Designing Hope: Children Co-Create a Healing Hospital Garden

The Children’s Clinical University Hospital, together with SchoolChanger project partners, is embarking on a meaningful initiative to explore a new approach in healthcare, one that places children at the heart of designing their own hospital environment. As the hospital grounds are becoming a more frequently visited and important part of each child’s healing journey, it is essential that this space reflects their ideas, wishes, and imagination. The SchoolChanger model offers a valuable example of how similar child-centered approaches could be used in schools and other public places.

Testing this model in a hospital setting means bringing new solutions into a sensitive and complex environment, where children’s comfort and emotional wellbeing are especially important. By showing how a redesigned hospital park can be transformed from a forgotten, somewhat intimidating area into a warm, educational, and imaginative thematic garden created together with children, we highlight the power of co-design to truly enhance the spaces that support young patients.

“As soon as we introduced the project to the children, we were met with wonderful enthusiasm and willingness to participate. Following our conversations, the first step in our co-creation journey was gathering their ideas in the form of sketches and presenting an initial concept.” – say the SchoolChanger project manager at the  The Children’s Clinical University Hospital – Viesturs Praulītis.

We warmly invite you to explore the gallery of children’s drawings: each one expressing their hopes and serving as a heartfelt inspiration for our designers as they continue their creative work.

Programme Manual Online

Choose