Salutogenesis: The Spatial Dimension of Healing

Abstract

“This is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians separate the soul from the body” – Plato (Byrne & Byrne, 1992, p. 86). Throughout the extensive span of history, the architecture of health has been used to represent many aspects; as a means to measure a country’s wealth, a shrine to the gods and ultimately, a monument for science. The modern advancement in technological medical research and treatment led to healthcare architecture in becoming a sterile machine to prolong life. This mundane, stripped down, functional series of boxes contributes to a sense of inhumanity, which creates a disjunction between one’s physical self and their inner being. This thesis approaches the question of the role of architectural atmospherics within the current healthcare paradigm. This thesis will explore the idea of salutogenesis – the environment as a means to originate wellbeing – as a starting point to regenerate the modern healthcare spatial typology. The connectivity to nature and spatial typologies such as natural daylight, tactility and materiality are explored to improve the resilience of one’s physiological and psychological wellbeing. This attempts to restore the relationship between the soul and the body, and to investigate what provokes healing and the wellbeing of an individual. Through the regeneration of the Old Princess Mary Ward at the Auckland Hospital, an investigation is carried out to explore the salutogenic approach as spatial elements intervene with this historical building. This architectural intervention transforms the existing, in attempt to positively regenerate by connecting the proposed complex with the surrounding environment. Ultimately, this aims to regenerate and recreate a positive prognosis suited for the future health paradigm – one that ameliorates health rather than exacerbating illness.