Children’s Cancer Foundation @ GB Point Wins SG Mark Award 2023

A beacon of hope, the Children’s Cancer Foundation Community Office features everything from counselling to art studios and play therapy rooms. The design showcases biophilic tree motifs and biomorphic elements to banish the clinical feel while maintaining a sterile environment. With an empathic design philosophy comes a space of strength and resilience, where children can find joy, hope, and support on their journeys. This project was awarded the Singapore Good Design Mark under the Spatial Design Category in 2023.

In designing this centre, D’Perception Ritz considered the needs of all end-users and stakeholders, with special attention to the unique needs of children diagnosed with cancer. Children who receive cancer diagnosis can be overwhelmed by the cancer progression and treatment journey and experience a vastly different childhood from other kids their age. They experience physical, emotional & psychological pain as well as social challenges that include the disruption of education. Families can also struggle financially as they feel helpless watching their child suffer. The Children’s Cancer Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families and children impacted by cancer through enhancing their emotional, social, and medical well-being. Being mindful that survivorship is also about reintegration, the Foundation has in recent years enhanced its services beyond hospitals to provide an appropriate environment for post-treatment, recovery and rehabilitation to children and youths. In commissioning D’Perception Ritz Pte Ltd to design the brand new one-stop holistic center at Geylang Bahru, it was important that the new space complement the mission and augment the service delivery of the organization. In addition to a conducive environment for education & counselling, the element of play and community-building feature prominently. The former encourages young beneficiaries to find a sense of belonging through a language they understand and the latter draw volunteers from cancer survivors to provide hope and inspiration to new beneficiaries. While the largest group of children newly diagnosed with cancer are between the ages of 0-4, the Foundation serve beneficiaries up to 35 and their families.

When designing a space with children in mind, it is easy to veer towards whimsical designs. However, since the Children’s Cancer Foundation also caters to young adults, one of the design challenges was how to incorporate whimsical childlike elements while also appealing to teens. Further, given that most cancer patients have reduced strength to enjoy the outdoors, the designers wanted the interiors to be imbued with biophilia. At the same time, due to lowered immunity of cancer patients, the center needs to be sterile. As such biophilic design with real plants and greeneries was not an option. 2D and 3D Tree of Life cartoonish motifs symbolizing strength, new life, good health, and hope became the anchoring design element in the interiors, overcoming the constraints. Combined with biomorphic shapes and a soothing color palette, the ambience is one that uplifts the spirit, the perfect backdrop for play therapy, art creation and preschool. Even youths and adults feel connected to the Tree motifs that stretch all the way into the ceiling. Colorful cutouts in the walls create safe cocoons for teens to hangout and connect.

This was a very successful partnership between D’Perception Ritz and the Children’s Cancer Foundation. Mindful of the foundation’s social mission, D’Perception Ritz strived to manage interior design and build costs so that the nonprofit has more funds available for serving more patients. In the final analysis though, an effective interior design makeover must not only be cost effective but also augment the quality of the service delivery. This was achieved through flexible and functional space planning to ensure the centre appeals to preschoolers, youths & adults, and is future-proofed for expansion of service volume and offering. This partnership harnesses out-of-the-box design thinking skills of an interior design firm that is committed to optimizing interior and space planning at a cost-effective budget for better service delivery.

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