Clinical healthcare settings now place an emphasis on restorative and healing environments as a desired mode to curative care. This can be achieved through the incorporation of three foundational principles which promote healing within curative environments. The three foundational principles to achieve this include human connection to nature, place identity, and user-controlled experience. To successfully create curative and healing environments that help supplement conventional approaches to medicine, healing, and human well-being, is the direction I have explored in my Interior Design thesis. My thesis aims to define the opportunities behind creating a patient centric and patient controlled environment that promotes holistic approaches to medicine by bridging the gap between conventional medicine and alternative therapies. This investigation seeks to promote a curated and self-guided journey for both the patient and their support teams while carefully considering the treatment paths that each patient experiences. It is my goal to embrace the human connection to nature and the utilization of patient-controlled experiences to create a positive journey to healing.

Empathy is the action of understanding and being aware of others' experiences. The word empathy directly translates from German as "in feeling." This definition of empathy is the process of projecting into another person to understand them fully. This is the starting point for empathetic design. Empathetic design is a design strategy that aims to understand the lives and experiences of users through immersion and then apply that understanding of the user throughout the design process.

This thesis employs empathetic design practices and strategies for well-being by focusing on spaces that enhance feelings of connection, comfort, and belonging. The Nest is a community center for mothers that utilizes these concepts. It is a nurturing environment for mothers that aims to bring mothers together in a healing environment that gives them space to focus on their well-being.

Is a life without anxiety possible? Many of us have grown accustomed to waking, working, and sleeping amidst anxiety. How can we shift from a constant state of anxiety to one where we occasionally experience anxiety but are mostly happy? Achieving a life without anxiety is possible when we liberate ourselves from the compulsive pursuit of specific goals and the sense of belonging they offer. It is important to understand who we are, cultivate a consistent sense of peace, and build genuine self-confidence. Nature plays a therapeutic role in promoting mental health by reducing activation in the amygdala, the stress-related brain area, and preventing mental disorders like anxiety and depression. My thesis will explore the possibility of a less anxious life by leveraging the therapeutic effects of natural environments and practices such as yoga and meditation. It will delve into how architecture, when embedded in the natural environment, can foster a closer bond between individuals and nature. This bond, supplemented by mindfulness practices, can alleviate anxiety, improve psychological well-being, enhance self-esteem and self-efficacy, and ultimately increase our happiness index, leading to a peaceful return to daily life.

Modern hospice care design is currently made up of four building typologies, including a wing within a hospital, a building connected to a hospital, an independent facility, and at home care. These current typology designs are deficient in the care of both their patients and their patients’ families and caregivers. There is a current culture of silence around death that can be read in these typologies and instead of making people feel at home, they produce undue stress, anxiety, and isolation. My thesis project challenges the current hospice care building environments by using architecture and design to improve end of life care experiences. My design will seek to enable and allow patients to live their life to the fullest through the engagement of the senses, creating a sense of home and community, and creating spaces that metaphorically and physically assist and guide patients and their families through this final journey.

While the benefits of access to nature for humans are well studied, our built environment instead tends to exploit and poison natural ecosystems. Regenerative design offers a solution by incorporating whole-systems thinking to restore, renew, and revitalize the resources and processes of our environment. This thesis utilizes regenerative design to create an Environmental Education Center that is beneficial to all stakeholders, especially the natural ecosystems in which a building lives.

Loneliness affects people of all ages, ethnicity, genders and occupations. It is a growing global issue, and has negative impacts on health and wellbeing. This thesis proposes to counteract loneliness by creating attachment to place through scent. By using scent to provoke memories of experiences, we can restore place attachment, which provides a sense of security and comfort. Designing for olfactory experience helps to cue vivid memories. Memories of scent are emotionally rich. The goal is to restore connections in design through scents, and create moments that evoke memories and nostalgia to alleviate loneliness.

Understanding the process & experience of recovery for substance abuse disorders, and how to design and visually represent an atmosphere of comfort, healing, and connection to nature in a rehabilitation facility.

Isolation and disconnect in cities and neighborhoods has been shown to decrease community engagement and cause a rippling effect that contributes to communities' economic instability, social issues, and environmental challenges. How can public community spaces bring people together to strengthen social bonds, encourage civic engagement, and promote the wellbeing and overall sustainability of neighborhoods?

This thesis explores the idea of place identity and its role in communities that have a focus on place-experience such as Disney or professional sports venues. Aspects to explore include the formation of community through social bonding and shared experiences, how narrative and storytelling help shape a community, and how these communities provide a healthy sense of escapism from everyday life through immersive experiences.

This thesis project will explore the relationship between light and aesthetics, comfort and mood. I aim to work with light, including temperature and luminosity, to enhance mood and create a sense of comfort in different spaces and times. I am especially interested in empathetic technologies that allow for dynamic adjustment of light based on individual preference and need.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.