Designing Penfield : Inside the Montreal Neurological Institute

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Designing Penfield : Inside the Montreal Neurological Institute
Abstract
The author points out that neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield (1891–1976) envisioned hospital architecture as a powerful medical tool. Focusing on two key interiors in the 1934 Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) — the operating room and the foyer — the author engages newly accessible textual and material evidence to show Penfield’s intense involvement in the design of the building. A unique, tri-level surgical room, with a sophisticated setup for photography, made the MNI’s surgery interactive. The author discusses the operating room with regard to the relationship of doctors and architects and Penfield’s penchant for architectural travel. Subsequently, the foyer is described as a spatial counterpoint to the operating room. The author notes that its design enabled a particular, Penfield-inspired view of the brain and recounted neurological history in the language of Art Deco design. An emphasis on axial movement pushed visitors to “consume” a work of sculpture, meticulously copied from another in Paris. The author concludes that the architecture of the MNI thus monumentalized Penfield’s accomplishments, by his own design.
Publication
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Volume
Vol. 93
Issue
no. 2
Pages
207-240
Date
Summer 2019
Language
en
Citation
Adams, Annmarie. “Designing Penfield : Inside the Montreal Neurological Institute.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine Vol. 93, no. 2 (Summer 2019): 207–240.
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