Elisyum- a Graphic Essay of Architecture as a Recovery and Treatment Tool

Abstract: The idea of orienting the design process towards the well-being of the patient is not something new in the world of architecture. That the form follows the function is usually but what must be taken into account is the dynamics of the process of understanding human needs. With each day that passes, complex changes of different kinds affect the human being and society as a whole in an unalterable trajectory. The disciplines and the arts try to follow this trajectory and sometimes even to get ahead of it. Architecture is an art of humanist nature par excellence, since it tries to create spaces for life and emotions, but delving into certain aspects of a person’s life, one can reach the question: should the architects’ skills be extrapolated towards aspects as concrete and sensitive as, for example, the medical field of childhood cancer? The interest for a more in-depth look at the role that architecture can claim in the treatment and healing process came after reading some studies that affirmed that in the case of cancer, the psychological factor had a much greater negative impact both on the patient and on his family than the disease itself. This thesis tries to bring the reader the necessary information to understand the complex process that begins from the moment of receiving a cancer diagnosis to the point in which the hospital environment takes over the universe of the affected child. Focusing on the two perspectives of the hospital environment - what it represents and what it inspires - this thesis searches to build a dialogue between the patient, the factors of influence and the architecture.