Mind in the External: A Rehabilitation Facility for the Clinically Depressed
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Abstract
Recent studies in neuroscience suggest that our minds are actually projected into the outside world and the outside into our minds. By mixing this new knowledge with philosophy, research has shown that our built environment deeply effects our mental health. Rehabilitation facilities today are either extremely isolated or very under designed and closed off from the city around. My architecture acts as a solution to bring patients back into the city while remaining an open campus to facilitate a transition back into their own homes. The treatment center is focused on patients with depression and provides an environment
that changes their perspective by carving into the earth and providing pathways that connect users to the larger world and the cosmos. Inspired by Orpheus' journey from darkness into light the building acts as a filter for storytelling and a cathartic experience of healing. The design respects both public interaction and patient privacy by nesting the individual within the design and the design within downtown Chicago. The interlacing of public and private allows the visitor to become a participant in the architectural fragments that encase the project.