SPACES FOR CHILDREN IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGS: DESIGN ESSENTIALS AND INNOVATIONS

Introduction
This short paper focuses in the design of healthcare facilities for children and it is a small part of my PhD entitled “Design parameters of children healthcare Units”. In the current paper concepts such as “healing environment” and “creation of friendly atmosphere/ambience” are introduced and analysed through modern built examples from around Europe. The starting point for this research was about the contribution of the environment during hospitalization and how it could possitively affect the patients. The research is centered specifically around children because they are a more vulnerable group of patients and hospitalization is a defining experience for them. This happens because they are still in a developmental stage of their life both physically and mentally and this is related to the way they perceive and react to the environment. The term “healing environment” was defined by Ulrich (1984) at one of his comparative studies in which he highlighted the importance of the natural view from a patient’s bed and the value of the hospital environment with the presence of natural elements (in particular it was about window with a view of a tree). Especially for children, the inclusion of natural elements is very crucial as they positively affect their psychology during the hospitalization and offers a feeling of security. […]