The following handout is based off a book titled 'Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture'. Healing by Design examines impacts on human health at various levels from micro to macro, and reveals the role of design in solving some of these problems.

1. EXTRA LARGE
Global Poverty & Malnutrition
Nuclear Ra
diation
SpaceJunkMan-MnadeDsisasters
GloablWaste
PoliticalInstability
Natur
alDisasters
ClimateChange
GeneticallyModifiedF
oods
Drug Trade
E
nvironmentalDegredationViolence&Terroris
m
SlumDevelopments
Weak
Communities
HumanTrafficking
Econo
mic Hardship
Infectious Diseases
SickBuildingSyndrome
PoorLivingConditions
SedentaryLifestyles
C
onsumerism
Disea
sesofAfflue
nce
LARGE
MEDIUM
SMALL
After analyzing Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture, we understood health in a
much broader spectrum. Architecture in its loosest connotations can be defined as both the built
and virtual realities of our time. Using this framework, we have classified problems under four
broad categories: Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large.
The future of our designed space is looking increasingly bright as we solve many of the
problems displayed below. The role of design serves ultimately as a catalyst for positive change,
in order to secure a safer and healthier future for our societies and generations to come.
Healing by Design
Personal
Local
Urban
Global
• Sustainable Chemistry
Initiative by Walmart
• Cradle to Cradle Design
• Organic Food Trade
Defined by our immediate surroundings, our health is
affected on a personal level by what we eat, clothes we
wear and things we come across in our daily lives.
Local spaces include the confines of our homes and
the buildings we inhabit.
Urban spaces are defined as shared public areas in
cities and the built environment.
Looking beyond countries, global space includes the
entire planet Earth and beyond.
• Villa Savoye | Paris
• 41 Cooper Square | NYC
• Danish Pavillion | Shanghai
• Transmilenio | Bogota
• Biblioteca Santo
Domingo | Medellín
• Homeless World Cup |
Rio de Janeiro
• World Resource Institute
• Ocean Clean up Array
• Laser Guided Space
Harpoons
Guiterrez, Morris, Newsome, Puente and Sahiwala