London’s Wellcome Collection is hosting a major exhibition about health and architecture – asking ‘How does our built environment affect us?’ – as it examines the positive and negative influence buildings have on our physical and mental health.
The Wellcome Collection writes:
Architects, planners and designers can have a powerful influence on our health and self-esteem, as well as ideas around community and society. We spend more time than ever within the structures of our cities, and more people than ever live in metropolitan areas. The recent tragedy at Grenfell Tower in west London, in which 72 people lost their lives, draws urgent attention to the connections between our homes and health, as well as to wider social and political priorities.
In this exhibition, examine some of the ways in which architecture and the built environment interact with concerns of health and wellbeing. From the slums of 19th-century London to the bold experiments of postwar urban planners to therapeutic spaces for people affected by cancer, look anew at the buildings that surround us and shape us. See a preview of the exhibition.
The exhibition includes works by Andreas Gursky, Rachel Whiteread and Martha Rosler, buildings designed by Lubetkin, Goldfinger and Aalto, and a new commission by artist Giles Round exploring the role colour can play in making us feel better. You’ll also be able to see an innovative mobile clinic developed to provide effective, adaptable healthcare in emergency situations.
