A biophilic perspective on healthcare buildings: Psychiatric hospitals

It is known that individuals require nature and living beings throughout their lives. The concept of biophilia expresses the closeness of human-nature interaction. Human health, especially from a mental perspective, is positively influenced by nature. However, with the onset of modern life, the increasing damage to the natural environment and the time spent in built environments lead to negative impacts on societal and individual psychology. In this context, biophilic design, defined as approaches aiming to strengthen the human-nature relationship for the sustainability of health in built environments, should be adopted. Health structures are important building groups that house various user groups such as patients, visitors, and staff, aiming for the sustainability of health and influencing the country's economy with successful improvements. Health facilities with high stress levels often have designs where the healing process accompanies only the treatment process. However, health is a holistic phenomenon that encompasses the well being of individuals physically, mentally, and emotionally. Therefore, for health structures to fulfill their function fully, the relationship between nature and humans in the built environment needs to be correctly and effectively designed. In other words, especially architects and individuals playing an active role in the functioning of health structures need to embrace the biophilic design approach, which involves a strong interaction with nature, to achieve holistic healing in individual health. In this study, within the framework of the relationship between nature and health, research in the literature aimed at further adopting the biophilic design approach in psychiatric health facilities has been examined, and a theoretical summary has been created. In line with the examined biophilic design approach, parameters for psychiatric hospitals have been proposed. International and Turkish examples have been examined based on the proposed parameters, and the contributions of biophilic design have been identified.