Architecture as a response to health requirements. The case of the Hospital Dos de Mayo (1868-1875)

Abstract

The Peruvian architecture of the mid-nineteenth century is represented in great works that the State carried out for the benefit of citizens. Among them, the hospital becomes the custodian of public health. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the project of the modern Hospital Dos de Mayo (1868-1875) included in the design of patient rooms two new parameters; these being ventilation and air volumes per patient, as laid down in European treatises since the eighteenth century, which were in force even in the nineteenth century.
To achieve the present investigation, the search has been made for the architectural treatises that the architect Mateo Graziani had as references and where the ventilation factors and air volumes that, at that time, were thought necessary are considered.
Then, from plans and documents of the Hospital Dos de Mayo, the calculation of the air volumes per patient was made and a comparison with the requirement of air volumes demanded by those treated.
It is concluded that the design of the infirmaries (or patient rooms) of the Hospital Dos de Mayo obeys the parameters recorded in the hospital treatises of the eighteenth century.