GREEN IN HOSPITALS – THE NECESSITY

Man’s contact with nature is an important and integral part of his prosperity. Various researches shows that nature has a positive effect on the physical condition, on psychology and, consequently, on the socialization of man.
Studies in healthcare support the association of nature with healing. It has been shown that both passive exposure to landscapes or more active interactions with nature are psychologically and physically beneficial to humans and act as a catalyst in the treatment and rehabilitation of a patient’s health.
In healthcare facilities, the positive results from the contact of humans with nature do not positively affect only patients but all users of the facility (visitors, family environment, workers) and this is the reason why green spaces are so important and necessary.
The necessity of a conversation between natural environment and healthcare facilities had been recognized since antiquity and continued to exist until the 20th century, where it played a secondary role. Hospitals have become institutionalized, alienated from their users, and have begun to give a sense of fear to them. In last decades, there has been a redefinition of the conversation of the surrounding space with the healthcare facilities resulting from the redefinition of the conversation between healthcare facilities and human beings. At the same time, the health sector can be profitable for a state and also peoples’ choices as to where they decide to trust their health are many. Health centers now try to be more competitive, so they redefine their benefits [1]. Environments that can successfully accommodate social support at various levels are necessary. Such are the welldesigned outdoor or indoor spaces, where users come into contact with nature. In healthcare facilities, green environments may include planted areas between building blocks, gardens in front of the main entrance, a central courtyard for population gathering, roof gardens and healing gardens.
The present text attempts to clarify the reasons for the necessity of the existence and proper design of natural environment in healthcare facilities. The aim is to raise awareness of more specialists from Architecture, Agriculture and Medicine in order to reexamine and redesign existing healthcare centers, as well as the more accurate design of new facilities, in which the architectural concept will include natural environments from the beginning.