A Study on the Connection Between Nature and Architectural Space in Le Corbusier’S Venice Hospital Project
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ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH, Vol. 22, No. 4(December 2020). pp.113-122 pISSN 1229-6163 eISSN 2383-5575 A Study on the Connection between Nature and Architectural Space in Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital Project Eunji Yoon and Yeonghwan Lim PhD Candidate, Department of Architecture, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea Professor, Department of Architecture, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea https://doi.org/10.5659/AIKAR.2020.22.4.113 Abstract Hospital architecture must be planned as a therapeutic space. Numerous studies have proven that exposure to nature has a healing effect. However, research on the architecture itself about this issue is still insufficient. This study analyzed Le Corbusier’s Venice hospital project and its architectural configurations with nature. Le Corbusier had been interested in blurring the interior/exterior line to draw nature inside. In his projects, nature was conceived in an abstract sense as “something green.” However, in the hospital project, natural elements including vegetation, the lagoon, and light, and the landscape scenery they created, were considered in the harmony of the architectural space. The architectural spaces with courtyards, pilotis, and roof gardens provided views and direct access to nature, and in the interior spaces, the connections to these external spaces and the permeation of views of nature and sunlight were incorporated. Many spaces provided the possibility to actually encounter nature, with a variety of indoor/outdoor space configurations rather than a merely passive placing of some natural elements. This project is considered to be an important reference for contemporary hospital architecture, since the architectural space and nature connected through various spatial configurations also in healthcare programs. As Le Corbusier emphasized, sunlight, vegetation, and also architectural space should be an essential factor in therapeutic hospital architecture planning. Keywords: hospital architecture, Venice hospital project, nature and architectural space, therapeutic space. 1. INTRODUCTION this evidence to become the actual theoretical background for architectural planning. Hospital architecture must be designed and planned as not Since a space can be considered therapeutic by merely only a place that provides medical treatment but also as a place hanging a nature-inspired painting on the wall or placing a for psychological and emotional healing. This healing function flower pot by the window, the planning phase lacks a more can be promoted by incorporating nature, as shown by many in-depth consideration of the relationship between nature previous studies (Ulrich, 1984; Marcus, and Barnes 1999; Maller and architectural space. Various studies should be carried out et al., 2006; Aripin, 2007; Marcus, 2007; Velarde, Fry, and Tveit, investigating the possibilities of how architectural space can 2007; Alvarsson, Wiens, and Nilsson, 2010; Bratman, Hamilton, connect with nature. The fundamental topics of “nature and and Daily, 2012; Hartig et al., 2014). Although the evidence people” and “nature and space” have not been incorporated into showing nature’s healing effects continues to accumulate, the hospital architecture even after the concepts of patient-centered concept of “nature” is so broad and complex that it is difficult for design or evidence-based design were introduced. This is despite the fact that discussions about these topics have been part of Corresponding Author : Eunji Yoon architectural discussions since the discipline’s beginnings. Department of Architecture, Hongik University, 708, Wow Bldg., While many modern architecture projects have been studied in Wausan-ro 94, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea other architectural fields and generated ideas for contemporary e-mail : [email protected] architecture planning, hospital architecture has ignored such modern examples. Many modern hospitals have become This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of function-oriented, inhospitable spaces that are separated from Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2016R1C1B2007182). nature by rapid modernization and size expansion (Ulrich, 1992; Malkin, 1992; Horsborough, 1995; Marcus, 2007). Prior This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the to that time, Le Corbusier planned the Venice hospital project in Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// the 1960s. creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, Nature was an extremely important theme in Le Corbusier’s provided the original work is properly cited. architectural projects (Sarah, and Flora, 2003, 1). As the Venice ©Copyright 2020 Architectural Institute of Korea. 114 Eunji Yoon and Yeonghwan Lim hospital was his final project, we can assume that it contains the air, clean water, food, and other resources provided as “ecosystem essence of his latest and most mature thoughts about nature and services” (Hartig et al., 2014, 208). architectural space, especially within a hospital form. The Venice Furthermore, nature is often situated in built environments, hospital project has been studied only in terms of the structure as with indoor plants and street trees (Hartig et al., 2014, 208). of the space itself, such as its quality as a mat-building or its Alvar Aalto already stated in the 1920s that the landscapes we urban aspects, but never in terms of how its spaces associate encounter outside our towns no longer consist of any untouched with nature. nature; they are a combination of human work and the natural The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Venice hospital environment (Aalto, 1925). project’s composition, linking architectural space and nature (or For these reasons, when dealing with architecture and nature, natural environment), and subsequently to present insights into it is necessary to limit the scope of nature to some extent. architectural space’s connection with nature for contemporary Although protection from the negative effects of nature is an hospital architecture planning. essential purpose of architecture, these negative effects are not covered in this paper. Nature, which should be seen as 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS particularly important in hospital architecture, can help create a healing environment. Natural elements affecting the therapeutic Nature is a very complex and holistic concept, so it was environment will be discussed in the next section. necessary to define it in this study. This paper summarizes the Additionally, one of the things frequently confused in concept of nature as discussed in previous papers, especially architectural studies are the concepts of nature and the exterior those on the healing environment, in order to limit its scope. In space of architecture. A distinction between the concepts of addition, through analyzing several preceding studies, this paper “nature” and “exterior space” (or “outdoor space,” “external presents Le Corbusier’s architectural strategies that deal with space”) is needed. These terms are used interchangeably in nature. some studies but they are different concepts. Exterior space is a Le Corbusier was directly involved in the Venice hospital concept relative to the interior space of architecture or a space project that was designed in collaboration with Guillermo perceived as the inside. Interior architectural spaces include Jullian de la Fuente. After Le Corbusier’s death in 1965, de la and exclude various aspects of nature. Although it is common Fuente concretized the proposal, but it was never implemented for the external space to be more exposed to nature, natural into an actual building. The concept and basic spatial structure elements may be limited even in external spaces in the case of proposed by Le Corbusier at the initial stage of planning were an artificial environment, and indoor spaces may include many maintained after his death, and thus the floor plans and model natural elements according to the interior landscape planning. images created afterward were also used as data in this study. This perspective was carefully considered when studying the This study also examines previous studies on Le Corbusier’s opinions of previous researchers and architects on nature and works, along with his texts, sketches, and photographs obtained architecture. from Le Corbusier’s official website (www.fondationlecorbusier. fr), to determine his thoughts about the connection between 3.2 Nature and the therapeutic environment nature and architectural space and his design methods. Although the connection with nature is not the only way to This study analyzes the Venice hospital project and identifies achieve a therapeutic environment, nature and the therapeutic the architectural and natural space configurations found in it. environment are closely related. The therapeutic effect of nature on patient recovery was first described in “Notes on Nursing” 3. HOSPITALS AND NATURE (1860) by Florence Nightingale. She believed that visual connections to nature, such as natural scenes seen through 3.1 Characteristics of nature windows and bedside flowers helped patients recover (Shan As mentioned above, “nature” is very broad and complex Jiang, 2014). concept. Although it is outside the scope of this paper to discuss Keniger et al. (2013) reviewed 57 previous studies on the its philosophical meaning deeply, it is necessary to examine benefits of interacting (viewing, encountering, walking, the characteristics