Lying in the Dark Room: Architectures of British Maternity

Lying in the Dark Room: Architectures of British Maternity explores the spatial and architectural experience of childbirth, presenting a creative-critical autotheory of the architecture of lying-in. It assesses the transformation of maternity spaces and the shifts in maternal practices, treating them as vital atmospheres, materials, and objects that produce social and political conditions, gendered structures, and experiences.

Format: Hardback
Length: 202 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Lying in the Dark Room: Architectures of British Maternity delves into the spatial and architectural aspects of childbirth, offering a critical exploration of maternity spaces and a creative examination of the ones we currently utilize. In contrast to traditional architectural histories that objectify buildings, this book adopts a creative-critical approach, presenting a creative-critical autotheory of the architecture of lying-in. It employs feminist, subjective modes of thinking that transcend disciplines, registers, and arguments. Through its assessment of the transformation of maternity spaces, from the female bedchamber of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century marital homes to the lying-in hospitals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries purposefully built by man-midwives, to the late twentieth-century spaces of home and the modern hospital maternity wing, the book sheds light on the parallel shifts in maternal practices. These spaces are recognized as dynamic environments that are not mere passive backdrops to maternal history but rather as intricate networks of vital atmospheres, materials, practices, and objects that are produced by and, in turn, produce specific social and political conditions, gendered structures, and experiences.

Moving across spaces, systems, protagonists, and their subjectivities, the book showcases how hospital design and protocol have altered the ordinary birth experience at home and continue to shape maternal spatial experiences today. This interdisciplinary work appeals to a wide range of readers, including architectural historians, theorists, designers, medical humanities historians, English Literature scholars, humanities and material studies scholars, as well as those interested in creative-critical writing. By delving into the architectural and social dimensions of childbirth, Lying in the Dark Room provides a fresh perspective on the maternal experience, challenging conventional narratives and fostering a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between space, culture, and the maternal body.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032389943