Anna Bern

Life in the hospice for children

 
Introduction: I cared for my relative Anastasia, who passed away from cancer when she was eight years old. Afterwards, I volunteered at the ‘Lighthouse’ children's hospice, where she spent her final month. 

Observation (problem): While volunteering, I found out that, according to the statistics, only 1 in 9 children are dying in a children’s hospice and the rest are living in remission. So, a hospice is about life, not death. Every single hospice worker suffers burnout, on average within three years of working there. Almost every parent is prescribed antidepressants.  

Solution: Provide a space that makes all inhabitants of the hospice feel mentally and physically healthier. The target groups are children, parents and all hospice workers. 

Research in brief: Children in hospices face physical limitations, resulting in low-quality lives with limited socialising, experiences and intellectual growth. Adults suffer health impacts from the demanding physical and emotional workload. Parents, spending up to 90% of their time with their children, often quit their jobs. This, combined with negative prognoses and lack of emotional support, leaves nearly 95% of parents on antidepressants. Hospice workers suffer burnout from constant exposure to death, staff shortages and outdated facilities. While architecture can’t solve these deep-rooted issues, it can help individual doctors with their mental state to prevent burnout.  

Concept in brief: Build a programme for each target group to give them a choice of space according to their mental state. Design a circular ‘space in a space’-shaped building to provide an endless loop for higher mobility in wheelchairs, freedom and new daily experiences. Having an explicit floor division: -1 floor is technical spaces, morgue + parking, 0 floor is public for daily visitors with maximum transparency, 1 floor is private for families living there permanently, with a garden. Place all spaces and rooms according to daily routing, but with the opportunity to discover new alternatives. Sustainability as a core task for design. Analysing life-cycle assessment phases and using CLT as main construction. 

Graduation date: 10 October 2023
Graduation committee: Alexey Boev (mentor), Daira Naugolnova & Peer Glandorff 
Additional members for the exam: Micha de Haas, Ana Rocha