The Architectural Space and the Healing Bed: On the Dimension of Privacy in Hospital Architectures

Building Early Modern Privacy Organizer: Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen, and the Royal Danish Academy—Architecture, Design, Conservation, Institute of Architecture and Design The PRIVACY research team examines how no­tions of privacy shape relations between individuals and society across diverse historical contexts. We are particularly interested in indications of privacy as a quality and risk: in the emergence and development of the idea that too little privacy threatens the individual while too much may ruin society. PRIVACY focuses on the period 1500–1800 that sees critical changes in individuals’ relationship to society. It brings together the fields of Church History, History of Architecture, Legal History and History of Ideas. Our research revolves around a series of different themes; Urban Space, Past and Present, Law, Home, Health, and Belief.The event, hosted in collaboration with the Royal Danish Academy, gathers 24 international scholars who will examine privacy and the built environment, covering a broad range of spaces, i. e. sickbeds, bath- and bakehouses, kitchens, conference rooms and gardens. This conference paper examines the role of the hospital bed in shaping perceptions and practices of privacy in early modern healthcare institutions. While hospitals are typically seen as places of care, they also functioned as spaces of surveillance, communal living, and social control. Drawing on architectural case studies from medieval and early modern Europe — including basilica-style, cross-hall, and domed hospital designs — the paper explores how architecture influenced patient experience, particularly regarding privacy. The central argument is that the hospital bed served not only as a site of healing but also as a tool of control. In medieval hospitals, communal halls with closely arranged beds reflected religious ideals of shared suffering and divine oversight. Although early modern hospitals introduced partitions and enclosed wards, these developments prioritized hygiene and institutional order over individual privacy. Through analysis of historical plans, architectural treatises, and contemporary depictions, the paper integrates architectural history with the history of inhabitation to trace changing notions of privacy. It situates the hospital bed within broader structures of visibility and authority, showing that privacy was not a given but an evolving concept shaped by religious, medical, and architectural imperatives.