The Reflection Pier - A Hospital Safe Haven

Abstract: Hospitals have been a crucial element of healthcare for centuries, providing a space for diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. The design of hospitals has evolved dramatically throughout history, with significant changes in both the form and function of these institutions. Ancient hospitals were closely connected to nature, with an emphasis on the role of surroundings in the healing process. However, in the 19th and 20th century, hospitals became highly efficient ”treatment-machines,” prioritizing clinical processes over patient-centered care. The neglect of human factors in modern hospital design can be particularly challenging for pediatric patients. Children may be more sensitive to their surroundings, and a sterile, clinical environment can be frightening and overwhelming. After awhile, users need a change of scenary. At many children’s hospitals, recreational experiences are offered in the form of playrooms or playgrounds. However, hospitalized children, their parents, and siblings also have a need for tranquil experiences that can provide an opportunity to recharge, process difficult emotions, or simply relax and breathe a little more freely. Met with limiting options for calming physical escapism, many user’s turn to their screen-based devices for digital escapism instead. This however inflicts numerous negative consequences so offering strong spatial, analog and sensory experiences within close proximity of the patients and their family is of highest importance. The Reflection Pier - a hospital safe haven, is a spatial experience designed for a recreational area at Mary Elizabeth’sHospital - Rigshospitalet for Children, Teens and ExpectingFamilies (MARYS). Inspired by the wellbeing enhancement of human-nature connection, this space seeks to allow patients and their relatives access to another world - socially, physically and mentally. It will serve as an existential breathing space, a haven where users are given the opportunity to find tranquility, comfort, joy and room to be human. You step trough the doors and directly onto a wooden pier that lifts you from the floor and transports you into another universe. The floor below is a serene metallic ocean that mirrors the movements in the space and reflects the natural light coming through the windows. Extending from the balcony above is a suspended net. Here, you see other children and parents lying and relaxing, floating midair between the sky and the sea. At the top of the ceiling, younotice the soothing motions of a fabric installation, movementscreated by the wind from rotating fans. You gaze out upon the 180 degree view of the cityscape, your shoulders relax and you breathe deeply. You no longer feel like you’re inside a hospital.