FROM CURRENT DEFICIENCY TO DESIGN INTERVENTION: DEVELOPING PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR SUSTSINABLE HOLISTIC MENTAL HEALTHCARE IN PAKISTAN.

Abstract

Introduction: The study aimed at establishing the need to have psychiatric hospitals in the scantly provided mental health facilities in Pakistan. The professional psychiatric care receives a restriction due to a low availability of facilities and a lack of special divisions.
This study seeks to fill these gaps through a qualitatively different architectural proposition. Research Methodology: A mixed method research approach was adopted. Many of the sources provided surveys of the literature, noting gaps in the current models of psychiatric treatment. Examples of best practice in psychiatric hospitals offered bench marks on design solutions through case studies and discussions. Also, interviews with clinicians and users helped to refine a general design brief in practice. Conclusions: The research showed the following absences in mental health facilities: the lack of adequate numbers of therapeutic environments and ineffective incorporation of specialty care divisions. These findings, elicited from case studies and respondent feedback, were applied to a design intervention aimed at creating a healing environment, optimal layout, and patient centered care. Recommendations: The future infrastructure initiatives of mental health centers in Pakistan can be planned as follows; Future mental health infrastructure project should incorporate the best principles of design concepts; interdisciplinary approach should be adopted to create sense of connectivity; the mental health infrastructure should be extended to a far- off areas as well. The effectiveness of these designs can be even further improved by extending the process of their evaluation and modification more frequently.