Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture

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Giovanna Borasi Editor

Mirko Zardini Editor

Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich, 2012, English

Nonfiction, Architecture

7.5 x 9.5 inches, hardcover, 400 pages, 365 illustrations

ISBN: 9783037782798

Suggested Retail Price: $70.00

From the Publisher. As health becomes a central focus of political debate, are architects, urban designers, and landscape architects seeking a new moral and political agenda to address these concerns? Imperfect Health looks at the complexity of today’s health problems juxtaposed with a variety of proposed architectural and urban solutions. Essays by Margaret Campbell, David Gissen, Carla C. Keirns, and Sarah Schrank deal with different aspects of the topic of health in the context of architecture such as: “An Architectural Theory of Pollution” and “Strange Bedfellows: Tuberculosis and Modern Architecture—How ‘The Cure’ Influenced Modernist Architecture and Design.” The book is published in collaboration with the CCA, Montreal on the occasion of the exhibition “Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture,“ curated by Giovanna Borasi, CCA Curator of Contemporary Architecture, and Mirko Zardini, CCA Director and Chief Curator.

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On John Hill’s Notable Books of 2012 list

Just about every exhibition these days is accompanied by a print catalogue, but very few are valuable artifacts in their own right. This companion to the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s exhibition of the same name expands upon the gallery content through the inclusion of essays also focused on the relationship between architecture, cities, and health—a rarely explored topic ripe for investigation. The juxtaposition of visual imagery and academic writing accentuates the differences between the many takes on the topic, some direct but many subtly nuanced.

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