Architecture Commons^™

This chapter will explore the therapeutic uses of place within the intentional space of purposively created community. By tracing the history of the Northern Michigan Asylum from mental hospital, to its closing and recent adaptive-reuse as neo-traditional community, the chapter will present a detailed case of the intentional use of place for therapeutic purposes in community settings. Built during a period of sweeping social, cultural and structural changes in late 19th century America, the Asylum was founded on the reformist “moral” or “milieu” treatment approach of Thomas Kirkbride. Kirkbride espoused creating self-sustaining communities where the built environment together with a …