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The Architecture Diaries

When Emily Sargent set out to unravel the intricacies of the relationship between architecture and health, she didn’t know where it would take her. Here she recounts her journey of discovery in and out of museums, libraries, houses, homes and places of healing across the UK and Finland, examining the influence of health on architecture and tracing the changing priorities in wider society.

  • Series
Artist's montage showing Dickens recording details of slum life in London.
The Architecture Diaries, Eva Mlinar. © Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

How slums make people sick

A newly gentrified corner of Bermondsey leaves little clue to its less salubrious history. But a few intrepid writers recorded the details of existence in one of London’s most squalid slums.

Homes for the hives of industry

By building workers’ villages, industry titans demonstrated both philanthropy and control. Employees’ health improved, while rulebooks told them how to live ideal lives.

Building a dream in the garden suburbs

In the late 19th century a ‘garden suburb’ promised a retreat from London’s dirt and crowds. See how this new concept was developed to appeal to the health concerns of the literary classes.

The tower in fiction, film and life

The high-rise estates born of postwar idealism soon became symbols of crime and squalor. But after one terrible tragedy, public bodies are being forced to rethink our towers.

Two health centres, two ideologies

Two futuristic, light-filled buildings aimed to bring forward-looking healthcare to city dwellers. But the principles behind each were very different.

The building as tool of healing

When we’re ill, it’s not just medical care that helps to treat us. Architects have discovered that the right environment can play an important part too.