book stations and patients, example: Ice Cream Springs

One of the best things to do when someone is down, is to invite that person to some ice cream in the park, no questions asked, no worried glances, just the cool, sweet stuff on the tongue and preferably some sunshine.

Now, that I think about it, there should be an Ice Cream Garden. It’s a garden with several ice cream sellers, but more importantly, it’s a garden with a few rules. Rule number 1: awkward questions, pity and demands stay outside; rule number 2: no noisy activities; rule number 3: limitless consumption of ice cream.

Anyway, Ice Cream Springs is a town which focuses on the mental health of humans.

One part of the town’s task is the research into what kind of environment provides a good basis for a healthy mind. Another task is to provide a haven for those who want to focus on nurturing or healing their minds.

book stations can play an integral part in many aspects of Ice Cream Springs.

There would be support for the researchers and the publications of their work.

The Reading Garden and The Silent Garden could be used by patients and towners alike, to recharge in a peaceful setting.

The library can bring new inspirations to an exhausted or frustrated mind.

The workshops could offer spaces for patients to write, print or bind books.

The book station could also offer uncomplicated job opportunities for those patients who need time to get back into work or who would like to try something new.

The larger book stations would have ample job opportunities, not just in their core businesses but also in the restaurants, theatre, shops, farms, electro grid, audio studio, gardens and so on.

In short, a book station can contribute vastly to the recovery of a patient, because a book station combines welcoming architecture and inspiring gardens with ample opportunities for the mind and for the hands to get new impulses or to take refuge, whichever is needed.