New exhibition: Building to heal - TUM

TUM Architecture Museum

New exhibition: Building to heal

New hospital architecture at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology i
New hospital architecture at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Until January 21, 2024, the exhibition "Building to heal" ("Das Kranke(n)haus. Wie Architektur heilen hilft") at the TUM Architecture Museum presents science-based approaches to hospital architecture which supports the healing process. The exhibition, which opens on July 12, 2023, is sponsored by German Federal Minister of Health Prof. Karl Lauterbach.

The two curators, architectural psychologist Prof. Tanja C. Vollmer and Lisa Luksch, research associate at Prof. Andres Lepik’s Professorship for History of Architecture and Curatorial Practice, joined students to analyze national and international hospital projects during a supervised research project at TUM in preparation for the exhibition. The objective was to investigate the extent to which healing aspects are addressed in architectural drafts.

Space is to be made not for the illness, but rather for the ill. The researchers criticize the fact that hospitals have in the meantime become highly technologized machines, adding that fundamental aspects of human dignity as well as the needs and perceptions of the ill and their caregivers have been pushed to the background.

The exhibit features outstanding examples of the productive mutual interaction between medicinal, technical and economic requirements in the context of the architectural arts. The exhibition’s goal is both to demonstrate the impact of architecture on the healing process and to stimulate a broader public debate.