The world will no longer be the same, say acclaimed creators, winners of awards and prizes, authors of buildings from the front pages of trade periodicals. When the Covid-19virus pandemic passes, everything will change and nothing will be the same as it was anymore. Everything... meaning what?
In Vienna, the authorities have decided to eliminate wide roadways and create lanes for pedestrians and cyclists. Paris is revising its existing public transportation policy, preparing for the "post-coronavirus" era. Vilnius authorities are making more public spaces available for services and commerce, which are expected to be "unfrozen" in the near future. Meanwhile, in Lodz, in the course of designating new parking spaces, it was decided to occupy sidewalks, freeing up several meters of roadway. The idea of social distancing does not change much. Those who saw some problems before - continue to see them and try to remedy them. Others are tackling new challenges with the red-and-whitesafety tape that wrapped around benches and entrances to city squares a few weeks ago.
It's not why modernists designed balconies that we should ignore social distancing, @maciejdusiciel wrote on Instagram. Despite the humorous tone, the comment prompts reflection on the history of architecture. Have you ever wondered where Le Corbusier and other modernists got their unique interest in sun and air? Where did the focus on hygiene and cleanliness, bordering on obsession, come from?
treatment factories
One answer is tuberculosis. A civilizational disease whose spread was closely linked to living conditions in the cities of the Industrial Revolution era, cramped courtyard-studios, overcrowded apartments, damp and musty rooms that rarely received sunlight and a breath of fresh air.
The basis of the fight against tuberculosis was a change, if only temporary, in living conditions. Hence the numerous sanatoriums, erected among coniferous forests. Patients were able to breathe clean, dry resinous air. They enjoyed heliotherapy, taking sunbaths on spacious terraces. The development of specialized sanatoriums, true "factories for treatment," coincided with the birth of the modern movement in architecture. The form of individual buildings and their furnishings was dictated by a specific function. When creating the furnishings for the Paimio sanatorium, Alvar Aalto designed an armchair that was intended to provide the sitter with an optimal position in terms of breathing, and also... be easy to clean.
Zonnestraal sanatorium in Hilversum, design: Jan Duiker
Photo: Blazej Ciarkowski
Dutchman Jan Duiker planned the Zonnestraal sanatorium in Hilversum as a light and transparent architecture, allowing constant contact with nature. The result was a complex of low-rise pavilions. White walls and ceilings contrast with large glass windows, and spacious terraces open the interiors to the pine forest. Interestingly, Duiker planned Zonnestraal as architecture with a definite "shelf life." He assumed that within 40 years tuberculosis would no longer be a threat (which indeed it was), so the tuberculosis sanatorium need not be a permanent building!
