De la casa de orates al open door: El paisaje en el proyecto asilar chileno, 1852-1928

Abstract

In a period shaped by the development of anatomical pathology and by the entrance of the scientific gaze over the body of the insane, the mental asylum underscored the key importance of the space, real or simulate, as a therapeutic tool. Madhouses were influenced by a proposal that followed in terms of design, location and implementation, the principles of alienism, adjusted to the Chilean setting. This process contributed to develop a specific asylum space, with internal and external landscapes, which characterized local alienism and its promise to treat madness. This article studies the Chilean asylums -planned or built- from the Madhouse (1852) to the National Open Door (1928), in order to show the process of appropriation of an international therapeutic model from the peculiarities of the institutional landscape.