank wall. A
window is not seen merely as a functional necessity that provides light and
ventilation, but also a gateway that has the ability to transport a patient from a
harsh reality to a place of contemplation, serving as a temporary escape.
Society has begun to favour nature as a result of our association with nature as a
restorative experience, while we associate our everyday urban settings with
traffic, frustration, congestion, stress, crime, and pollution, which result in our
psychological desire to escape it.
Rehabilitation Centre Groot Klimmendaal design by Koen van Velsen - within a
natural context

the concept of framing of views, engaging patients with

specific elements like a water feature or a tree in the landscape, which allows for
a moment of self-awareness, that serves as a distraction from pain and suffering.
This concept also generates comfort and relaxation, which allows a patient to
heal faster by creating the perception of an environment, where patients view
the external world rather than being viewed by others, thereby moving away
from the inherent qualities of institutionalisation.
The Groot Klimmendaal Rehabilitation Centre, designed by Koen van Velsen
brings together transparency, diversity, continuity, the play of light and shadow,
color psychology and the experience of nature into a stimulating revalidation
centre.
The building maintains a transparent connection with its natural surroundings,
blending interior and exterior and maintaining a strong natural presence
throughout the building; which allows patients to rejuvenate even while walking.
Light wells and atriums are used in combination to bring natural light in and to

create visual connections between levels. The interior also includes subtle
interplays of color in combination with natural and artificial lighting to enliven
the space

Rehabilitation
Centre Groot
Klimmendaal
design by Koen van
Velsen view
Framing

Effects of Light,
shadow and
colour
psychology
Natural light and
the suns rays are
recognised as
elements capable
of promoting
healing and thus
should form an

integral part of the design of buildings

constructed specifically for rehabilitation.
Benedetti has proved that patients exposed to an amplified concentration of
natural sunlight perceive less stress, require less medication and even experience
less pain. Sunlight can also be perceived as a form of psychological motivation in
its utilisation in the creation of a healthy, therapeutic environment.
The balance or imbalance of a space can so easily be altered through the play of
light and always in combination with forms, colours and natural elements. The
quality of light can be manipulated and adapted to ultimately create the ability of
transcending individuals into an alternate state of consciousness that could
essentially be recollected in memory, after its lived experience.

Rehabilitation Centre Groot Klimmendaal

design by Koen van Velsen passage
play of light and color contrast

Colour wheel of emotional psychology

Cynthia et al. Design Details for Health: Making
the Most of Design's Healing Potential,
2nd Edition Published: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
(2000)

Architecture should integrate the power of

colour into modern healing
environments to evoke and stimulate certain emotional responses and use it as a
tool to manipulate and control the experience of space as desired.
The role of architectural technology in therapy
Historically a structures faade was characterized through its unique window
formation in relation to certain axes and features from its specific time. A
buildings floor plan and the allocation of room functions ultimately resulted in
the unique formation of certain window sizes and their distribution.

Most of these hierarchies have been abandoned after the introduction of

modern window strips and full height glazing systems, this being a prevailing
element of a more democratic, modern architecture that puts human comfort
before visual aesthetics. This notion results in our endless explorations into more
dynamic faade systems that can adapt to its external conditions and individual
desires, allowing a complete controlled transparency.
41

In many cases, a buildings functionality and internal environment is a direct

result of its envelope. Modern faade systems have gone far beyond just serving
as elegant embellishments, as it plays a vital role in a buildings energy
performance and internal comfort.
42

These systems have the ability to mediate

between the various internal environmental conditions, required through
interaction and adaptation, tailoring to individual patient needs to optimize
internal comfort-levels. This relates directly to the relevance of adaptive faade
systems, with in-patient rehabilitation facilities and other healing environments.