Hospice for terminally ill children

The topic of the diploma project was chosen due to personal interest in a public institution for seriously ill children and their families with special needs. The plot is located in Nagykanizsa, Hungary, with an interesting history of once being an English garden. By the research of the function and architecture for sick children, a memory of a book called ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances H. Burnett recalled to me, which tells a story about a seriously ill child who discovers a secret garden, and the positive psychological effects of nature help him to recover from her illness. This, together with the unique history of the plot shaped the concept, aiming to create a secret garden - a garden within a garden, so the children can also benefit from the positive effects of the garden. As the project is inspired by the book, the narrative of it is present throughout the whole design, where each part of the Hospice House represents a different chapter, and tells a different story. Zoning and functional lay-out of the project supposed to provide the most effective environment for the users, while the gardens serve to both bridge and border the different zones, telling their own story by various landscape design.