READINGS AND FILMS TO RETHINK CARE SPACES FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

4 August, 2025

August is a month when everything seems to slow down. Free time allows us to look with fresh eyes, read calmly, and think more broadly. At ENERO Arquitectura, we believe it is also the perfect moment to make unexpected connections. This summer, we propose a different cultural journey: crossing the worlds of cinema and literature with hospital spaces.

Through two films and two books, we suggest four perspectives that help us reflect on how we inhabit hospitals. These works, very different from one another, have something in common: they remind us that spaces are not only built with materials, but also with experiences. Below, we share our summer recommendations.

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT, BY OLIVER SACKS

This book gathers a series of real clinical stories written by British neurologist Oliver Sacks. Through its pages, we meet patients who have lost the ability to recognize faces, who hear music that doesn’t exist, or who confuse everyday objects. The author not only describes the symptoms but also sensitively portrays how each person experiences their world in a unique way. Far from being purely medical, the book is a reflection on perception, identity, and the complexity of the human mind.

Many of the cases take place in hospitals, clinics, or healthcare institutions. These environments have a silent but profound impact on patients’ lives. In his descriptions, Sacks makes us realize that a well-designed environment can facilitate orientation, reduce anxiety, and provide safety. This reminds us, as architects, that we have the responsibility to create spaces that not only function but also accompany. For people with neurological disorders, every detail of the physical environment matters more than we might think.

Portada del libro, El hombre que confundió a su mujer con un sombrero.

WARD NO. 6, BY ANTON CHEKHOV

In this short novel, Anton Chekhov presents the life of Dr. Yefimich, a physician working in a provincial hospital. Gradually, he becomes interested in a psychiatric patient who seems more sensible than the doctors themselves. Eventually, the doctor ends up admitted as a patient in the very same ward where he once was only a visitor. The work is a critique of neglect, lack of empathy, and institutions that forget about people.

The hospital Chekhov depicts is far from being a place of care. Its architecture reinforces isolation and indifference. In contrast, today’s hospitals strive to convey dignity, respect, and closeness.

Portada de El pabellón n.º 6.

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, BY JULIAN SCHNABEL

This film is based on the true memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a French editor who, after a stroke, is left completely paralyzed. He can only move one eyelid, yet with it he manages to dictate an entire book. The story is told from his point of view. We see what he sees, hear what he hears, and feel immobility from within. The hospital becomes the only possible setting, but also the place from which Bauby imagines, remembers, and dreams.

Throughout the film, the hospital environment is not neutral. Each room, each window, each corridor is part of the protagonist’s emotional narrative. From his immobility, spaces acquire tremendous weight. Hospital architecture becomes a protagonist because it directly influences patient well-being and perception. This story invites us to think of those who cannot move or express themselves easily. It reminds us that design must anticipate such limitations and offer places where freedom can still be felt.

THE BRUTALIST, BY BRADY CORBET

This film tells the story of an architect who emigrates to the United States after World War II. Through the brutalist style, he begins to build structures that reflect his personal experiences, his exile, and his vision of the future. The film follows different moments of his life and shows how concrete, harsh geometry, and massive spaces can become forms of expression. Far from being cold, this architecture becomes an emotional language.

Many healthcare infrastructures of the 20th century were built in the brutalist style. The aim was solidity, functionality, and permanence. However, over time, these buildings were criticized for their lack of warmth. This film helps us look at that legacy with new eyes. Today, when designing hospital architecture, we seek a balance between robustness and a welcoming atmosphere. Brutalism reminds us that solidity, too, can be moving when understood from a human perspective.