Kensington Center for Health: An Exploration of Health, Wellness and the Built Environment.

• Main Author: Peck, Rose
• Format: Others
• Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2015
• Subjects: healthcare; wellness; clinic; interior design; interior architecture; holistic; Interior Architecture; Other Architecture
• Online Access: http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3842; http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4838&context=etd

This is a project that explores how design can integrate medical treatment and community support. The high prevalence of chronic disease is creating a national healthcare crisis. Chronic disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Consideration of a holistic sense of well-being that focuses on disease resistance, resilience, and self-management is necessary to realize and sustain health outcomes. Community engagement is imperative to improve adherence rates for lifestyle changes. This project aims to design a community wellness space that is focused on prevention, resilience and self-management. A new typology of a community-anchored wellness clinic could provide an environment to support positive change. This clinic will be a new model of care by combining the necessary access to fitness, healthy food and health care while fostering community, and providing patient education and emotional support.