Redrawing Palliative Care: Therapeutic Architecture for the Body, Mind and Spirit.

In recent years, hospice palliative care revolutionized the way we understand sickness and dying. It began as a critique to traditional healthcare practices and facilities that strictly focused on treating diseases where the human experience is neglected. A palliative approach to care focuses on meeting the patient's and their family's full range of needs at all stages of a chronic progressive illness.This thesis is a response to the demands for therapeutic architecture in view of a growing seniors population and climbing disease rate to support those in a unique stage of life. It seeks to examine the poetics and complexities involved in an architectural design proposition for a palliative care home in the city of Ottawa. This thesis explores the architectural possibilities inherent in an understanding of care that provides hope and comfort in times of grief while embracing the opportunity to experience life to its fullest.