Architecture is The Cure. But No One Talks About It.
You’ve heard architecture is art. You’ve heard it’s about function. But what if I told you—architecture is medicine?
Picture yourself as a doctor—a good doctor.
A patient comes to you claiming he’s ill. You listen, you observe, you examine. But—there is no illness.
Would you prescribe medicine anyway?
A good doctor wouldn’t.
Now, replace the doctor with an architect.
The site is your patient. The city is the body. And every structure you build is either a cure—or a misdiagnosis.
But here’s what no one tells you about architecture: No site is well. No place is free of illness.
Your job?— Find the illness. Prescribe the cure.
— But—prescribe the right cure.
Architects = Healers
Let me give you examples of architects who knew how to examine, who found the right cure.
🔹 Moriyama House – A Cure for Isolation
Look at this picture.
This is a home—yes, not a district.
All these white cubes you see. It’s a single home, not multiple ones.
When the client sought a home, the architects told him:
“You don’t need a house. You need a building.”
They understood that solitude was the illness, and the cure was simple: a village within a home.
The solution wasn’t complex. It was precise.
When solving problems, you don’t look for complex solutions.
Alejandro Aravena said it best: “The best solutions are often the simplest.”
Let’s look at how alejandro plays the doctor role….
🔹 The Bank That Healed a City
In Buenos Aires, Alejandro Aravena diagnosed an urban illness—not of a person, but of a city.
Look at this picture.
You see the illness, right?
It’s clear to the naked eye. The city is divided—the wealthy on one side, the poor on the other.
Now, look again.
See how he responded ? A bank built as a bridge.
The illness was inequality, and the cure was Architecture.
A simple connection, breaking down barriers, stitching the city back together.
It’s funny—if you asked a child to solve the problem, they’d draw a bridge. It’s obvious. But no one talks about it.
The Illness is Always There
No site is ever truly well. Every place carries wounds—some visible, some buried beneath years of neglect.
A good architect, like a good doctor, doesn’t impose a one-size-fits-all cure. They diagnose. They listen. They uncover what is truly needed before prescribing a solution.
Architects ! ‘‘You Are Healers’’
This is what architecture is really about. Not trends. Not aesthetics. Not ego.
It’s about responding—deeply, sensitively, purposefully—to the conditions at hand.
Architects! Become Healers.
To build is to mend fractures, to soothe the wounds of a place.
Your role isn’t to create. It’s to cure.
Ask yourself: What am I healing?
Then ask again: What’s the right cure?
Only then—can you truly build.
‘‘Architecture has the power to heal. Do you believe it? ‘‘