|
by Bill Witherspoon
"Only nature heals, provided it is given the opportunity to
do so."
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote these words in ancient
Greece. Now, 2,400 years later, in the context of an explosion of
medical technologies, it remains clear, both scientifically and
intuitively, that the single most important element in the healing
process may still be nature. "Nature heals" has yet to
be replaced by "man heals" or "technology heals."
Nowhere is this principle more important than in the profound developments
that are occurring in radiological practice. The diagnostic and
therapeutic tools of modern day radiology are changing the face
and outcomes of medical
practice profoundly. But for the uninitiated patient, often overwhelmed
with anxiety and fear, the technologies and procedures of radiology
are at best mysterious, and at worst, cold, removed, and even terrifying.
With the experience of the patient in mind, it is no wonder that
thoughtful healthcare facilities and their designers are currently
engaged in a serious effort to reintroduce the experience of nature
into radiology. However, of all healthcare environments, the radiology
suite is one of the most difficult to integrate into the natural
world through an architectural design that utilizes gardens, windows,
and skylights. But are there some effective alternatives?
For several years, images of nature, often presented in backlighting
systems, borrowed from the sign and display industries, have been
used in radiology facilities in the hope that such images will help
improve the environment. This has had a measure of success as reported
by patient satisfaction surveys and legitimate research. The next
step goes beyond the display of beautiful images of nature to the
deliberate creation of powerful illusions that can reliably trigger
an authentic experience of nature and the psychological and
physiological correlates that accompany such an experience.
The key to harnessing illusion lies in understanding our habits
of perception. A magician creates a completely believable (though
unreal) reality through skilled manipulation of our perceptual habits.
Similarly, the architect or designer of an imaging suite must analyze
our habits of perception to create architectural design elements
that lead us beyond a mere idea to an authentic experience of nature.
New technology, as well as new understanding of human perception,
has paved the way, and we find more and more of our sensory input
carefully designed to achieve specific results. This is occurring
everywhere in our information-laden environment. Consider for example,
the ability of technology to create virtual realities. Whether it's
the sound system of a modern theater that can now place a whispering
voice six inches behind the right ear of every movie viewer, or
a pair of high-tech "goggles" that present us with an
entire new world of sight and sound - the key lies in the ability
to successfully trigger powerful psychological and physiological
responses through manipulation of sensory habits of perception.
To move beyond beautiful pictures to a virtual reality that provides
an authentic experience of nature, one must consider two basic elements:
appropriateness and/or content of the natural subject matter; and
specific techniques for engaging our habits of perception to generate
an experience of the real.
We all love and appreciate nature, yet some of us are "mountain
people," whereas others prefer the ocean or the desert. However,
we all love and appreciate the sky without reservation. It is not
only universal and pure, but it is also our most expansive and significant
exposure to nature throughout life.
Consider then, building an illusory sky in the ceiling above the
patient.
To begin with, the purpose of making an illusory sky ceiling in
a healthcare facility is to trigger the psychological and physiological
response that an observer would automatically have when lying on
the ground looking up into a
beautiful sky. We all know the experience and we all know the result
- deep relaxation, freedom, and inner peace.
It's not simple to create an illusory sky that has sufficient power
to trigger the desired response. This is in large part because,
whether we know it or not, the eye and mind is highly tuned and
alert to the tremendous amount of information that is present in
a real sky.
For example, because sky color is directly correlated with altitude,
temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and pollution - the
color seen by the observer will convey considerable information.
Specifically, a violet-blue sky is characteristic of a high-pressure
front (or high-altitude) and elicits a different experiential response
than the softer high-humidity yellowish-blue of a low-pressure front.
We simply feel better in the high-pressure, low humidity conditions
and experience has taught us to associate that "feeling good"
with the corresponding hue range of violet-blue.
Clouds have no intrinsic color, so their apparent colors are imparted
by the atmospheric qualities previously discussed, as well as the
angle of the sun, the time of day, and the complexities of internal
shadowing. Their physical structures and patterns of formation are
also built according to complex interactions governed by the basic
laws of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. As a result, considerable
information about how the world works is embedded and available
in something as apparently simple as the form, pattern, and color
of clouds.
Virtually all clouds and their transformations occur in orderly
arrangement. It should be no surprise that clouds display the same
patterns that can be observed elsewhere in the world. A sky of rippling
clouds is little different from the rippling patterns in a sandy
river bottom, from the eddies of blood in the aorta, or the centuries
old erosion patterns of the Southwest as seen from the air.
In the presentation of a sky ceiling, there are several perceptual
habits that must be considered to create a successful illusion.
Correct perspective is one of the more important. When we look up
into clouds we see only the bottom of clouds that are directly above
and see increasingly more of the sides of clouds as our view moves
from zenith to horizon. Therefore, the straight up view appears
very different than an
oblique view. In fact, even when we look up into an empty blue sky,
it is never a uniform blue of constant luminosity, but is always
graded in hue and value from horizon to zenith.
Consider, for example, a sky ceiling that is approximately six feet
above a reclining observer's head and displays a flat photographic
image of sky that covers an area two feet wide and six feet long
- with one end of the sky image above the head and the other above
the feet. If the zenith in the image is located directly above the
observers head and the sky above the feet is the view about fifty
degrees towards the horizon, then the observer in this situation
will see exactly what would be observed if an identical hole were
cut in the ceiling and a real three dimensional sky passed overhead.
However, if the flat image of the sky is reversed with the zenith
above the feet, then the observer's view is "wrong" and
the response is quite different.
In an informal experiment, thirteen observers were placed beneath
such a 2'x 6' flat ceiling sky image installed in an eight-foot
ceiling. At each end of the image, about one-third showed a portion
of white cloud, while the middle-third was open blue sky. The sky
image was designed to place the zenith at one end of the installation.
The observers' first viewings were with their feet beneath the zenith
- in other words oriented "incorrectly." All observers
were pleased with the image, commented on its novelty, and indicated
that it was pleasant. Everyone thought it was a great idea.
In the second phase of the experiment, the image was installed "correctly,"
though the change was not immediately obvious because of the almost
symmetrical masses
of white cloud at each end. In all thirteen cases, the experience
was reported as being considerably different with many of the observers
puzzled by what had caused the change. Only two people noticed that
the image had been rotated 180 degrees.
All expressed their changed experience in terms of a greater perception
of space or depth and increased realism. All observers indicated
that something significant had changed in their subjective experience
as well. They became quieter, were more absorbed in the experience,
looked longer, and described a more powerful subjective inner experience.
Most related this illusion to the childhood experience of lying
on their back and looking up into the sky. In some cases, the experience
was likened to the inner experience of expanded peacefulness that
occurs in meditation. After the second viewing, the prevailing remarks
shifted from discussion of the idea of a sky ceiling to that of
the experience of a sky ceiling. This indicates the discriminating
power of the mind and eye, and their link to subjective experience.
There are other factors related to our perceptual habits that must
be considered when one attempts to create an illusory sky that will
actually trigger the desired psychological and physiological response.
• One might be tempted to use a wide-angle lens in photographing
the sky. However, the curvature and forced perspective that can
be seen in converging trees, and even clouds, alerts the eye and
mind to the fact that what is being observed is, in fact, a photograph
- not sky.
• Blurring of motion is a convention of photography - not of
our vision - and alerts mind and eye to the unreality of the image.
• Use of a reflective surface alerts the eye and mind to the
existence of a plane that is located in the ceiling and hence conflicts
with the illusion of deep space.
• In spite of a beautiful image, it is difficult for the mind
to accept a field of blue sky that is marred by the subtle, but
telltale hot-spot stripes of old style fluorescent backlighting.
New advances in edge-lit technology can eliminate this problem.
• The quality of light used in backlit or edge-lit systems
provide its own set of cues - conventional fluorescent or incandescent
delivers a much different message than 6500 Kelvin, "daylight."
This light source triggers a daylight experience - hence its use
for the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). When one
considers the benefits to health and productivity of such light
and the fact that staff spends most of their daylight hours under
the artificial illumination of the suite and control room, the use
of 6500 Kelvin becomes doubly
important and of significant benefit to them as well.
• The size and placement of a sky ceiling, in addition to being
a focal point for the observer, should also engage their peripheral
vision to utilize the unique perceptual attributes associated with
that mode of vision.
• The use of a grid (such as the extrusion that supports a
true skylight or a ceiling grid system) might at first thought seem
disruptive, but in fact, because of the perceptual habits developed
by years of exposure to grids in windows and door, grids actually
signal the eye and mind to read the space on either side as "beyond."
This significantly enhances the experience of space and contributes
to the reality of the illusion. The repeated underlying principle
is that mind and eye-operating independently of the intellect -
are highly sensitive and linked to a vast depository of information
that is continually being collected and updated as a requirement
for successfully navigating in the sensory world. For the sake of
efficiency, much of that ongoing process has been relegated to habit,
and it is by virtue of understanding these habits that we can maneuver
the mind/body into the desired experience and outcome.
There is no reason why a successfully implemented sky ceiling should
not be affordable. Utilizing the powerful illusionist approach,
executing with the newest lighting and imaging technologies and
modular ceiling grid systems, one can provide an authentic experience
of nature for patients and staff alike. The cost in a midsize radiological
facility of an optimal installation is approximately $.35 per patient
procedure when amortized over three years. In an MRI that uses new
LED RF-free lighting technology, the cost would be approximately
$.56 per patient procedure. Considering the benefits of patient
comfort and loyalty, as well as referrals and the improvements to
staff well being and health, the utilization of this technology
to bring the vastness of the sky inside seems appropriate.
To conclude, it seems worthwhile to explore technologies that can
engage awareness in the experience of fundamental laws and forces
of nature, and thereby produce the psychological and physiological
states of reduced anxiety and restfulness that correlate with this
experience. Furthermore, given the constraints that must necessarily
exist in healthcare structures, the thoughtful use of illusion may
well assist in the practical introduction of the benefits that follow
from an authentic experience of nature.
 PREVIOUS
NEXT
|
|
PRODUCTS 
PREVIOUS NEXT
