Anna Bern

Life in the hospice for children

(dutch text will follow soon)

  
Introduction: I cared for my relative Anastasia, who passed away from cancer at age 8. Afterward, I volunteered at the "Lighthouse" children's hospice, where we spent her final month.  

Observation (problem): During volunteering, I found out that, according to the statistics, in a hospice for children, only 1 in 9 kids is dying, and the rest are living in remission. So a hospice is about life, not about death. Every single hospice worker gets a burnout on average within 3 years of working. Almost every parent is subscribed to 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 restricted socializing, 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 child, often quit 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 Hospice workers suffer burnout from constant exposure to death, staff shortages, and outdated facilities.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, but it can help Individual doctors with their mental state to prevent a burnout.  

Concept in brief: Build a program for each target group to give them a choice of space according to their mental state. Design a circular ‘‘space in a space’’ shape 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 permanently living families, with a garden. Place all spaces and rooms according to daily routing but with the opportunity to discover new ways. Sustainability as a core task for design. Analysing life-cycle assessment phases and using CLT as main construction. 

Afstudeerdatum: 5 October 2023
Afstudeercommissie: Alexey Boev (mentor), Daira Naugolnova & Peer Glandorff 
Toegevoegde leden t.b.v. het examen: Micha de Haas, Ana Rocha