Interior spaces that appear connected to the outside environment, embracing inside what's nearby outside near to the building.
(e.g., interior gardens, ocean motif used if located at the beach, same flooring used both inside & outside)

INSIDE-OUTSIDE

Research

Child life space with connected garden noted as preference (Weinberger et al., 2016).
Outdoor access preferred hospital feature of children (Lambert et al., 2014).
Children and young people prefer thematic design w/ water, nature, the beach and the sea in hospitals *UK study- although inland (Coad & Coad, 2008)
Variety of research on biomimicry, *not specifically researched and still needed in interiors (Benyus, 2002)
Sky representation over patient beds beneficial for acute stress and anxiety levels (Pati et al., 2016)

References

Benyus, J. (2002). Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. New York, NY: Perennial.

Coad, J., & Coad, N. (2008). Children and young people’s preference of thematic design and colour for their hospital environment. Journal of Child Health Care, 12(1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493507085617

Lambert, V., Coad, J., Hicks, P., & Glacken, M. (2014). Young children’s perspectives of ideal physical design features for hospital-built environments. Journal of Child Health Care, 18(1), 57–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367493512473852

Pati, D., Freier, P., O’Boyle, M., Amor, C., & Valipoor, S. (2016). The Impact of Simulated Nature on Patient Outcomes: A Study of Photographic Sky Compositions. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 9(2), 36–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1937586715595505

Weinberger, N., Butler, A., McGee, B., Schumacher, P., & Brown, R. (2016). Child life specialists’ evaluation of hospital playroom design: A mixed method inquiry.