Heterotopia; an other way of seeing architecture

Abstract

This essay studies Michel Foucault's philosophy and in particular his ideas on heterotopia. It is an attempt to connect ideas to built architecture, in an exploration of the relevance of a theoretical idea, relating it directly to architecture using the psychiatric clinic building typology as a case study. Foucault's term Heterotopia, meaning "other-spaces" alludes to built places but he does not discuss actual architecture in very much depth. I apply the ideas and definitions of heterotopia to psychiatric clinics to see if it is truely heterotopic in Foucault's terms, and also to see how it is so, as a demonstration of the relevance of the idea, seeing what it adds to the discourse of architecture. Heterotopia, an other way of seeing architecture.