DESIGNING FOR PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY
How design can help with an holistic recovery
Richard Hutchinson, a Partner and director of LOM Architecture and Design, discusses the practice’s design of a new Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) for the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) at its site near Leatherhead in Surrey.
Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) is a national disability charity with more than 85 years’ experience of providing innovative, expert services for disabled children and adults, enabling people to live as independently as possible. The charity recently opened a new Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CRC) at its site near Leatherhead in Surrey. This purpose-built centre provides modern and comfortable facilities that enable the charity to provide expert neuro- rehabilitation and nursing care for people following an acquired brain injury, stroke, or neurological condition. The CRC has 48 spacious en-suite bedrooms, a large physiotherapy gym and additional therapy rooms, along with communal recreation and dining areas. The centre is set within beautiful Surrey countryside, with easy connections to the local towns of Leatherhead and Stoke D’Abernon. LOM Architecture and Design was involved from the earliest stages of the project, helping QEF to develop a new building that balances the demands of providing expert care with the more holistic needs of QEF’s clients.
The freedom to take a step back As the centre was one of LOM’s first healthcare projects, it gave the team the freedom to take a step back and bring in its experience from residential and workplace projects. As a practice that covers both architecture and interior design, the project could really be tackled holistically. The team knew that while the centre had a neuro-rehabilitation and nursing purpose first and foremost, it should also have a homely feel for clients undergoing long and short-term residential therapy and care (from six weeks to more than a year), as well as a community feel for all who would stay and work there.
This led to the development of the four key guiding principles, which the team has reflected on during and since the design process. Much of this had at its heart the acknowledgement that person-centred healthcare is more than just a medical experience. Feeling a sense of belonging,
The new Care and Rehabilitation Centre at its site near Leatherhead in Surrey.
of community, human connection, and independence, are all essential for a holistic approach to neuro-rehabilitation.
‘Doing what comes naturally’ – ensuring a connection to nature By their very nature, healthcare facilities, and especially hospitals, are associated with being clinical, sterile spaces which people try to spend as little time in as possible. When approaching the design for QEF’s Care and Rehabilitation Centre, the project team set out to design a space that people would be comfortable spending days, months, or even a year in – whether as clients, healthcare professionals, or support staff.
A ‘connection to the environment’ One of the central ways to combat the clinical nature of the space was to connect every part of the design to the natural world. The centre is set between Surrey parkland and ancient woodland, so the team ensured that every room would have a view to the surrounding greenery, with large windows bringing visual connection and natural light. Similarly, all ground floor residential rooms have direct access to the outdoors, with the design of the centre set around two quads. Good daylighting also helps further the sustainability of the project – requiring
less artificial light. Passive environmental design, sustainable materials, and solar panels, were utilised to ensure that the connection to the environment was more than skin deep.
This nature-focused approach was taken forward to the fabric of the design – from the woodland-inspired accent colours on the internal walls and furnishings, to the stack effect chimneys and high ceilings drawing the air through the buildings to provide natural, non- mechanical ventilation. With all the windows and rooms facing out onto greenery, the heat in summer could have been a problem, but the quads were built to include the natural shading of pillared colonnades, and residential rooms have blinds that can be activated by clients using accessible technology. All the exterior walkways between different parts of the centre are sheltered, to protect clients and staff against any inclement weather.
‘Home sweet home’ – providing a sense of the domestic
Maximising each person’s independence is a central tenet at QEF, and key to this is making the residential areas of the centre as homely as possible – with each client having the greatest possible autonomy. Every bedroom is equipped with assistive
September 2021 Health Estate Journal 81
©Horizon Imaging
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