Atmospheric inclusiveness: creating a coherent and relatable sense of place for a children’s hospital

Abstract

The atmosphere of a paediatric hospital has been shown to impact a patient’s degree of comfort and their willingness to return for ongoing treatment. Research cautions against creating environments that appear too childish, and thus risk alienating young adults. Yet, there is little advice to assist designers in delivering design responses that appeal to a patient cohort that can range from new-borns to young adults. Here, we propose the concept of atmospheric inclusiveness as a critical design aspiration for the construction of paediatric hospitals and present a contemporary facility that achieves this. Within a mixed-methods study conducted at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, data ga..