Artist Biography
Maeja is graduating this spring with a BFA in Interior Architecture. During the last four years at Endicott, she has completed three internships, has been placed on Dean’s List nearly every semester, and is a part of the academic art honors society Kappa Pi. Growing up, Maeja has always shared a love for design and architecture. When she was young, she would play for hours building her own houses with Lincoln Logs and constantly rearranging and redesigning her room. Later in high school, she would use the online website Home Styler where she would spend her past time learning how to manipulate the software to create her own floor plans and designs for residential spaces. After graduation, Maeja will be continuing her education at Endicott to obtain her Masters degree in Interior Architecture while working part-time as a Junior Designer at Violandi and Warner Interiors. She will also be working towards furthering her professional development by completing the NCIDQ exam.
Thesis Abstract
Hospitable Living is a hospice and assisted living facility that helps provide a holistic, positive, and neutering healing environment for not only the patients but also their loved ones and caregivers. The facility includes a Hospice Wing, a treatment center, a wellness/therapy center, a community center, and an interfaith building. Each building offers its own individual services and cares for the users while collaborating together as a unit.
Death is a reality of life that all individuals must go through, and in some cases, before death comes hospice care. Designing a hospice care center should focus on both the physiological and psychological benefits for the patients, loved ones, and caregivers. Most hospice and palliative care centers successfully meet the physiological needs of the users; however, they often lack the design intent of creating a nurturing and holistic healing environment. By expanding our understanding of the process of death, how each user processes grief and heals from the hospice experience will thus create a holistic and nurturing environment where patients, loved ones, and caregivers can process their grief and imminent loss of life without feeling lost or alone along the hospice journey.