Abstract

Healthcare makes up a large amount of infrastructure and while today’s designs have vastly improved over the years, incorporating more natural light can improve not only staff’s performance but also enhance a patient healing experience. Daylighting is one of the most powerful, natural product designers can use in projects. Healthcare facilities have a goal in mind when designing a hospital such as the patients healing, overall experience, and their comfort. To continue to achieve improvements in patient care, it is important to constantly evaluate current means and methods, with one element that influences the delivery of care is the design and construction of healthcare facilities themselves (Whitaker 2018). With personal experience, chemotherapy infusion bays in the past were typically a long corridor with chairs, dark paint colors and materials with very little windows. Through research a new proposed plan to incorporate more daylighting in cancer treatment centers, focusing primarily on infusion bays. By incorporating more daylighting in these areas will help with the body’s circadian rhythm and assistance in the healing process. Natural lighting is a positive environmental stimulation that can decrease stress and improve the body’s immune system. Weakened immune systems, stress and anxiety are just a few things cancer patients experience during treatment.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Clinics--New York (State)--Buffalo--Design and construction; Daylighting; Cancer--Chemotherapy--Environmental aspects

Publication Date

Spring 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Architecture (M.Arch.)

Department, Program, or Center

Architecture (GIS)

Advisor

Alissa De Wit-Paul

Advisor/Committee Member

Dennis A. Andrejko

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

ARCH-MARCH

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