Hospice: care centre for cancer patients Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.

Abstract

A Hospice building is an architectural setup that emerges from the understanding of terminal diseases in mankind. In general, all such spatial setups are created with the common goal of caring and helping people who are or could be terminally ill so that they could spend the rest of their lifetime in peace, comfort and understanding life through the interactions with fellow patients' pain, agony and their fear of death. The facility is merely more than the providence of medical care so that the patients could know the philosophical ideas of life through the experiences of others too. An emotional and psychological relationship between everyone is involved. Hence, it could be said that hospice is a place that teaches us how life kills death for every second but it is somewhere we could learn this and live by it. The sensitivity of patients, those that are terminally ill is far different from those that could be easily cured. The idea lies with treating them holistically despite the sad conclusion that is already known. In my study, I found the importance of increasing the quality of life for the time that remains is ignored by the people. The gloominess, darkness and fear of death is actually rooted opposabily in its happiness and light of knowing life. Everyone should have the opportunity to live in this world properly despite knowing how it is supposed to end and especially to people who have the imprint of the pain that they carry the weight of at the end. I believe there lies a beauty in death's horror but we ignore it only because it is less learnt of. There is a better way to die and space making can act as a tool in it. The building design is a never ending process and the environment of a place should be appropriate, taking the patients as primary users and also being sensitive to their family and friends or loved ones. This thesis would be focusing on providing an environment that will fulfil physical, psychological and spiritual needs of patients. To understand it in maximum extent possible, a literature review and case studies have been explored with along with the various theories on the perception and spatial needs of the patients and other users. Their methods to overcome the physical and psychological pain that patients are suffering from have been studied briefly. The thesis is a translation of these theories with their proper architectural interventions focussed on providing healthy-healing environment.