Sick Architecture

The complex relationship between environment and illness is explored in this ambitious if haphazard anthology. Architectural historian Colomina (X-Ray Architecture) brings together essays that consider how architecture—buildings, complexes, cities—have shaped and been shaped by health crises and medical concerns. Such issues often intersect with colonial power. For example, Simon De Nys-Ketels, Johan Lagae, and Karel Proot explore city design in the Belgian Congo, where urban planners separated African neighborhoods—so-called “sites of contagion”—from white quarters via “segregationist zones” that aimed to prevent the spread of yellow fever. Other entries discuss mosquito control during the construction of the Panama Canal and overpopulation in 1970s India. Unfortunately, many of the essays stray far from the book’s ostensible focus, with pieces like Kara Plaxa’s study of man caves as bastions of toxic masculinity stretching the meaning of sickness quite far and others, like an essay on Covid-19 denialism, leaving architecture mostly by the wayside. And while some contributors make trenchant points about how governments and the powerful (medical doctors, corporate leaders) exert control over the more vulnerable, the relative lack of focus on practical ways in which such issues might be addressed sometimes frustrates. Intriguing themes and intermittent insights aside, this bites off more than it can chew. Photos. (Oct.)