We need to design hospitals as healing places

Today Hay House shares "When Hospitals Heal", an excerpt about entrances from Thomas Moore's latest book, Care of the Soul in Medicine:

"Religious specialists, like me, are particularly interested in what we call liminality — the experience of any kind of threshold. Most churches effectively lead you from the secular world outside to the spiritual realm inside through large, thick, ornate doors and a transitional vestibule or entry that allows you to take the initiatory step of encountering sacred space. A door is not just a physical barrier; it is also an instrument of psychological passage. A purely functional door will get you into the hospital physically, but it takes a special doorway to get your soul in.

Some medical buildings employ a large, expensive atrium for liminality, but a potent architectural detail — an impressive door, flowing water, a grotto, hushed lighting, or a massive stone — could also do the job. These are all traditional ritual objects that are effective for transitions."

Moore continues to discuss the role of signs as a substitute for guiding architecture. Care of the Soul in Medicine is available at a reduce price in paperback from the publisher.