From Asclepius to Ospedale - The evolution of space for healing from antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment

In the construction industry, where in recent times every detail is looked over and planned with the most scientific and technological responsibility, hospitals represent the most investigated and scrutinized facilities. Related closely with institutional and medical practices, hospital design has undergone many reconfigurations. The second half of the past century experienced and produced many hospital models (L, H, T, K type, Patients Tower, Block Plan, etc.), all with the same denominator – too big, isolated and highly complex structures, strictly opposed to nature, oriented towards medical technology rather than patient’s well-being. By the end of the twentieth century, a group of researchers arose in supporting the importance of ‘nature’ in the healthcare structures. The paradigm is changing. New models and configurations are emerging with the intent of improving the psycho-emotional well-being and social development of the patients who spend long time period of time in hospitals. The hospital design is moving towards patient-oriented solutions and healing environments, a model not invented in our time but inspired from history. In this paper, through travels in history, we analyze the concept of hospital from the very beginning of rational thinking in Ancient Greece up to the Age of Enlightenment, with the intent to identify the forerunners of contemporary hospitals by means of cultural, medical and composition aspects. The geometrical properties of each facilities are also presented