Incorporating Restorative Experiential Qualities of Healing Landscape in Acute Care Hospitals Naiera Ebrahim Mahmoud Ebrahim Mansour Demonstrator in the Architectural Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University Doaa Kamal El-din Kamel Hassan Assistant Professor in the Architectural Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University ABSTRACT Landscape has a cardinal impact on both spiritual and physical wellbeing. Today, healing landscape design is a growing aspect of landscape architecture. Restorative experience is intended by planners to energize the body, stimulate the spirit, and ultimately enhance the recuperative powers inherent in a decrepit body or mind. The origin of such field goes back to the Middle Ages' monasteries and churches down to pavilion hospitals and asylums of the seventeenth century to early twentieth century, where nature was embraced in delivering care for the sick, insane, and infirm humans. Nevertheless, at the middle of the twentieth century (1950-1990), there were specific emerging technological and medical factors that negatively affected the design of hospitals. As a result, nature settings were neglected in most of hospitals’ environments; hence, it became more institutional and unsupportive. Eventually, hospital administrators and providers began to notice the negative reactions to the prevailing non-supportive environments. Consequently, in the 1980s and 1990s, attention was drawn again to nature significance in hospitals due to a great deal of evidence demonstrating its benefits to hospital users. A new concept emerged to reintroduce nature in healthcare facilities. This concept was “Healing Landscape”, which has become an increasingly viable field of research around the world. Hence, this study aimed at building strategies and specific tactics that help in both designing and evaluating hospitals’ outdoors. The study methodology depended on conducting an analysed review of relevant thoughts, theories, strategies and international guidelines and benchmarks in the field of healing landscape, in addition to distinct international case studies for acute care hospitals. The study concluded by proposing a design/assessment matrix that comprises two main categories: facility design and outdoor space design, with eight items: hospital site planning, garden’s visibility, garden’s awareness, garden’s maintenance, accessibility, spatial planning, plantation and furnishing. Recommendation about applying the matrix in the local context has been advised in order to investigate the local status regarding the international trends and check the validity and suitability of the tool in local practices. KEYWORDS: Healing Environments; Restorative Environments; Healing Landscape Design; Hospital Stress; Acute Care Hospitals