"Imagine walking through the halls of a hospital. Look to the left and right. Peek inside the patient lounge. What do you see?
No real chance that you're not seeing a cozy loft or an indoor garden. You are most likely imagining green tiles, institutional couches, fluorescent lights, and stale coffee in Styrofoam cups. That's right: hospital architecture designs are sterilized, cold, and ugly.
After completing the treatment course of a dangerous disease, the patient needs to change the environment that he was in. The recovery road is long. In the Middle East and especially in Jordan, after treatment care mostly does not exists. The proposed project in Tal Alrumman aimed at addressing the recovery stage of patients who just finished their cancer disease treatment. The fear of what might the future holds keep the patients in an ongoing difficult monologue of fighting the bad thoughts about the return of their illness. Cancer treatment by itself affects the patient’s physical health, it also affects the way they feel, think, and do they like to do. Besides causing many emotions and psychological problems. The proposed project aims at putting the patient in a resort-like healthcare center in order to allow them experience nature, start doing sports again, swim, relax and enjoy nature.
A mountain and a valley are chosen in Tal Alrumman to propose a project which concerns to rehabilitate the patients. Tal Alrumman is one of the most interesting sites in Jordan near Amman (The capital). It is easily reached. It is overlooking on a 55 surrounding hills and mountains. It is near the biggest Dam in Jordan – King Talal's Dam.
The master plan consists of, an artificial lake, a colored garden and recreation complex. The composition of the recreational complex describes itself as a continuity of the slopped terrain, by that the natural forces of the site sculpted the composition, the function the spaces is driven by the sculpted skylights which allow to a series of designed light and shadows to penetrate to the interior space. A computational simulation for the tree shadow is applied with the sun effect for the rectangles to allow the sun to enter the spaces at a selected time of the day.
The project provides a wide range of leisure facilities like gym, spa , sport facilities and lodges that will give the patient a wide variety of functions to help recover faster. It also contains a sculptural piece that provides information about the ecological status of the region. It provides also information on personal health improvement.
The project was shortlisted for RIBA student’s award in 2007-2008
Status: Competition – Shortlisted
Year: 2007-2008