Psychiatric hospitals are forgotten elements in cities, that are considered as a dark part
of the city, and even the connection with the hospital and its patients, is seen as taboo.
The design of hospitals is significant in general, but the design of a mental hospital is
especially crucial due to the prevailing attitudes of society towards hospitals and the
fear of the presence of patients. Patients with mental illness have been exiled behind
the walls of the hospital for years, and they are far from their normal daily lives. During
the day, they do not see a view other than the hard concrete walls of the hospital. In
this article, in order to achieve a framework for designing the landscape of mental
hospitals, the methodology involved qualitative methods by using the descriptive
phenomenological research method and a semi-structured in-depth interview with
patients. Then, a focus group consisting of the hospital’s medical staff discussed the
topic of the research. To analyse the interview texts, we used Colaizzi’s seven-step
method, which led to the formation of 164 codes, 31 subthemes, and 9 main themes
shaping the main framework. The results and findings of this research report indicate
that social and cultural aspects of the design of the mental hospital environment are
essential and effective in the patient’s treatment process. For future studies, utilization
of an interdisciplinary team consisting of social scientists, engineers, architects, and
building scientists may serve to facilitate the production of research that enhances
comprehension within the respective domain.