Archizond. The Past, Present and Future of Architecture and HealthArchizond. The Past, Present and Future of Architecture and Health

The exhibition Archizond. The Past, Present and Future of Architecture and Health features photos and drawings from the archives of the Nieuwe Instituut.

Zonnestraal Sanatorium in Hilversum was originally intended for diamond cutters who had contracted tuberculosis. Jan Duiker, an important exponent of the Nieuwe Bouwen movement of the 1920s-1940s, designed pavilions situated so that each room had an unobstructed view. Every line of sight aimed at greenery and residents had plenty of privacy. The design also left lots of room for natural daylight, which has a positive effect on health and recovery. The complex, which had a projected lifespan of 40 years, is now a national monument. It was restored in 1995 by architects Wessel de Jonge and Hubert Jan Henket.

The Rudolf Steiner Clinic, located on top of a dune on the border of The Hague and Scheveningen, was commissioned by the Dutch Anthroposophical Society and designed in 1926 by J.W.E. Buijs. It is a rare example in the Netherlands of the application of anthroposophical principles in architecture, and in hospital construction in particular. Noteworthy are the organic floor plan with few right angles, the monumental roof shape that recalls the crest of a dune, and the expressionistic, sculptural details. The patient rooms, unusually, were painted in colours with a healing effect. Yellow, orange and red would stimulate the metabolic process; blue and violet the mind, the senses and the nerves; purple would act on the whole person; and green would be neutral. The nurses wore a lilac-pink uniform.

The Juliana hospital or Julianaziekenhuis was a fairly late example of Nieuwe Bouwen, with abundant transparency, light, air and space. It was one of the first modernist hospitals in the Netherlands. The design provided different wings for various functions, such as a ward block and an outpatient clinic. The design was modern for its time, but not flexible enough to respond to changes. The patients slept six to a room and therefore had little privacy. The beautiful main entrance was not accessible to all because of the stairs and ramp. Nowadays there are other insights into how a hospital should be built, with a greater focus on care, flexibility, privacy and accessibility. The Juliana hospital was demolished in 1989.

The Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis (OLVG-east) in Amsterdam was founded in 1898 by the Zusters Onder de Bogen, to provide care for the sick based on a Catholic philosophy of life. It consisted of an infirmary, a cloister and a chapel. Not only were people with serious infectious diseases housed in separate pavilions, there were also separate wings for men and women. Under the secularising influence of ‘de-pillarisation’ in the 1970s, the hospital eventually became a non-religious institution. By then, the OLVG urgently needed modernising to bring it up to current healthcare standards. In 2003, the infirmary was replaced by a new building. Bas Molenaar of EGM designed the new building, whereby the Catholic identity of the infirmary was abandoned and the OLVG became a hospital for all.