Carla Yanni · 2007 · PDF · Calibre ID 9911
Resurfaced in Egypt, China, Jerusalem (2026-10-14).
Role in the triad
Anchor — the plan
Why this book
Architectural history outside recent literary-theory sets; supplies the Kirkbride plan the other two distort and names the mechanism (ward as reward/punishment) that makes the triad cohere.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “For most of the nineteenth century, doctors believed that between 70 and 90 percent of insanity cases were curable, but only if patients were treated in specially designed buildings.” (Intro, p. 1) | “(A patient did not need the asylum to be a lunatic, but a doctor needed the asylum to be a psychiatrist.)” (Intro, p. 7) | “The Kirkbride plan, also known as the linear plan, was a type of congregate plan, made up of short but connected pavilions, arrayed in a shallow V.” (p. 51) | “These wards would be used to categorize patients by severity of disease, with the noisiest patients farthest away from the center.” (p. 60) | “But the classification system was also a management device—a transfer to a nicer ward was a reward for a well-behaved patient. Relocation to a lower ward was a punishment.” (p. 64) | “The interior space of the asylum was strictly hierarchical, and patients were constantly aware of their place within the numerical wards.” (p. 65)
Themes
AMSAII · asylum size · classification · Kirkbride plan · moral treatment · patient accounts · ward hierarchy