Evidence Based Knowledge: Towards architecture that supports the healing process in health-care buildings

With the launching of Danish policies toward large investments in new hospitals, the Healing Architecture project was initiated in 2009 in collaboration between researchers of the Department of Architecture and Media Technology at Aalborg University and the Danish Building Research Institute (SBI) with the aim to answer the following questions about health-care architecture:

• What influence does the physical environment have for the patient's recovery?
• Can an improvement of the physical environment influence the relationship between patient, relatives, and employees?
• How can architecture make a positive difference in these conditions?
• What impact has the answers to these questions for architects and designers in future hospital construction?

To provide answers to these questions, the project set out to study architectural qualities in the design of health care facilities. The project has examined architecture and design’s impact on patient outcomes, relatives and visitors' expectations, as well as of employees, and which seeks to minimize the negative effects of stress-inducing surroundings in health-care facilities. Architecture, in the theoretical framework of the project, supports physical and psychological healing by paying close attention to those specific qualities of the environment which have physical effects on health. The answers to the questions addressed by this study are fundamental to architectural practice in health-care facilities.