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Healing Architecture
Healing Architecture (or the Architecture of Healing) is the process and product of planning, designing, and construction, usually of buildings and other physical structures to restore of health to an unbalanced, diseased or damaged organism. Healing may be physical or psychological and not without the mutual reception of these two dimensions of human health.

History and the philosophical roots of Evidence Based Design
The fire in the Paris Hôtel-Dieu in 1772 highlighted hospitals as the sickest parts of the city. It triggered an avalanche of revolutionary proposals, the common feature of which was the intention to create hospitals that were in full compliance with natural laws. Hospitals became avant-garde, and so became hospital design, and part of the reasons for this position was the conviction that the environment where people lived, more specifically the designed environment, was far more effective for improving people’s health than medical treatment. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the architecture of hospitals was partly determined by the ideals that sprang up in the wake of the Enlightenment. A natural setting and the provision of clean air were seen as essential. Then this tradition broke off. A revolution in medicine and technology combined with the emergence of the International Style to transform the hospital into a medical machine. The environmental qualities of hospitals were usually neglected. One of the achievements of Evidence Based Design is that it restored these qualities to their original pre-eminence.

Fields of activity
The variety of the professional tasks that healing architecture collaborate on is very broad, but some examples of project types include:
 * The planning, form, scale and siting of new developments
 * Sustainable development
 * Housing areas, industrial parks and commercial developments
 * Estate and residence master planning and design
 * Ecological Design any aspect of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with natural processes and sustainability.

Health care Facilities
Health care facilities encompass a wide range of types, from small and relatively simple medical clinics to large, complex, and costly, teaching and research hospitals. Large hospitals centers may include all the various subsidiary health care types that are often independent facilities.The facility conveys a message to patients, visitors, volunteers, vendors, and staff. The facility also communicates a torrent of clues about the organization and the medical care being provided there.

Interior Design Tools of Healing Architecture
Excellence in architecture and interior design are of primary importance in helping to foster health and healing. Harmonious, well balanced environments help to reduce stress, capture the imagination, and liberate vitality and creativity, all of which enhance healing. Harmony in design can be achieved through a combination of harmonious proportions, clear layout, smooth energy flow, and nourishing.Interior designers need the proper tools to design a healing architecture, each tool is used to perform specific function. These tools could be:
 * Clarity of layout and form have an impact on the healing potential of the structure.
 * The healing structure needs to be in harmony with its surroundings: the community, the street, and the other buildings in the area. Architectural form needs to recognize this imperative. Although innovation is welcome, form for the sake of aesthetics or dialectics should be discouraged.
 * Distribution of functions within the structure must be practical, but should also consider orientation and position within the building envelope. And to determine location can greatly improve healing performance.
 * Arrangement of rooms and functions should not be too irregular. Avoid awkward geometries, angled entries and walls, and fractured profiles. Avoid sharp angles and pointed elevations.
 * It is important that the geometry and footprint of the building recognize the relative hierarchies and interrelationships that operate within the institution. Institutional safety and vulnerability can be addressed through design. In general, it is best if higher ranking personnel are located farthest from the entry. Conversely, functional and programmatic allocations can be determined by applying other tools.
 * Building form should be clear and readily understandable. Levels within a building should be well defined. Ceilings with uneven heights are undesirable unless they help to definespace more clearly. Avoid split levels, rooms or atriums with excess height, and rooms thatare too cramped or crowded.
 * The main entry into the structure is of fundamental importance in determining overall prospectsfor success. The experience of arrival should therefore include a sense of determination,clarity and welcome. Avoid entrances that are behind the front face of the building. Reception and waiting facilities should be readily observable and easily accessible.
 * All rooms should receive adequate light: artificial light should not be needed on a sunny day. However, overly large windows leak nourishing energy and afford poor protection fromdestructive energy. Avoid buildings with floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
 * The building’s structure should be clear and rational: buildings that feel precarious or thatuse structural imbalances for aesthetic effect risk compromising the healing response.
 * Avoid plots with irregular shapes. Odd shapes can be corrected with lights, fountains, landscaping,flag poles, or buildings.
 * Avoid buildings that have critical functions above or near garages, viaducts, or bridges.

Notable architects worked on healing architecture
Erik Asmussen

Born in 1913 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Erik Asmussen practiced architecture in Swedenfrom 1939 until his death in August of 1998. Heworked in Stockholm for various architects, includingthe firm of Nils Tesch and CliffordGiertz, with whom he worked for nearly twentyyears. In 1960 he started his own practice, designingmore than one hundred buildings innorthern Europe and Scandinavia as well as awide variety of furniture and lamps. Asmussenwas the recipient of numerous design awards including: the Kasper Sahlin Prize, the highesthonor given by the Swedish Society of Architects; the PrinsEugen Prize, given by the King ofSweden as the highest award that can be bestowedupon an individual artist in Sweden, and; theHenrik-Steffen Prize, awarded by the F.V.S Foundationin Hamburg, Germany to individualsfrom the Nordic countries who have accomplishedworks of special significance in the arts, architecture landscape design, city planning, anthropologyor the humanities (Asmussen was thefirst architect to be so recognized since the creationof this honor in 1936). Seven principles that are the basis for Asmussen’s healing architecture. These principles are:
 * 1) The unity of form and function;
 * 2) Polarity metamorphosis;
 * 3) Harmony with nature and site;
 * 4) The living wall;
 * 5) Color luminosity
 * 6) Color perspective, and;
 * 7) The dynamic equilibrium of spatial experience.

Healing Aspects of Architectural Planning
While there is no formula for a 'healing environment', looking across the behavior sciences and health fields, several factors are substantiated to be effective in promoting wellness. Healing environment that promote health and wellness encourage an integration of mind, body, and spirit by providing appropriate opportunities for privacy, dignity, self-esteem, identity, social support and security ..


 * 1) Living in Harmony Ideally, the best environment for health is peaceful and secluded, with lots of fresh air and sunshine, a temperate climate, minimal pollution and limited stress.
 * 2) Spacious Hospitals and medical care facilities are best built with as many natural materials as possible and should display individual items of great artistic merit and beauty to provide inspiration. The mind and emotions should be kept in balance. Architecture is not just the building itself, but the complete, built environment, from inside out. Rooms should be planned with clarity of purpose. Keep spaces understandable, with public spaces very public and private spaces very private. Spaces and finishes should anticipate behaviour.
 * 3) Abstract Art Abstract art can be a problem for some, not all, though. So for those, who are not inclined towards it can choose realistic themes, perhaps including relationship with families and pets. However, abstract art allows the senses the freedom of imagination, interpretation and the subsequent pleasure. Human scale should be maintained. Public spaces should encourage social activity.
 * 4) Lighting Glare free lights should be provided. Lighting can also be used to reinforce the change from public to private space. Increased lighting levels at entrances offer control, security and clarity.
 * 1) Colouring It Right Fortunately, most of us are aware of the importance of the use of colour inside our buildings. Colors have an undoubted impact on human psychology and behaviour. Bright coloured grab bars, door frames, levers, and switches are easier to find than those that blend into the background. Texture makes tones appear darker absorbing important ambient light.
 * 2) Effective Placement For long-term patients, patient rooms should feature a place to display prized possessions including photo albums etc. Disorientation to patients can be caused by repetitive elements in the design. For example, doors repeated the full length of double loaded corridors can be disorienting. Lighting and ceiling treatment can help to visually reduce the length of corridors.
 * 3) With a Healing Touch Plan a healing garden accessible to patients. Even a view of the garden will help with day-night orientation and awareness of seasonal changes

Related Definitions:
Healing (literally meaning to make whole ) is the process of the restoration of health to an unbalanced, diseased or damaged organism. Healing may be physical or psychological and not without the mutual reception of these two dimensions of human health.

Architecture (Latinarchitectura, from the Greek ἀρχιτέκτων – arkhitekton, from ἀρχι- "chief" and τέκτων "builder, carpenter, mason") is both the process and product of planning, designing, and construction, usually of buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA; Pub.L. 104–191, 110 Stat. 1936, enacted August 21, 1996) was enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It has been known as the Kennedy–Kassebaum Act after two of its leading sponsors. Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers.