For the Cosmos Foundation, environmental conscience, ecological conservation, and community focus form the foundations of land planning and landscape design within public infrastructure projects. We sat down with the foundation's project director, Felipe Correa, as well as foundation architects Valentina Schmidt and Consuelo Roldán, as they went in depth on the benefits, objectives, and motivations behind the Healing Gardens initiative.
Nature's Place Within Hospital Infrastructure
Throughout the conquest and colonial times, plants held a central place within hospital architecture, especially within sanatoriums specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis and mental illnesses. As time passed, however, natural spaces disappeared from medical buildings in Chile and the rest of the world, thanks in part to the Hygienist Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries. For the past few decades, however, scientific research has mounted evidence against the Hygienist methods in support of re-incorporating nature into healthcare, since, "in many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medicine" (Sacks, 2019). This research could--and should--revolutionize hospital architecture through a new understanding of how the human body works and its connection with its surroundings.
