Jennifer Weber / Year 1 History of Architecture and Landscape Dr Stylianos (Stelios) Giamarelos
Healing Architecture
"We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." - Winston Churchill
Architecture is more than just walls attached to a floor, architecture has the secret ability to speak to its occupants. Furthermore even transmit a feeling, a memory or a vibe to a person just by simply existing. But that existence has more to it than it may seem in the beginning. Much thought has been given to a construction in order to make it transmit that specific feeling to its people. Architecture has the power to affects us and our wellbeing. The impact of a building towards a person increases even more if that person is ill. When architecture has the ability to positively influence a persons health it is known as Healing Architecture. It is a ancient practice and traces of it can be found very early in history, reaching back to times of the 4th century before Christ. Over time, Healing Architecture became a even more popular topic for designers and medics. In the following, the history of Healing Architecture will be analysed, compared and questioned to Healing Architecture today.
1
In order to find a connection between ancient healing and todays health institutions we must understand how people used to treat illnesses back in the day, what their focus and belief was, how the architecture was constructed and wether some of those practices are in use today. When looking all the way back at ancient Greece, medical practices were already performed but there were yet no hospitals as we know them today. Instead, much importance was given to home visits by doctors or instead the ill traveled to a famous temple Asclepion which was named after Asclepius, the god of medicine in greek religion and mythology. Even today, The Rod of Asclepius, around which a snake wraps itself, is as still famously known and used as a pharmaceutical symbol. The ability of the snake to shed its skin symbolises renewal, rebirth and healing.1 By visiting the famous temple, people hoped to find their cure. It was believed that if one sleeps in the so-called Enkoimeteria, the god of medicine appears in ones dream and this experience leads the person directly to the path of health.
Popularity of the healing temples began to increase and with time more Asclepeions were build around greece. Epidauros in the Peloponnese had one of them which known to be the most significant Asclepion in ancient Greece. Another important one could be found some time later on the island of Kos. Athens also offered a healing temple right in the center of the ancient city.2
The Asclepion was inspired by catagoges, which back in the day were considered hostels for travellers. Usually these temples’ architecture was simply a square made of bricks for resting spaces and a shared courtyard that connected all spaces together. There were also more attractions such as mineral springs which were believed to have healing powers.3
2
The architecture of the construction had the purpose to reflect and support the healing ritual. Usually several different “healing-attractions” could be found around the temple. For example a sanctuary or a spring.2 Nowadays this kind of hospitality would be considered too dangerous. Illness could easily spread and simply relying on the power of nature and religion is questionable.
“for most of history hospitals were designed as religious or state institutions and without our understanding of bacteria, viruses, and the nature of disease. The first hospitals were a far cry from the advanced institutions they are now”. (Edelson, 2014)4 A statement which is introducing us directly to the 21. Century and Healing Architecture - today.
After looking at the idea and usage of Asclepions it is true to say that nowadays health institutions have changed in many ways. Besides the highly increased medical research and progress, in terms of Architecture isolation would be one of the most important factors to happen in case of a outbreak or plague. The design of hospitals is specifically handled to prevent further infection and spread. This is achieved by enabling the space to have a high standard of hygiene. For example through the use of easy care materials or even well considered placement of walls, restrooms and others. Looking back at ancient healing, where much importance was given to environmental factors and belief, some traces of the ideas from the old healing system can still be found in todays “social architecture”. This much knowledge did not exist in ancient greece yet and therefore that can be considered a lack of the healing temples. There were many people travelling to Asclepions and hoping they would fins health. Instead these people were at risk of getting infected by a even heavier disease.
3
“Architectural attributes such as natural light, nature scenes, and calm, clean rooms for patients contribute to a positive experience for the patient. Architectural studies have worked to bring nature closer to the patient’s experience with outdoor and indoor gardens, glass panels for enjoying light and the landscape, and the use of natural materials like wood and stone.” (Heller, 2018)5
Natural light, nature scenes, calm, courtyards and natural materials were all of importance in those ancient healing temples, as mentioned before. When analysing todays Hospitals and comparing them to historical ones, it is clear that with the development of medicine big changes and improvement has happened in the architecture of health as well. Even though Hospitals had their “dark times” in historic epochs like brutalism, medics and designers came to the conclusion that it is important to design hospitals aesthetically pleasing to generate a comfortable home-feeling for its patients. Research by Dr. Roger Ulrich, a professor of architecture at the Center for Healthcare Building Research at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has proven that patients enjoying window view of nature had a shorter stay in the hospital than patients under similar conditions with a window view towards a brick wall.6 Therefore nowadays designers have the aim to design a building as healing as possible. The topic can be found not only in hospital design but it can be applied to almost many building types like homes, offices, schools, public spaces and more. Eliminating environmental stressors, connecting people to nature by providing natural features, enhancing a persons feeling of being in control by offering options and choices, providing positive distractions, such as interactive art, fireplaces, aquariums, internet connection, music, or soothing video or light installations and inspiring feelings of peace, hope, and reflection is aimed by designers and architects.7
4
Having gathered all the information above, it is clear that times have drastically changed. Over 2.400 years have passed and we do not live in the ancient greek world anymore and therefore there is no need to travel to a temple in case of an illness. Nowadays we have the luxury to simply go to a professional doctor, which has all necessities to diagnose an illness and prescribe the right treatment for it. Instead of outside temples we have whole structures build for health institutions that give importance to hygiene, comfort and isolate all kinds of diseases. Despite the big change, we should still appreciate the knowledge taken from these kind of historic projects as there is much inspiration taken from it in todays Healing Architecture. In ancient Greece the first healing temple was the starting point and without it we may would not have hospitals as we now them today. It is a fact that those Asclepions had several important ideas and strategies behind them that indeed worked towards finding health and that is why today we came back to the conclusion that factors such as the environment have a big impact on our wellbeing and we apply some of those ancient ideas in our architecture today. The more we look back in history, the more we notice how many things, in this case in architecture, we still apply and consider today. We are more connected to history than we actually think and I believe that in Healing Architecture there may is still more to discover, but the roots will always come from history.
5
Reference List:
1: https://www.florenceinferno.com/rod-of-asclepius-and-caduceus-symbols/
2: http://clinchem.aaccjnls.org/content/60/10/1357
3: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/a-brief-history-of-plaguearchitecture/
4: Edelson, Zachary, Plague Architecture: How Designers Have Fought Disease Across the Ages, Architizer, 2014
5: Heller, Cheryl, How the Architecture of Hospitals Affects Health Outcomes, Harvard Business Review, 2018
6: Dr. Roger Ulrich, Professor of Architecture, Center for Healthcare Building Research, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
7: Podbelski, Lou, Healing Architecture: Hospital Design and Patient Outcomes, SageGlass, 2017
8: https://blog.ferrovial.com/en/2019/01/hospital-architecture-impact-lives-patients/
9: http://www.greece-is.com/of-gods-and-dreams-the-ancient-healing-sanctuary-ofepidaurus/
10: https://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/architecture/history-hospitals-andwards/
11: Egger, J. (2015) Integrative Verhaltenstherapie und Psychotherapeutische Medizin, Springer
6