The Care Facility in Central Europe as a Form of Shelter: Implications for Women

Ctlrolyn Thompson Is an assistant professor In the College of Architecture and Design, Kansas State University. In 1990, she was sent with three other faculty members of the college on a fact-finding tourof Central Europe to explore opponunities for exchange, professional development, and research. This paper offers some of the observations from that tour. She has a Bachelor ofAns in the History of Art from Mount Holyoke College and a Master ofArchitecture from Columbia University, with twelve years ofprofessional practice In architecture and interiors. In November of 1990 four faculty members of the College of Architecture and Design of Kansas State University (KSU) were sent by the College to Central Europe to explore opportunities for exchange, profes­ sional development, and research. As a member of that group, among my personal interests were facilities which offer care: relatively short-term in the form of the hospital, or long-term in institutions such as orphanages or nursing homes. As the only female member of the group, I made a point ofobserving the status of women in the society at large, and the degree to which policy and cultural attitudes affecting them also influenced the care facility.