Leprosarium or leprosy asylum has always been associated with cruel segregation of leprosy sufferers from the society. However, humane approach was suggested in the international arena in 1923 to reform the former unsympathetic compulsory segregation to make leprosy sufferers “human” again. Prior to this revelation that leprosarium should be attractive to persuade leprosy sufferers to admit themselves voluntarily, missionary organizations have been establishing humane leprosarium that mirrors a home rather than an institution. There are studies on the eminent Mission to Lepers, such as Kakar (1996), Buckingham (2002), Joseph (2003), and Robertson (2009). However, the architectural and planning idea of the missionary organizations, which is disparate from the conventional leprosy institutions established since the medieval time, has yet to be studied. The aim of this paper is to identify the idea and principles of humane segregation in leprosarium practiced by missionary organizations, especially the influential leprosarium model by Mission to Lepers. It is carried out through content analysis on missionary books, reports and biographies, leprosy journals, newspapers, drawings, and photographs. The analysis enables the identification of unique spatial planning and built form of missionary leprosarium model. The findings showed that missionary leprosarium model imitates the natural village to create a sense of home for leprosy sufferers, and self-sustainable in character. Missionary leprosaria are also community-driven and semi-autonomous. All this has accredited missionary leprosy organizations as the forerunner in humane leprosarium design that thrives in the 1920s to 1930s. This study would be able to help us to understand how architecture was utilized as a tool in disease prevention yet aspired to preserve the humanity among leprosy outcasts. Further research can be done to enhance the study such as human perception and psychology towards the architectural design of leprosarium and the socio-cultural impact on the residence as well as the society.
Timor Island situates in the southeast end of Southeast Asia. The island accommodates many ethnic groups, which produce many diverse house types. As visiting East Timor in 2012 and Timor Island in 2014, we found the “Pair- House Type” widely spread over Timor Island. <i>Uma Lulik</i> (holy house), accommodating the ancestry soul, fireplace and elder’s bed, and <i>Uma Tidor</i> (house for sleep), containing living, sleeping and working space, compose the pair-house. The research team visited 14 ethnic groups and their houses, some of which were measured and drawn into 3D models as back to Taiwan. <i>Uma Tidors</i> of each ethnic group are quite similar with rectangular volume and hip roof, however, one of the fourteen ethnic groups can build cylinder houses for <i>Uma Tidor</i>. <i>Uma Luliks</i> of different ethnic groups are diversified and special. One group of the <i>Uma Luliks</i> shows a rectangular or square volume sheltered by a hip roof. The other group of <i>Uma Luliks</i> presents a non-specific volume under a conical roof, that we called the “conical hut”. Seven ethnic groups, Atoni, Weimua, Makassae, Mambai, Bunaq, Kemak and Bekais, have built “conical huts” for the use of <i>Uma Lulik</i>. People of the seven ethnic groups can construct a reasonable structural system to support the conical roof, and take good advantage of the space under the conical roof to meet their sacred needs and everyday life. “Conical Hut” may be regarded as the basic form of the house types adopted by the seven ethnic groups. It contains the basic spatial limits and the formal properties that the construction systems have to follow. Based on the concise rules of the basic form, people of each ethnic group use their talents, skills and building materials to generate variations of “conical hut”, which are different in house scale, spatial layout, construction system and form. The “conical huts” contain the consistency that all the huts come from the basic form, meanwhile, they also present the diversification that each conical hut has differed. “Consistent but diversified”, is one of the most interesting issues in typological study that we can observe in Timorese houses.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.