title: A theoretical model for transforming the design of healing spas: color and platonic solids.
abstract: An increasing number of clinical treatment modalities feature the therapeutic application of light in wavelengths that correspond to specific colors. How do design professionals connect light and color with form? Until now, such relationships remained largely unexplored. Beginning with accepted contemporary science and tracing the question back to early scientists and philosophers, this paper confronts the skeptic who says that color is situational and cultural and that it cannot be linked to outcomes. By describing modalities that combine specific light wavelengths with color and form, this investigation probes material that does not conform neatly to the research data. By exploring Plato's concepts in the form of an environmental experiment, this paper applies ancient theories of healing to current medical applications in conceptualizing the design of a hypothetical spa. The hypothesis is that patients who visit a spa designed to connect form with light and color will experience more effective and timely outcomes than the same patients who visit an ordinary spa.
authors.affiliation: Perkins + Will, Washington, DC 20037, USA. tama.duffyday@perkinswill.com
authors.forename: Tama Duffy
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rich
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings / Q000379:methods*; D008029:Lighting / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000628:therapy