Public Presentation – Daniela Arnaut – Designing for health: between territory and inhabited space OBSERVING | REVEALING | DISCUSSING | (RE)SIGNIFYING

Public Presentation – Daniela Arnaut – Designing for health: between territory and inhabited space OBSERVING | REVEALING | DISCUSSING | (RE)SIGNIFYING

The seminar underlines the role of architecture on populations health raising correlations between city and health. The research is broadened by considering two complementary scales of intervention: TERRITORY and INHABITATED SPACE, focusing on healthcare facilities.

The investigation highlights how healthcare facilities are fundamental to the prevention and maintenance of people’s health stressing their origin and design principles to debating the current digital transformation associated with the perception of the body and health in the 21st century. It aims to contribute to intervention actions structured on the basis of a circular, decarbonised and sustainable design, as well as evaluating existing care networks by debating the typologies that make them up in the light of contemporary medical and population requirements and needs.

Results and dissemination actions will be briefly described together with teaching actions in the Master in Architecture specifically on tutoring students in the field of health facilities and also in the definition of a healthy and fair territory.


Daniela Arnaut is an architect currently assistant professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) where she teaches Architectural Design Studio at the Integrated Master’s degree in Architecture.

Her PhD thesis presented in 2020 and entitled “Healthcare buildings in Portugal (1927-1958). The healing space: between form and function”; was part of a FCT research project “Cure and Care_the rehabilitation” in which she was co-editor of the publications for the dissemination of the research results. She was guest editor of the docomomo journal n62 “Cure and Care”.

She is part of the annual debate panel of invited guests on contemporary health issues at the National School of Public Health. She is a member of docomomo International and secretary of the International Specialist Committee (ISC) for Education+Training. In 2016, she was the Workshop Executive Coordinator of the 14th International docomomo Conference in Lisbon. She was a tutor for several international docomomo workshops in Ljubljana (2018) and Tokyo (online, 2021).

She is an integrated member at CiTUA research center addressing primary areas of study as architecture, healthcare and wellbeing. Between 2023-2024 she co-coordinated CiTUA internal research project “reHAB – Habitat regeneration as cradle for resilient healthy communities for the future”.

03 December 2024  | 12h30 – 13h30

Museu DECivil

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