Image of the month - May 2008

Doing yoga in the ‘Rose Room’ in front of a beautiful stained glass window is hardly the image most of us associate with cancer treatment. Yet the London Breast Cancer Haven, housed in a converted Fulham chapel has been designed to use art and colour to celebrate life and renewal in a therapeutic setting. And the conversion has won the first prize in the British Holistic Medical Association/Nutri Centre Healing Spaces Awards as well as getting a round of applause from Prince Charles.

Breast Cancer Havens are located throughout the country operating as welcoming day centres, offering a free programme of specialist complementary therapy to help patients and those supporting them during treatment. ‘You just know that you would feel good here,’ said one of the judges who included Sunan Prasad, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. ‘Some of the spaces feel inspirational, special chapel spaces which Haven’s architects have made the most of confidently and with a strong sense of purpose…”

The awards are intended to draw attention to the fact that the premises where therapy and treatment take place should be carefully considered. ‘These awards have been a celebration of how good spaces can truly enhance the healthcare environment and help us deliver medicine as if people matter,’ said BHMA Chair, Professor David Peters.

Prince Charles, a patron of BHMA, is a supporter of that view. “Sympathetic architecture and interior designs that are in harmony with universal principles and reflect the inherent pattern of Nature can have a profound effect on the quality of care and healing and can help support personal and communal health,’ he said.
 

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