The introduction of the “green” component in hospitals was linked to the belief that including such spaces in the Hospital Design Plan could help the healing process or at least alleviate the suffering of patients.
This belief, linked to the concept of well-being, that is to say “feel good”, has gradually “tarnished” over time and has only recently regained its relevance, together with the reconsideration of the treatment systems for pathologies, more attentive to care of the sick person.
Hospital Designers In India consider design of nursing gardens as the part of the broader trend of a design attentive to the needs of the human being, whether it is a public garden or a garden attached to a school or, in fact, the garden of a hospital or home for the elderly.
For thousands of years, so-called medicinal plants have been treating the ailments of humans and animals. They are the basis of Chinese medicine or herbal medicine which is developing strongly, but we know less about the therapeutic gardens which are interested in the action of gardening on the body, the psyche and the mind.
In the design of green spaces annexed to hospitals, rehabilitation centres and hospices, the presence of plants is directly considered a curative element, rather than part of a treatment program in which the active participation of individuals in the cultivation of the plants themselves is integral to the therapy.
These spaces should therefore be designed in active collaboration between the landscape architect and the “orthotherapist” in order to fulfil the dual purpose of being “Healing landscapes” for certain subjects and a garden for “Horticultural therapy” for others.
In these particular conditions, the garden must become a symbol of life itself, it must induce the mind to positive thoughts, of joy, vigour, lightness and movement.
The aim that must be pursued is therefore to create something that is familiar, educational, a place that is ancestral and even “genetically” attractive that aims to restore not only the function of the “sick” part, but the balance of the whole body.
The directly measurable effects and reactions determined by visiting a garden on the psycho-physical state of patients appear to be interesting. These effects mainly consist of an appreciable decrease in blood pressure, a decrease in heartbeat, a lower epidermal conductance and a general benefit, due to a reduction in the stress conditions present before the visit itself.
Places of rest and renewal for nursing staff or the elderly, a place of discovery for young children or the disabled, a place of learning for people in difficulty, therapeutic gardens must be thought out and designed very early on.
Several hospitals have already created therapeutic gardens, however, funding is certainly the most “sensitive” point for the development of therapeutic gardens in hospitals and retirement homes. Few of the structures can finance the creation and especially the maintenance. But with the enthusiasm for the greening of urban spaces and the recognized medical virtues of gardening, it is likely that future structures will increasingly integrate these specialized gardens upstream.