Cancer Hospital for Children: Exploring the role of "Topophilia" in a function based typology of a hospital

Abstract

The percentage of people being diagnosed with chronic diseases like cancer is very high in this country but regardless of this, the facilities catering to such people are not successful in providing a healing environment, majorly because they lack the capability to cater to the psychological healing of these patients. When we talk about this chronic disease, there are two main spatial requirements; the immediate treatment including surgical facilities and the therapeutic facilities for post disease people with PTSD. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder resulting from experiencing an event which is terrifying, traumatic or tragic for a person. Patients with PTSD mostly have recurring thoughts about the memory of the tragic event and tend to lose emotional attachment towards people and objects, including those who were once an important part of their lives. One of the major causes of this condition is experiencing a chronic disease. The stages of healing for all the patients starts from the provision of first aid; the physical and superficial treatment including the chemotherapy and radiation, the psychological therapy and then lastly the reintegration of the patient into his pre-disease life. It is essential to provide such a platform to the society which caters to all these stages of healing. A therapeutic platform is needed to heal these people and help them go back to their pre disease life. Such platforms are unsuccessful if they are not using the attributes of architecture as a tool in formation of a place which can be helpful for these people, aiding the process of their healing.Nigel Coaks says in his book Narrative Architecture "People interact with their environment, and in this process of responding to it and yielding to it, map their experience in a mental space that architects need to understand and make use of". (Coaks) The ideaof this thesis is to explore the qualities of architecture which has the attributes of healing in them and to see if better results can be taken out. The psychological needs of a built space are to be fulfilled here to achieve a better facility in terms of hospital with a therapeutic extension for the sensitive user group of children. The impact of the environment of a hospital building is great upon children in particular who possess a fresh mind, it is important to provide health facilities to them in an environment conducive to the process of healing so that the regular visit to a hospital building like in this case to a Cancer Hospital or an emergency visit both could be made less dreadful for this user group.