Maritime Sanatorium
The San Juan de Dios Maritime Sanatorium was founded in 1929 with the goal of providing focused care for patients with the after-effects of poliomyelitis and bone tuberculosis. It currently serves as a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities, offering general pediatric services, with special attention to children with organic brain damage and neglect.
Through a donation from the Los Cedros Foundation, the Sanatorium launched a Master Plan to restructure the institution’s current green, recreational, and sports areas. As a Foundation, we were invited to participate in this project, and together with the hospital community, we rethought some areas of the original master plan, designing the park and memorial area.
Therapeutic Gardens, which contain a memorial area, “offer profound comfort and relief to those who have experienced loss, trauma, or have been displaced (…). The impulse to create a place that represents someone who has passed away; expresses grief; is a ritual area for remembering and honoring death; is an element universally shared by multiple cultures and ethnicities in different geographic areas of the world. A place of remembrance is usually an idealized version of nature; where the beauty of trees and flowers overcome death, providing relief from grief.”
Excerpt from the book Therapeutic Gardens: Designing for Healing Spaces by Daniel Winterbottom and Amy Wagenfeld.
Therapeutic Gardens to reflect, remember and take refuge
Following the specialized project execution and various participatory planting activities, the Therapeutic and Memorial Garden was inaugurated on Friday, May 17, 2019. This open-air space will allow for the development of therapies and recreational activities for all residents and students of the Sanatorio Marítimo.
The memorial area—within the Therapeutic Garden—is a place that provides a space for reflection and contemplation; it supports the healing process following the loss of children, youth, and older adults who have lived in the institution; and it facilitates the building of important bonds between residents, staff, and guardians.
To reflect the feelings of the sanatorium community, and seeking to make it a place they felt was their own and meet the therapy and rehabilitation needs of the community, the entire planning and creation of the Therapeutic Garden and Memorial was carried out through the methodological process implemented by the Cosmos Foundation team, which includes six stages:
The project’s technical design was developed based on the findings from the diagnostic stages (physical, social, and clinical) and participatory design (territorial linkage and mapping). The final design included four areas or components, which shaped the Therapeutic and Memorial Garden:
- Experimental area
- Workshops and Hortitherapy Area
- Meeting area
- Memorial Area