Can the environment in which we recover become part of the healing process itself?

The Cognitive Trauma Centre was developed as an academic proposal addressing the consequences of road traffic accidents in the Dominican Republic and the need for healthcare environments capable of supporting patients beyond immediate emergency treatment.

Located in Santiago de los Caballeros, the project explores trauma care through a more comprehensive approach — bringing together emergency medicine, surgery, hospitalisation, physical rehabilitation and psychological recovery within the same healthcare environment.

The central idea was to consider recovery not simply as the treatment of an injury, but as a process involving both body and mind.

Beyond Emergency Care

The research behind the project identified road traffic accidents as an important public health challenge in the Dominican Republic.

While emergency intervention can determine survival, the consequences of trauma can continue long after the initial accident.

Physical injuries may require surgery, hospitalisation and rehabilitation. At the same time, patients and their families can experience psychological and emotional consequences that conventional healthcare environments do not always address spatially.

The students therefore asked:

What happens after the emergency?

The Cognitive Trauma Centre was conceived as an environment capable of accompanying patients through different stages of recovery.

From Trauma to Recovery

The programme brings together the medical services required for acute treatment with spaces dedicated to longer-term rehabilitation and wellbeing.

Emergency Care

Two emergency areas provide immediate attention to patients arriving with trauma-related injuries, allowing the centre to respond efficiently to different levels and types of medical urgency.

Surgical & Medical Care

Surgical areas and specialised consultation spaces support diagnosis, treatment and intervention during the critical stages of patient care.

Hospitalisation

Hospitalisation spaces accommodate patients who require continued medical supervision and recovery following treatment or surgery.

Here, the quality of the environment becomes particularly important.

Views, natural light, landscape and spatial comfort are considered alongside clinical requirements to create spaces intended to reduce the institutional character traditionally associated with hospitals.

Physical Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation becomes a fundamental stage between treatment and returning to everyday life.

Dedicated spaces for physical medicine and rehabilitation allow patients to gradually regain mobility, independence and confidence within the same healthcare ecosystem.

Psychological Recovery

The project also recognises trauma as more than a physical condition.

Spaces supporting psychological wellbeing form part of the proposal, acknowledging the emotional impact that serious accidents can have on patients and their families.

The objective is to create an environment where physical and mental recovery are understood as interconnected processes.

Nature as a Healing Resource

One of the project’s principal architectural strategies is the relationship between healthcare spaces and nature.

Green areas, landscape and visual connections to the exterior are incorporated throughout the centre as part of the patient’s experience.

Rather than treating landscape as decoration surrounding the hospital, the proposal considers nature as a psychological resource capable of contributing to a calmer and more supportive recovery environment.

The architecture therefore attempts to reduce the separation between clinical space and natural space.

Awareness & Prevention

Recovery is only one part of the project’s mission.

A dedicated awareness and prevention space, integrated into the landscaped areas, introduces an educational component focused on road safety and accident prevention.

This expands the centre’s role beyond treating the consequences of traffic accidents.

It also creates an opportunity to engage with the broader community and contribute to prevention.

A Healthcare Environment for Body & Mind

Located in the Baracoa sector of Santiago de los Caballeros, between Avenida Imbert and Avenida Circunvalación, the Cognitive Trauma Centre proposes a healthcare environment where emergency response and long-term recovery belong to the same continuum.

Emergency care addresses the immediate injury.

Surgery and hospitalisation support treatment.

Rehabilitation helps restore physical independence.

Psychological care addresses the emotional consequences of trauma.

Landscape provides moments of connection and relief.

Together, these elements form an environment centred not simply on treating an accident, but on supporting the person experiencing its consequences.

The project proposes healing as a journey — from emergency, through treatment and rehabilitation, towards physical and psychological recovery.

Project
Cognitive Trauma Centre

Location
Santiago de los Caballeros · Dominican Republic

Students
Marcelle Gómez · Sailenys Rosario · Mariela Olivero

Programme
Emergency Care · Surgery · Hospitalisation · Physical Rehabilitation · Psychological Support · Awareness & Prevention

Topics
Healthcare Architecture · Trauma Care · Rehabilitation · Mental Wellbeing · Healing Environments · Landscape

Course
Design IX · EAD–PUCMM

Professor
Sarah Tió

Type
Academic Student Project