History of Madness in US

HISTORY OF MADNESS IN US
Name
Date
Bibliographic Citation
Yanni, Carla. The Architecture of madness: insane asylums in the United States. U of Minnesota Press, 2007.
Thesis
Carla Yanni investigates the correlation between the physical architecture of insane asylums and the treatment of mental illness in the United States in her book, The Architecture of Madness. Yanni asserts that the design and layout of these institutions reflect the changing attitudes toward mental illness and the state's role in providing care for the mentally ill. She tries creating more meaning in buildings, leading the reader away from the conventional architectural marvels to a more personalized, cultural connection.
Summary
The history of mental asylums concerning architecture has been quite intimate, on the least. These two seem to have been relatively close, with mental asylums standing out as some of the pioneer buildings of modern archaeology in the past two centuries. This goes without saying that the focus was on the mental and physical recovery of the patients through the utilization of space as a healing element. Yanni establishes a connection between the architect, the medical practitioner, and the builders, as they all work to come up with an adorable work of human art as well as skill.
Yanni's book begins by tracing the history of insane asylums in the United States, starting from the late eighteenth century to the large state-run hospitals that dominated the landscape by the mid-twentieth century. She observes that the design of these institutions often reflected the prevailing attitudes towards mental illness and the role of the state in providing care for the mentally ill.. The Kirkbride Plan, developed by psychiatrist Thomas Kirkbride in the mid-nineteenth century, emphasized the therapeutic value of natural light, fresh air, and open space in treating mental illness and was adopted by many state hospitals. She believes that all these elements were complementary.[Yanni, Carla. The Architecture of madness: insane asylums in the United States. U of Minnesota Press, 2007.]
Yanni then examines the architecture of the asylums, analyzing the layout of the buildings, the design of patient rooms, and the use of space within the institutions. She argues that these design choices often mirrored the social and political contexts in which the asylums were built. For example, the use of large, centralized buildings in the early asylums represented the belief in the significance of order and discipline, while later institutions emphasized the importance of community and social interaction. She further notes that over the past two...