Interior design of new St Ann’s Hospice aims to create a welcoming environment
Sarah de Freitas, Creative Director of AXI Studio speaks about the design of the new St Ann's Hospice in Heald Green which her company is spearheading
The major importance for the interior design of the new St Ann’s Hospice building in Heald Green is creating a comfortable, welcoming environment for patients and families.
The interior of the new building is being spearheaded by AXI Studio, and creative director, Sarah de Freitas says she wants to create a space where people feel at home.
“Both the patients and the families are going through difficult times, so we feel that the comfort of the space needs to be on par with how they feel at home, if not even better,” Sarah said.
The biggest driving force for AXI Studio is to tick all the boxes for the various needs of the patients and families.
“If people are going through a tough time in the moment or are feeling upset, then we need to create spaces where they can have a moment to themselves. So, creating spaces that are like little pockets of privacy is so important.
It’s also important that we create spaces for people who may not have as many visitors and would prefer to have more people around. So, maintaining that balance by having spaces that create interactions is so important to us Sarah de Freitas, Creative Director, AXI Studio
Creating the spaces is a major priority but according to Sarah, designing the look of these spaces is also just as important.
“The look and feel of the textures and materiality needs to be different from anything you see in a hospital, which is often not the case in these types of environments. Yes, it does have a clinical side to it but again people are spending a lot of time here, so it needs to feel more homely.
“We don’t want stock white walls with big fluorescent lights that you see in a lot of clinical environments,” Sarah said.
AXI and St Ann’s have decided on light soft woods, to add texture and a premium feel to the space. This according to Sarah helps with the feeling that people aren’t entering into a sterile hospital environment.
“We’ve really enjoyed the process. St Ann’s are a fabulous team to work with, a lovely client and we have thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far. We’ve done a lot of commercial work so it is nice to know that this project will impact people’s lives quite significantly,” Sarah said.
As the structural bones of the hospice are now nearly complete, St Ann’s is launching the next phase of their capital appeal, this time asking the public for their generosity in helping to kit out the new site with furnishings and decorations.
A £30 donation could pay for cups and saucers for cups of tea or coffee for patients and visitors, £100 could pay for bedding bundles so patients are warm and cosy in their bed, £300 could pay for comfy chairs for visitors to sit with their loved one, £500 could pay for recliner chairs to enable patients to relax out of bed, in comfort, and £1,000 will get your name on our wall to recognise your generous gift to St Ann’s.
If you would like to donate, you can do so by visiting this link that will direct you to the St Ann’s Hospice Build it Together website.