Beyond White Architecture: Therapeutic gardens for patients with tuberculosis in the sanatoria of the Greater Lisbon area (1870-1970)

This article discusses the concept of therapeutic garden— its definition and importance, — in the context of the specific architecture of sanatoria for the treatment of tuberculosis, in particular the case of Lisbon’s sanatoria from 1870 to 1970.

It contemplates both national and international networks of circulation and transfer of knowledge before and after the medical and architectural revolutions at the turn of the twentieth century. These revolutions were accompanied by significant changes in the city’s structure concerning the control of epidemics and social diseases. Architects and physicians, among other experts, are the main characters to be scrutinized, alongside with their architectural and scientific production and their entanglements. At the same time, I seriously take into consideration their interactions with the spheres of power, specifically in what relates to management and decision making.