M'agradaria explicar-vos una història sobre la mort i l'arquitectura.
I'd like to tell you a story about death and architecture.
Fa cent anys, ens moríem d'infeccions, com la pneumònia, que, si ens agafaven fort se'ns enduien ben de pressa. Normalment ens moríem a casa, al llit, cuidats per la família, això era la opció més normal perquè la majoria no tenia accés a la medicina.
A hundred years ago, we tended to die of infectious diseases like pneumonia, that, if they took hold, would take us away quite quickly. We tended to die at home, in our own beds, looked after by family, although that was the default option because a lot of people lacked access to medical care.
Al segle XX van cambiar molt les coses. Noves medecines, com la penicil·lina, permetien curar les malalties infeccioses. Es van inventar noves tecnologies, com els raigs X. I com que eren tan grans i cares, calia construir grans edificis on posar-les, que es van convertir en els hospitals moderns.
And then in the 20th century a lot of things changed. We developed new medicines like penicillin so we could treat those infectious diseases. New medical technologies like x-ray machines were invented. And because they were so big and expensive, we needed large, centralized buildings to keep them in, and they became our modern hospitals.
Després de la Segona Guerra Mundial, molts països van crear sistemes de sanitat universals perquè tothom pogués accedir al tractament necessari. I com a resultat, l'esperança de vida va passar dels 45 anys a principi de segle a gairebé el doble avui en dia. El segle XX va ser un temps d'optimisme sobre el que la ciència ens podia oferir, però amb tota aquesta atenció en la vida, ens vam oblidar de la mort, inclús quan canviava totalment com veiem la mort.
After the Second World War, a lot of countries set up universal healthcare systems so that everyone who needed treatment could get it. The result was that lifespans extended from about 45 at the start of the century to almost double that today. The 20th century was this time of huge optimism about what science could offer, but with all of the focus on life, death was forgotten, even as our approach to death changed dramatically.
Jo sóc arquitecta i durant l'últim any i mig he investigat aquests canvis i el que signifiquen per l'arquitectura relacionada amb la mort. Avui en dia ens morim de càncer o malalties del cor, per tant, molts patirem un llarg període de malaltia crònica al final de la vida. Durant aquest període, passarem molt de temps en hospitals, hospicis i residències.
Now, I'm an architect, and for the past year and a half I've been looking at these changes and at what they mean for architecture related to death and dying. We now tend to die of cancer and heart disease, and what that means is that many of us will have a long period of chronic illness at the end of our lives. During that period, we'll likely spend a lot of time in hospitals and hospices and care homes.
Tots hem estat en un hospital modern. En coneixem els fluorescents i els passadissos interminables i les cadires incòmodes. L'arquitectura dels hospitals s'ha guanyat la mala reputació que té. Però el que sorprèn és que no sempre havia estat així.
Now, we've all been in a modern hospital. You know those fluorescent lights and the endless corridors and those rows of uncomfortable chairs. Hospital architecture has earned its bad reputation. But the surprising thing is, it wasn't always like this.
Aquest és L'Ospedale degli Innocenti, construït el 1419 per Brunelleschi, un dels arquitectes més famosos i influents del seu temps. I quan mires aquest edifici i penses en els hopitals d'avui, el que em sorprèn és l'ambició d'aquest edifici. És ben bé un gran edifici. Té aquests patis al mig perquè les habitacions tinguin claror i aire fresc, i les habitacions són grans amb els sostres alts, perquè siguin més acollidores per als pacients. I és bonic també. Sembla que ens haguem oblidat que això és possible en un hospital.
This is L'Ospedale degli Innocenti, built in 1419 by Brunelleschi, who was one of the most famous and influential architects of his time. And when I look at this building and then think about hospitals today, what amazes me is this building's ambition. It's just a really great building. It has these courtyards in the middle so that all of the rooms have daylight and fresh air, and the rooms are big and they have high ceilings, so they just feel more comfortable to be in. And it's also beautiful. Somehow, we've forgotten that that's even possible for a hospital.
Si volem millors edificis on morir, n'hem de parlar, però com que el tema de la mort no ens resulta fàcil no en parlem, i no qüestionem com la societat ens plantegem la mort. Una de les coses que més em va sorprendre de la investigació és la facilitat amb què canvien les actituds. Aquest és el primer crematori del Regne Unit, construït a Woking als voltants del 1870. Quan el van construir, hi va haver protestes a la localitat. La cremació no era acceptable socialment, el 99,8 % de la gent s'enterrava. Ara, cent anys després, es crema en el 75 % dels casos. De fet la gent està oberta al canvi si hi ha l'oportunitat de parlar-ne.
Now, if we want better buildings for dying, then we have to talk about it, but because we find the subject of death uncomfortable, we don't talk about it, and we don't question how we as a society approach death. One of the things that surprised me most in my research, though, is how changeable attitudes actually are. This is the first crematorium in the U.K., which was built in Woking in the 1870s. And when this was first built, there were protests in the local village. Cremation wasn't socially acceptable, and 99.8 percent of people got buried. And yet, only a hundred years later, three quarters of us get cremated. People are actually really open to changing things if they're given the chance to talk about them.
Aquesta conversa sobre la mort i l'arquitectura és el que volia iniciar quan vaig fer la meva primera exposició a Venècia el juny, que es titulava "Mort a Venècia". La idea era que fos divertida perquè la gent s'hi pogués implicar. Aquí hi ha un dels objectes exposats, un mapa interactiu de Londres que mostra la quantitat del sòl a la ciutat que es dedica a la mort, i quan hi passes la mà per sobre, el nom del terreny, de l'edifici o del cementiri apareix. Un altre dels objectes exposats és una sèrie de postals que la gent es pot endur. Mostren habitatges, hospitals, cementiris i tanatoris, i expliquen la història dels diferents espais pels quals passem abans i després de la mort. Volíem demostrar que on morim és una part clau de com morim.
So this conversation about death and architecture was what I wanted to start when I did my first exhibition on it in Venice in June, which was called "Death in Venice." It was designed to be quite playful so that people would literally engage with it. This is one of our exhibits, which is an interactive map of London that shows just how much of the real estate in the city is given over to death and dying, and as you wave your hand across the map, the name of that piece of real estate, the building or cemetery, is revealed. Another of our exhibits was a series of postcards that people could take away with them. And they showed people's homes and hospitals and cemeteries and mortuaries, and they tell the story of the different spaces that we pass through on either side of death. We wanted to show that where we die is a key part of how we die.
El més extrany és com la gent va reaccionar a l'exposició, especialment a les parts audiovisuals. Hi havia gent que ballava, corria, saltava intentant activar els objectes de maneres diferents i hi havia un moment en què paraven i recordaven que estaven en una exposició sobre la mort, i que potser no era així com s'havien de comportar. Però de fet, em pregunto si hi ha una manera d'actuar envers la mort. I si no, voldria saber què creieu que és una bona mort, i com hauria de ser l'arquitectura que l'acompanya, i si hauria de ser una mica menys així i una mica més així.
Now, the strangest thing was the way that visitors reacted to the exhibition, especially the audio-visual works. We had people dancing and running and jumping as they tried to activate the exhibits in different ways, and at a certain point they would kind of stop and remember that they were in an exhibition about death, and that maybe that's not how you're supposed to act. But actually, I would question whether there is one way that you're supposed to act around death, and if there's not, I'd ask you to think about what you think a good death is, and what you think that architecture that supports a good death might be like, and mightn't it be a little less like this and a little more like this?
Gràcies.
Thank you.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)