Architecture and Contamination: An Interview with Andrea Bagnato and Ivan L. Munuera

By Samantha Ozer

In the context of public health, architecture is often understood as the construction of physical spaces for shelter and healing, and the eventual management of disease. It is less critically recognized for its role in creating the environmental conditions for a disease to form and spread. And yet, architecture has played and continues to play a crucial role in mediating the relationships between humans, as well as between humans and other species, impacting for example how malaria spread in the early 20th century and how the HIV/AIDS crisis was instigated in the later part of the century.