| In the oldest record of architectural thinking, Vitruvius' Ten Book on Architecture reveals the ancient architect's preoccupation with health and illness in the making of architecture and the laying out of cities. The concern to set up conditions of health has persisted in architecture since then. Throughout architectural history, "spaces of contagion" as expressed in medical architecture and urban planning is a complex one. The meaning of architecture as "fundamental protector" is profoundly contradicted by the pervasiveness and force of contagious illnesses. In particular, in the event of an epidemic, the hospital that quarantines the infected becomes a source of contagion both literally and metaphorically. In the face of medical contagion, Architecture ceases to be a "protector." By examining the history of built spaces of contagion, and specifically the eighteenth century hospital, quarantine station, and medical museum, and the twentieth century microbiology laboratory, this thesis investigates the dynamics of quarantine exclusion and inclusion, with a view to rethinking the idea of medical contagion in contemporary architecture. Conclusions of this thesis are brought to bear on the design of a museum for contagious illness, on the site of Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory. By presenting the world of contagion to an audience through the design of a museum dedicated to infectious disease, the public can begin to think about inhabiting the "space of contagion" in urban environments and in the contemporary city. |
