A place of waking: A comprehensive cancer hospice

Abstract

Thesis Statement: Architecture, as a place of spiritual waking, can embody Truth that liberates one from a condition of death into life through the intentional and meaningful union of mass, void, and monstrous detail, revealed in light. Thesis: n. a placing, position, proposition; a proposition maintained or defended in argument; an unproved statement assumed; as a premise; postulate; a consequence of a hypothetical proposition. Waking: v. to rouse from inactivity, lethargy, apathy and especially death. Truth: n. that which spans across all people in all places for all times. It is eternal and transcendent. The Author of all that exists; the Giver of Life. Death: n. to be separated from Truth; a condition of the spirit, being lost with eternal consequences. Life: n. to be reconciled to Truth; to etemalh abide in a state of meaningful existence and purpose. Union: n. two or more elements in relationship together, joined into a state of oneness. Monstrous: adj. [<L monstare = to show] demonstrative and expressive of the divine, the invisible and sublime. Life is more than that which moves in the physical world. Many walk around in a live body of flesh and yet are dead. While on the earth we have hope in waking from our dead condition. Architecture can facilitate a medium for Truth to whisper deep within the lost soul and draw it toward the Light of Life to receive a new sense of purpose, direction and wonder here on earth and in the eternal realm. Order has provided for architecture to be able, with the mass of structure and the voids in between, to become a language and instrument of holistic healing to all of humanity. Context Cultural: The multi-diverse culture of the North American continent. Psychological: Those who come in a state of suffering and desolation, needing a waking from death in which to find their meaningful existence and life. Built: The immediate site is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado on the northwest comer of Centennial Bldv. and Fillmore Street with easy access to and from 1-25. Natural: Nestled in the rolling foothills east of Pikes Peak Mountain, the site has low vegetation with a steep hill sloping down to a creek flowing through the west end of the property. Scope of Project Facility description: A Comprehensive Cancer Hospice for all ages and types of people ailing and threatened with terminal cancer related illnesses. Facility occupancy: 20 in-patients. 12 staff. 20 families over-night-stay.

Description

Keywords

Architecture, Hospital buildings -- Design, Hospice care, Cancer -- Treatment

Citation