Thesis title: Human senses and homeliness in the patient room atmosphere
Supervisor: Dr. Carmela Cucuzzella
Program: Master of design, 2020
Golriz Farzamfar holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in urban design. She is currently pursuing her graduate program in design at Concordia University. Golriz has professional experience of around 12 years in the realm of designing and managing different projects with a focus on the field of medical landmarks during the recent years. Attending different conferences and courses of healthcare architecture, Golriz gained knowledge in terms of practice and research for this subject. Her academic and professional background along with a strong passion for the interactions between design and health drew her to focus on the topic of “healing architecture” in her graduate research. Her master’s research touches on the topic of Human senses and homeliness in the patient room atmosphere. It aims to better understand the correlation between human senses and home-like environments in patient rooms of a Geriatric ward. The final goal of her project is to create comfortable environments for patients in hospitals through design strategies considering all human senses. Also, the results of the study will reveal how giving individuals more independence in the cognition and control of their environment may be achieved through architecture of the senses. Moreover, this research’s outcomes would raise awareness for the healthcare designers in terms of the importance of considering all human senses to create healing atmospheres in the hospital rooms.
In this research, at first through literature review, the primary factors affecting the sensorial experiments in a homely patient room environment are identified. This part would provide answers for the question “what are the main factors and categories that are important in creating comfort through each human sense for the elderly patients?” In the second phase, those design principles are categorized and illustrated.