An architectural reclamation of death and dying

Bellamy, Annie

Abstract

Dr Kathryn Mannix, a retired palliative care doctor and eminent campaigner working to break down the taboo of death and dying in contemporary western society recently announced that ‘it’s time to reclaim dying: to demedicalise it, to see it as a personal, social, intimate event instead of a medical mistake.’ [1] Though the past decades have seen considerable medical advancements and improvements to quality of life; the way in which we die can be described as in crisis. Thirty-three years ago the World Health Organisation declared that palliative care was a ‘major global health challenge’ [2] – but today only 14% around the world who require palliative care actually receive it. [3] This crisis is not only medical in nature with regards to provision of, and access to quality care, but social, with the COVID-19 pandemic that reinforced negative experiences and relationships with the process of dying. The 2022 report of the Lancet’s Commission on the Value of Death called for ‘death and dying [to] be recognised as not only normal, but valuable. Care of the dying and grieving must be rebalanced.' [4] Presently these challenges are perceived as broader issues for the healthcare community. However, the author here poses that the architectural community furthermore serves a great responsibility in shaping positive experiences of death and dying through the development of healthcare environments that embody function and spatial qualities of architectural atmosphere. This presentation will explore the architectural communities’ response to the pandemic and the consequent call for re-thinking of the design of healthcare environments and makes a similar call for the crisis of death and dying by developing critical evolutions of healthcare building typologies and making commitments to ethical practice and co-production.

1 Dr Kathryn Mannix, ‘It’s time to reclaim dying: to demedicalise it, to see it as a personal, social, intimate event instead of a medical mistake.’ [Twitter]. 16th January 2023, [Accessed on 20th January]
2 David Clark, ‘Controversies in Palliative: A Matter of Definition’, in End of Life Studies, University of Glasgow, (2019)
3 WHO, ‘Palliative Care’, Available at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/palliative-care, [Accessed on 20th January 2023,]
4 L. Sallnow and others, ‘Report of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death: Bringing Death Back into Life’, Lancet, 399.10327 (2022), 837-84, p.838

Citation

Bellamy, A. (2023, April). An architectural reclamation of death and dying. Presented at 'Research in Crisis' AHRA Student Symposium 2023, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University

• Presentation Conference Type: Lecture
• Conference Name: 'Research in Crisis' AHRA Student Symposium 2023
• Conference Location: Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
• Start Date: Apr 12, 2023
• End Date: Apr 13, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 26, 2023
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10623528