Investigating the Role of ‘Domesticity’ in Healthcare Settings

The research aimed to understand how elements of domestic architecture can be applied to non domestic settings, such as the care environments of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres to improve people's wellbeing and experience of a place. The research aimed to understand how this can be achieved and what impact it has on a space.

I am passionate about architecture as an experience which we live in. As architects we have the capacity to shape people's experiences of a place, for better and worse. We spend so much time making our homes as comfortable as they can be for us; I was curious as to whether we can distil the essence of home and apply it to non domestic settings to try and improve the comfort of places where people are typically in various levels of distress.

A series of case studies were visited and these were analysed according to an operative definition of 'domesticity'. Analysis was split into three core chapters; Space, light & colour, materiality & furniture. Photographs of the spaces were taken and catalogued as references for the reader.

There is so much work that could be done on this topic, and so many different ways it can be explored. THe operative definition allowed the dissertation to remain focused and I believe the research did demonstrate the merit there is in applying domesticity to care settings as the Maggie's Centres studied are truly wonderful pieces of architecture and I do not think this would be the case if key elements of the 'home' were to be omitted from them.