A Study on a Design Proposal of a Pocket Park at the Yeungnam University Medical Center

(Background and purpose) Opened in 1983, the Yeungnam University Medical Center (YUMC) is a tertiary hospital located in the center of Daegu Metropolitan City. In the past, hospital users did not consider any other matters except for the treatment of the disease, but currently, they are demanding integrated customer service services in various factors such as spatial design and the efficiency of the medical system in addition to medical services. This design suggests a nature -friendly rest space outside of the hospital, helping patient's rehabilitation, relieving stress, and giving psychological stability to users when they use the YUMC. (Method) First, it tried to understand the concept and characteristics of a pocket park and find a implications by surveying cases of domestic and foreign park. Next, it specifically examined the location conditions of the idle space, the subject site located in the external space of the YUMC to find problems and derive solutions through the site status survey and analysis. Based on the derived insights, it derived the basic strategy of design development through SWOT analysis and segmented the role and function of a pocket park to define the design direction that can meet the needs of visitors and patients. (Results) It proposed a design that combined psychological and physical treatment programs centered on a wish garden by dividing it into a fountain garden, a healing garden, and a relaxation garden. The wish garden, the first area, is a space to share the wish for health by hanging signboards around the tree plaza. Second, the fountain garden was composed of a space that provides a fountain to feel nature and outdoor activities using the material of water in a desolate space called a hospital, to provide various synesthetic pleasures through walking. Third, the healing garden is a space where psychotherapy through natural objects encourages the patient's self-healing spirit and provides the experience of growing with plants. Lastly, the relaxation garden is an open space where people can take leisure and relaxation in the landscape, providing an auditory experience that materializes the sound of leaves shaking through a bamboo forest landscaping with poetic sensibility. (Conclusions) This design was conceived to induce users' satisfaction and healing by replacing old public facilities that hindered the aesthetics by building a new pocket park to create a bright and comfortable hospital space. Considering that it is a park in the hospital, it tried to contain the meaning of a place for pleasant recovery by providing a universal design environment and a psychological healing space through nature.