Analytical framework in designing the landscape of psychiatric hospital (Case study: Razi Therapeutic Psychiatric Center)

Psychiatric hospitals are forgotten elements in cities, that are considered as a dark partof the city, and even the connection with the hospital and its patients, is seen as taboo.The design of hospitals is significant in general, but the design of a mental hospital isespecially crucial due to the prevailing attitudes of society towards hospitals and thefear of the presence of patients. Patients with mental illness have been exiled behindthe walls of the hospital for years, and they are far from their normal daily lives. Duringthe day, they do not see a view other than the hard concrete walls of the hospital. Inthis article, in order to achieve a framework for designing the landscape of mentalhospitals, the methodology involved qualitative methods by using the descriptivephenomenological research method and a semi-structured in-depth interview withpatients. Then, a focus group consisting of the hospital’s medical staff discussed thetopic of the research. To analyse the interview texts, we used Colaizzi’s seven-stepmethod, which led to the formation of 164 codes, 31 subthemes, and 9 main themesshaping the main framework. The results and findings of this research report indicatethat social and cultural aspects of the design of the mental hospital environment areessential and effective in the patient’s treatment process. For future studies, utilizationof an interdisciplinary team consisting of social scientists, engineers, architects, andbuilding scientists may serve to facilitate the production of research that enhancescomprehension within the respective domain.