Name: Aron Mark R.

Reyes

Design Problem: The Lung Center of the Philippines - Bohol: An Integration of

Humanistic Architecture in Creating a Healing and

Proactive Health Facility for People with Respiratory Ailment

Literature on

Written literature provides perspective on new opportunities and disadvantages of

the integration of Humanistic Architecture in Bohol’s Lung Center of the Philippines on

which it defines how would it be discuss the Bohol’s Demographic in relation to all the

patients and family set up typologies, which can contribute to creation of healing and

proactive Medical Facilities for people with respiratory Diseases.

Bohol

The proposed location for the project is one of the known provinces in the

Philippines, Bohol province. It is the tenth-largest island of the Philippines and the main

island of the Bohol province. It is part of the Region VII (Central Visayas) in the Visayas

island group. The province, which they also value, includes Bohol and a number of smaller

islands around it. Bohol is known for its coral reefs and unusual geological formations,

especially the Chocolate Hills.

Demographics
The population of Bohol Province has reached the million marks in the year 2000.

As per Census 2010, Bohol has a population of 1,255,128. It has 242,307 households

with an average household size of 5.1.

The population density of Bohol has rapidly grown by 34 persons square

kilometer from 242 in 1995 to 276 in 2000. This figure is comparatively very much

higher than the growth of national population density by two persons only from 253 to

255 persons per square kilometer during the same period. This means that spatial

requirement of the population is also rapidly going higher while the land area of the

province remains the same at 4117.3 square kilometers.

From 1990 to 2000, the Province registered an annual growth rate of 1.83 percent.

However, over a span of 5 years (1995-2000), the annual growth rate drastically

increased to 2.92 percent, higher than the national growth rate of 2.36 percent. Given the

growth rate of 2.92%, the doubling time of Bohol’s population is 24 years.

Health Facilities

Health Care is provided in Bohol by a school health service that includes more

than 30 hospitals and clinics, a network of outpatient clinics, local health centers, dental

facilities and a network of blood banks. Government health facilities include 48 Rural

Health Units (RHU) and 12 hospitals. Majority of patients in the province troop to

government hospitals which offer free services with most patients spending only for

supplies and medicines during their hospitalization

Respiratory Facility

It is a facility for treatment designed to help those suffering from chronic lung

conditions, such as COPD or cystic fibrosis, to manage their symptoms better and

achieve a higher quality of life.

It is intended to be offered alongside medical intervention and may include

supervised exercise, breathing training, nutritional counseling, and education on your

disease and how to manage it. Pulmonary rehab can be offered as an outpatient program

in a hospital, or at a specialized pulmonary rehab center. These centers offer the

resources, personnel, and facilities needed to help improve the symptoms of chronic lung

conditions.

The Lung Center of the Philippines

The Lung Center of the Philippines was established through Presidential Decree

No. 1823 on January 16, 1981, to provide the Filipino people state-of-the-art specialized

care for lung and other chest diseases. The Center was inaugurated on January 23, 1982,

as a tertiary level hospital with the view of “meeting the anticipated health problems of

respiratory nature on a national coverage as a coordinated effort of the Ministry of

Health, other government agencies and the private sector committed to health.” It may be

claimed that the Center had a vision and history that belonged to a gracious lady and a

dedicated surgeon who devoted his last few years in making a dream come true.

Unfortunately, the late Dr. Enrique M. Garcia, the former Minister of Health, a prominent

thoracic surgeon, and the first President and Director-designate did not witness the

opening of the Center.

Humanistic Architecture

Humanistic architecture is a concept that covers all issues related to the influence

of the human factor on architectural design. Architecture as applied art requires one to

consider the specific needs of the user; without this, the design process is incomplete.

It aims to place human welfare at the heart of the art and science of building design and

environmental management. In this article we aim to show how humanistic architecture

can contribute to public mental health and mental health promotion, using as an example

our own architectural and design practice, it aims to combine psychotherapeutic methods

with traditional architectural design to create healing healthcare environments that,

evidence shows, can enhance, and support the care and treatment process.

People seeking healthcare anticipate an environment supportive of healing and

wellness in acute and ambulatory facilities. Such environments synthesize psychological,

social, and physical components shown to effect perceptions of healing (McCullough,

2010). “Welldesigned physical environments... foster wellness, whereas poorly designed

environments make people frustrated and thereby contribute to the possibility of illness”

(Dilani, 2001, p. 34). Wellness factors need to be clearly identified in designing

healthcare facilities, becoming an integral part of the therapeutic process (Dilani, 2001).

By observing actual healthcare environments, evidence informed (Nussbaumer, 2009)

design strategies can enlighten stress-free environments by emphasizing strategic

opportunities to impact the design of healthy facilities (Ulrich, 2000)

Synthesis and Implication to the Study

The importance of providing citizens with promising health and well-being.

However, with the continuous impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the

increase of city population, the health of citizens is facing new challenges. Humanistic

Architecture gives new concept for the facility in creating effective healing and recovery

for the people with respiratory ailments, Furthermore, creating therapeutic environments

through humanistic buildings, which refer to placing human well-being at the center of

architectural design and environmental management, can improve and support health

environments in the care and treatment process, and contribute to public improvement

and help promote the public`s mental health.

Review and Recapitulation

With the ever-increasing population and their indulgence in using medicines to

treat lung illnesses, it has become all the more important to rely on natural means,

treatments, and remedies, which are being neglected due to lack of awareness among the

masses. The current trends are towards designing and developing state of the art health

centers that not only focus on having aesthetic enhancements to reduce stress and anxiety

but also make a deliberate effort towards promoting patients’ health and healing

mechanisms. Such spaces can be a particularly good medium for instilling emotions, i.e.,

the aura of space can bring a positive change in a person’s perception and mood while

using the space.

 The work aims to discover how architecture and aesthetics can create an

environment conducive to the healing process. The work nowhere thrusts that the

architecture, when used independently, has the ability to heal; but the architectural

manipulation of space can function as a catalyst in creating a healing environment that

may affect the physical and psychological behavior of the patient.

 References:

Morales, E. & Van Hoof J. (2012, November).

Healing environment: A review of the impact of physical environmental.
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Saavedra, J.R. (2020). Bohol guv bats for state-of-the-art provincial hospitals.
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Chiu, R.A (2021). 2 Bohol towns log drop in population count

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Lung Center of the Philippines (2022). History of Lung Center of the Philippines
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Lathan C. (2015, August). Lung cancer care: the impact of facilities and area measures
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Mazuch R. & Stephen R. (2005, December).

Creating healing environments: humanistic architecture and therapeutic design.
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