Viscera(l): Catharsis and the Treatment of Chronic Illness

Abstract

Chronic disease represents the most extreme case of illness simply because it cannot be taken away. Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) has remained primarily invisible from society, forcing its 5 million patients to fluctuate between hospitals and clinics in search of facility more attuned to the care they need. Taking lessons from the Greek theater and the catharsis evoked by tragedies, the architecture is designed to treat the individual with care and go beyond the over-sensitive, sterilized nature of healthcare architecture. By evoking a deeply corporal experience, the Edgewater IBD Treatment Center, in Chicago, Illinois, strives to attune inner and outer worlds in the patients progression towards health. The sick individuals take their own path through the layers of clinical, public, and private space. Weaves of ramps, veiled light, and earth’s darkness transport visitors through the interior to the patient who rests amongst the twilight. The architecture, through its angled and perplexing geometry, places the body in-between sky and ground and pain and comfort causing one to be sensitive and aware to the visceral emotions within us. The center brings the human body and its emotions back into the environments that are designed to heal them. We may ask ourselves, “how can the physical environment aid in rediscovering the equilibrium of health for individuals suffering from a chronic disease?”