This exhibition, curated by MASS Design Group and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, was organized during the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic revealed what some have known for a long time: breathing is spatial. This fact has implications at the scale of the body, building, city, and planet. Everyone on Earth has been affected by the pandemic. Unequal access to housing, jobs, and health care ensured that COVID-19 hit marginalized communities harder than others.
This exhibition presents architectural case studies and historical narratives alongside creative design responses to COVID-19. Every designer, artist, doctor, engineer, or neighbor featured in the exhibition asked, “How can I help?” They used open-source collaboration, rapid-response prototyping, product hacking, and social activism to create medical devices, protective gear, infographics, political posters, architecture, and community services—all with the shared aspiration to reduce structural barriers that keep us from accessing the care we all deserve.
Highlights
A selection of objects featured in the exhibition.
Mosquito Net Veil, photograph: Wellcome Collection
Essential Mask Brace, 2020, Sabrina Paseman, Katherine Paseman, and William Paseman, Fix the Mask
To keep out mosquitos, Dr. Albert Freeman Africanus King (American, 18411915) proposed erecting a screen over Washington, D.C. Photomontage: Jeffrey Mansfield, MASS Design Group
Workers First Poster, 2020, Brian Herrera
Ventizolve Naloxone Kit, 2020, ANTI (A New Type of Interface)
New York City Streatery, photograph: Jennifer Tobias
Don’t Let Racism Go Viral Poster, 2020, Kayan Cheung-Miaw
Social Distance Graphics, Vicchio, Italy, 2020, Caret Studio
Charlotte Valve and Mask, 2020, Cristian Fracassi and Alessandro Romaioli, Isinnova
Curatorial team: MASS Design Group (Regina Chen, Jeffrey Mansfield, Michael Murphy, Morgan O’Hara and Maggie Stern). Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (Ellen Lupton, senior curator of contemporary design, and Julie Pastor, curatorial assistant) Exhibition designer: MASS Design Group (Annie Wang) Graphic designers: Span (Alyssa Arnesen and Bud Rodecker) and Rick Valicenti
Support
Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics is made possible with major support from Crystal and Chris Sacca.
Generous support is also provided by Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Cooper Hewitt Master’s Program Fund.
Although ventilation is known to prevent disease, many modern buildings are sealed environments with fixed windows or windows that are opened rarely. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the dangers of this approach. If not adequately filtered, recirculated air spreads viral particles indoors. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a public reckoning and challenged architects to rely less on...
Since 2010, MASS Design Group has worked with the Liberia Ministry of Health in Africa on numerous projects. The masterplan for the New Redemption Hospital in Caldwell aims to avert future epidemics and deliver comprehensive services to a growing population. The New Redemption Hospital faces the prevailing wind to facilitate natural cross-ventilation. Solar chimneys enhance...
John Snow (British, 1813–1858) helped found epidemiology, the study of the distribution and causes of disease. In the 19th century, many people believed that cholera was caused by the unhealthy habits of people living in poverty. Snow’s scientific maps proved that contaminated water—not dirty air or an immoral lifestyle—caused the spread of cholera. Driven partly...
Cholera—a curable, preventable disease—did not exist in Haiti before the earthquake of 2010. The GHESKIO health center asked MASS Design Group to design a permanent facility to replace temporary cholera treatment tents. The Cholera Treatment Center creates its own water and sanitation infrastructure. A rainwater catchment system collects and filters water. The building can sanitize...
Most modern ventilators actively force air into the lungs. In contrast, several recent devices change the air pressure around the body to make the chest expand and contract passively. This gentler form of ventilation is more like natural breathing. These new devices are reviving the principle of the iron lung, which saved thousands of lives...
Today, vast health networks sprawl across cities and regions, serving as engines of employment and economic growth. Hospital design must account for complex equipment, disaster-safe infrastructure, flexible use, future growth, and the daily flow of patients, families, and workers. Content from the exhibition Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics, curated by MASS Design Group...
Emergency hospitals and clinics are erected during wars, disasters, and epidemics. Since the 19th century, field hospitals have been prefabricated off-site or made with cheap, readily available materials. Built for temporary use, these rough facilities often stay in use well past their intended lifespans. In spring 2020, emergency hospitals were built in New York City...
Italy was the first country in the European Union to be hit hard by COVID-19. CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati in Turin, Italy created an open-source design and working prototype for an intensive care unit utilizing a shipping container. One unit can house two patients. Windows admit light and allow clinicians and family members to view patients....
Dots, Lines, Color and Humans (with Audio Descriptions) Dots, Lines, Color and Humans (without audio descriptions) Brainwaves project explainer (with audio descriptions) brainwaves project explainer (without audio descriptions) cura (with audio descriptions) Cura (without audio descriptions) For more about the exhibition, visit https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/design-and-healing For more on Cooper Hewitt’s Accessibility Initiatives, please visit:...
![An eye-catching poster of a cartoon-like worker holding a bin of tomatoes and the words [WORKERS FIRST] printed in bubble font repeating vertically in wavy lines filling the background.](https://uh8yh30l48rpize52xh0q1o6i-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Workers-First-150x150.jpg)
