Architectural Theatricality: A Theoretical Discourse in Hospital Interiors and Design of Patient Eating Environments

Abstract

In December 1862 when talking to a group of military engineers, the Scottish-born architect James Fergusson (1808-1886) made a rather remarkable point on the principles of architectural quality, claiming that: "The process by which a hut to shelter an image is refined into a temple, or a meeting house into a cathedral, is the same as that which refines a boiled neck of Mutton into Côtellettes á l'Imperiale or a grilled fowl into Poulet á la Marengo.So essentially is the case that if you wish to acquire knowledge of the true principle of design in architecture, you will do better to study the words of Soyer and Mrs. Glasse than any or all of the writers on architecture, from Vitruvius to Pugin."