Wellbeing

Enhancing the Healing Environment

With their natural light and tranquil, 'back to nature' feeling, SOLARDOME® glasshouses provide an innovative approach to therapeutic and rehabilitation activities in the wellbeing and health care sector. 

Care homes, hospitals and retirement villages are being encouraged to take advantage of the outdoor environment in the shape of a garden; as many patients and residents can end up confined to an indoor stale air environment. The idea is for patients and residents to take in fresh air, exercise and sunlight whilst still in a sheltered environment, which reduces the amount of medication needed to give a feeling of wellbeing. Our glasshouses make excellent horticultural therapy hubs and can add a functional and stunning focal point to existing outdoor rehabilitation areas. 

SOLARDOME® glasshouses are also being used by several of our customers for Reiki and Yoga, healing and therapy sessions or simply as be a tranquil, calming space in which to relax and reflect in healthy natural daylight.

Learn more about what makes our geodesic glasshouses so special!

Example - Mental Health Partnership, Oxford 

We were asked by Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust to provide a covered structure as part of its £35,000 'Enhancing the Healing Environment' programme. The use of a SOLARDOME® glasshouse has addressed the lack of therapeutic, social and recreational space outside the main building and provides a calming, warm and safe space for potentially vulnerable and isolated clients.

The design for the structure and internal layout was produced in consultation with patients, and includes a moving water feature to create a relaxing environment, options for lighting, the provision of seating areas and low upkeep planting which patients can help to maintain.

Example - Albany Prison, Isle of Wight

We were approached by Eccleston George Public Artists, a collection of artists, innovators and creative thinkers who specialize in public and private landscape design and creation to supply a Capella dome which would act as a centre-piece for Albany Prison's hospice garden.

The hospice garden is intended as a place where patients and their families can gather and relax. Prisoners, patients, staff and visitors will be able to enjoy the quiet and privacy of the garden and play an active role in its construction and on-going maintenance. Eccleston George considered it important to collaborate with an artistic, yet practical company who could provide a versatile structure which they could use to create their own specific design. The result is a bespoke sculpture which also acts as a shelter, with partly exposed framework and highly coloured glass patterns in the roof section to create an inspiring yet calming environment.

Example - Clisham Dementia Ward, Western Isles Hospital 

Dementia patients on the Clisham Ward at the Western Isles Hospital at Stornoway now have improved access to the outside world and a greater degree of independence, thanks to a special garden created to improve their health and wellbeing.

Enabling them to wander at their leisure and enjoy the fresh air, the sensory garden is designed with a curricular footpath encompassing various features which enable the patients to remember and reflect on aspects of their past which they have a clear memory of. At its hub is a SOLARDOME^® glasshouse which acts as a warm, safe and quiet retreat, affording patients views of the garden, unique landscaping and wild flower meadow. Its circular design with curved benches allows for a closer social interaction amongst the patients and their carers.