WEBVTT

00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:04.841
I'd like to tell you a story
about death and architecture.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:04.841 --> 00:00:09.471
A hundred years ago, we tended to die
of infectious diseases like pneumonia,

00:00:09.471 --> 00:00:12.768
that, if they took hold,
would take us away quite quickly.

00:00:12.768 --> 00:00:16.502
We tended to die at home,
in our own beds, looked after by family,

00:00:16.502 --> 00:00:18.294
although that was the default option

00:00:18.294 --> 00:00:20.884
because a lot of people
lacked access to medical care.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:21.614 --> 00:00:24.393
And then in the 20th century
a lot of things changed.

00:00:24.393 --> 00:00:26.490
We developed new medicines like penicillin

00:00:26.490 --> 00:00:28.975
so we could treat
those infectious diseases.

00:00:28.975 --> 00:00:32.249
New medical technologies
like x-ray machines were invented.

00:00:32.249 --> 00:00:34.501
And because they were
so big and expensive,

00:00:34.501 --> 00:00:37.519
we needed large, centralized
buildings to keep them in,

00:00:37.519 --> 00:00:39.818
and they became our modern hospitals.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:39.818 --> 00:00:41.241
After the Second World War,

00:00:41.241 --> 00:00:43.881
a lot of countries set up 
universal healthcare systems

00:00:43.881 --> 00:00:46.528
so that everyone who needed
treatment could get it.

00:00:46.528 --> 00:00:50.777
The result was that lifespans extended
from about 45 at the start of the century

00:00:50.777 --> 00:00:52.960
to almost double that today.

00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:57.058
The 20th century was this time of huge 
optimism about what science could offer,

00:00:57.058 --> 00:01:00.785
but with all of the focus on life,
death was forgotten,

00:01:00.785 --> 00:01:03.190
even as our approach to death
changed dramatically.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:03.580 --> 00:01:04.783
Now, I'm an architect,

00:01:04.783 --> 00:01:08.025
and for the past year and a half
I've been looking at these changes

00:01:08.025 --> 00:01:11.179
and at what they mean for architecture
related to death and dying.

00:01:11.179 --> 00:01:14.412
We now tend to die
of cancer and heart disease,

00:01:14.412 --> 00:01:18.408
and what that means is that many of us
will have a long period of chronic illness

00:01:18.408 --> 00:01:20.382
at the end of our lives.

00:01:20.382 --> 00:01:21.495
During that period,

00:01:21.495 --> 00:01:26.558
we'll likely spend a lot of time 
in hospitals and hospices and care homes.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:26.558 --> 00:01:28.764
Now, we've all been in a modern hospital.

00:01:28.764 --> 00:01:32.154
You know those fluorescent lights
and the endless corridors

00:01:32.154 --> 00:01:35.172
and those rows of uncomfortable chairs.

00:01:35.172 --> 00:01:38.934
Hospital architecture
has earned its bad reputation.

00:01:38.934 --> 00:01:42.091
But the surprising thing is,
it wasn't always like this.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:42.091 --> 00:01:46.425
This is L'Ospedale degli Innocenti,
built in 1419 by Brunelleschi,

00:01:46.425 --> 00:01:50.172
who was one of the most famous
and influential architects of his time.

00:01:50.172 --> 00:01:53.515
And when I look at this building
and then think about hospitals today,

00:01:53.515 --> 00:01:56.603
what amazes me is
this building's ambition.

00:01:56.603 --> 00:01:58.252
It's just a really great building.

00:01:58.252 --> 00:02:00.086
It has these courtyards in the middle

00:02:00.086 --> 00:02:02.619
so that all of the rooms
have daylight and fresh air,

00:02:02.619 --> 00:02:05.032
and the rooms are big
and they have high ceilings,

00:02:05.032 --> 00:02:07.516
so they just feel
more comfortable to be in.

00:02:07.516 --> 00:02:09.281
And it's also beautiful.

00:02:09.281 --> 00:02:13.112
Somehow, we've forgotten
that that's even possible for a hospital.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:13.112 --> 00:02:17.135
Now, if we want better buildings
for dying, then we have to talk about it,

00:02:17.135 --> 00:02:19.706
but because we find the subject
of death uncomfortable,

00:02:19.706 --> 00:02:21.146
we don't talk about it,

00:02:21.146 --> 00:02:24.458
and we don't question how we
as a society approach death.

00:02:24.458 --> 00:02:27.632
One of the things that surprised me
most in my research, though,

00:02:27.632 --> 00:02:30.317
is how changeable attitudes actually are.

00:02:30.317 --> 00:02:32.709
This is the first crematorium in the U.K.,

00:02:32.709 --> 00:02:35.518
which was built in Woking in the 1870s.

00:02:35.518 --> 00:02:38.925
And when this was first built,
there were protests in the local village.

00:02:38.925 --> 00:02:43.808
Cremation wasn't socially acceptable,
and 99.8 percent of people got buried.

00:02:43.808 --> 00:02:47.584
And yet, only a hundred years later,
three quarters of us get cremated.

00:02:47.584 --> 00:02:50.111
People are actually really open
to changing things

00:02:50.111 --> 00:02:52.512
if they're given the chance
to talk about them.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:52.512 --> 00:02:55.835
So this conversation
about death and architecture

00:02:55.835 --> 00:02:58.994
was what I wanted to start
when I did my first exhibition on it

00:02:58.994 --> 00:03:02.220
in Venice in June,
which was called "Death in Venice."

00:03:02.220 --> 00:03:05.494
It was designed to be quite playful

00:03:05.494 --> 00:03:07.692
so that people would
literally engage with it.

00:03:07.692 --> 00:03:10.947
This is one of our exhibits,
which is an interactive map of London

00:03:10.947 --> 00:03:13.622
that shows just how much
of the real estate in the city

00:03:13.622 --> 00:03:15.501
is given over to death and dying,

00:03:15.501 --> 00:03:17.870
and as you wave your hand across the map,

00:03:17.870 --> 00:03:22.699
the name of that piece of real estate,
the building or cemetery, is revealed.

00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:25.207
Another of our exhibits
was a series of postcards

00:03:25.207 --> 00:03:27.204
that people could take away with them.

00:03:27.204 --> 00:03:29.665
And they showed people's homes
and hospitals

00:03:29.665 --> 00:03:32.080
and cemeteries and mortuaries,

00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:34.541
and they tell the story
of the different spaces

00:03:34.541 --> 00:03:37.374
that we pass through
on either side of death.

00:03:37.374 --> 00:03:39.719
We wanted to show
that where we die

00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.970
is a key part of how we die.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:42.970 --> 00:03:47.753
Now, the strangest thing was the way
that visitors reacted to the exhibition,

00:03:47.753 --> 00:03:50.121
especially the audio-visual works.

00:03:50.121 --> 00:03:53.813
We had people dancing
and running and jumping

00:03:53.813 --> 00:03:56.808
as they tried to activate
the exhibits in different ways,

00:03:56.808 --> 00:03:59.252
and at a certain point
they would kind of stop

00:03:59.252 --> 00:04:01.986
and remember that they were in
an exhibition about death,

00:04:01.986 --> 00:04:04.610
and that maybe that's not
how you're supposed to act.

00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:07.257
But actually, I would question
whether there is one way

00:04:07.257 --> 00:04:09.532
that you're supposed to act around death,

00:04:09.532 --> 00:04:14.083
and if there's not, I'd ask you to think
about what you think a good death is,

00:04:14.083 --> 00:04:17.752
and what you think that architecture
that supports a good death might be like,

00:04:17.752 --> 00:04:22.480
and mightn't it be a little less like this
and a little more like this?

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:24.694
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:24.694 --> 00:04:26.714
(Applause)