HEALING BY DESIGN

Joy Pincus, Israel

An Israeli organization has created a unique room for rest and relaxation to aid children suffering from cancer.  The room is part of a special project called "Zichron Menachem," (Memory of Menachem) a daycare center in Jerusalem for kids who cannot attend school due to their illness. 

Named after his son, who died of cancer as a child, Chaim Erntal founded Zichron Menachem in 1990 to provide activities ranging from sports and educational programs to trips abroad.  Four years ago, Erntal began building a larger complex that could assist more children and provide better facilities such as the "World of Water," created by The Plasma team, a group of specialists in science, arts, design and education.

The room's design is intended to create the same feelings that go with water: relaxation, easement and peace.  The usage of pale colors and diffused light help in this, as well as the absence of sharp angles or corners, but the piece de resistance is a seven-sided fountain and aquarium built in the center of the room.  Surrounding it is a round deck layered in comfortable mattresses and pillows allowing the kids to stretch out and gaze at the fish and plants or the colorful, spiraling rings rising up from above the water.  The room can be divided, when needed, into three sections for privacy, each still containing a section of the fountain.

The usage of color is very specific, predominantly pale green, yellow and blue, which according to Plasma cause a feeling of inner peace. The color red is avoided due to its potentially negative effects on cancer patients.  Ezra Tarzi, an international color expert, the project's chief advisor and a professor of industrial design at Bezalel Academy, explains:

"The color red is a driver – a motivator to grow and expand…it's the opposite of blue (which) is calming things.  Red is awakening, so red in the presence of cancer or any pain should be avoided in our view."  Another material avoided was metal, due to its tendency to absorb, hold and then release coarse energy back into the room's atmosphere. 

The findings of Plasma come after years of research and discovery.  The team was formed in 1998 to help design the Master's degree program at the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design.  In the years that followed, they branched out in many directions, continuing to research and apply new technologies and understandings in the field of design and color and their effects on people. 

A year and a half ago, Plasma's exhibit at Israel's annual design show won special attention and came to Erntal's attention. "The Refuge Garden," was a space designed to facilitate the healing process of people suffering from head and brain damage by using a specific combination of colors, lights, plants, shapes and other elements.  After hearing of the Plasma's unique work and meeting its representatives, Erntal invited them to take on the job.

"For all of us it was a totally new adventure, a small project that can have a global effect," said Moshe Entebbe, part of the four-member team that worked on the project. 

"We tried first to understand the needs of the place and the children and then respond to them," said Omer Carmeli, another team member. 

"The center provides a very important service in helping children and their families to overcome the illness," Carmeli continued.  "They know through constant monitoring, that when the children are going out and having a good time, their health improves dramatically, so they need fun activities that cause them to release energy.  But they also need a pleasant ecology where they can lie down and rest, especially after treatments, and this room serves that purpose."

The new complex is about to open its gates to those children and families who so badly need this kind of unique care and assistance in their recovering processes.