Lecture: The Architecture of Madness

Carla Yanni, author of The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States, spoke in our LA Lecture series today about the design of old insane asylums.

She started by pointing out that she would use terms like Madness and Asylum, because they were the terms of choice during that period. This was a time of unusual treatments. One of the earliest examples was the Friends Asylum outside of Philly, where diversions (like an amusement park ride) were used to treat the patients.

The intense design work required and the significant scale of these projects led to involvement by early LA notable like Andrew Jackson Downing. FL Olmsted overhauled the Hartford Retreat adding a pleasure drive for the public.

But an important trend was the linear plan. Designed within the traditions of the Kirkbride Plan, these emphasized views of the landscape, kept the wards short for ventilation, and used the center building for separating male and female patients. One of the earliest examples of the Kirkbride Plan was Trenton's New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum (pictured above).

You could contrast this with the traditional notion of the Panopticon, which was circular, or the radial plan which was used at the famous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly.

One of the grandest, and most memorable examples, was Frederick Clarke Withers' Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie. After which we began to downsize with the Cottage Plan which emphasized more intimate treatment settings.

An interesting insight came in recognizing how asylums clearly learned from both prisons and universities.

For New Jerseyans, the classic image of the Insane Asylum might be Morris Plains' Greystone which is now being replaced. But many have just been abandoned or destroyed.

And, on the lighter side, I've added a link to a Madness video.