Later in life, Kirkbrides grew really, really big, and we ended up with One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest asylums. Mostly because governments wanted to house more

Later in life, Kirkbrides grew really, really big, and we ended up with One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest asylums. Mostly because governments wanted to house more mentally ill in one facility and achieve economies of scale. But early Kirkbrides are a solution that I truly think could work today, even. And they could be highly affordable, too. A few quotes from the article: > Kirkbride's philosophy behind the staggered wings was to allow individual corridors open to sunlight and air ventilation through both ends, which he believed aided in healing the mentally ill. > The duties of attendants, when faithfully performed, are often harassing, and in many wards, among excited patients, are peculiarly so. On this account pains should always be taken to give them a reasonable amount of relaxation and their position should, in every respect, be made as comfortable as possible. > For general labor at the hospital, he suggested that the able-minded patients help maintain the hospital grounds and assist in duties in their respective wards. As far as I know, the original Kirkbrides were supposed to operate something like an English manor house (say, Downton Abbey): largely self-sufficient domiciles for a large number of people to live, work, play, grow food, learn skills, and grow old. Patients could achieve some level of autonomy by assisting with household chores, food growing, caring for animals, in a way that treats them like people. A far cry from the prison-like asylums of the 70s. I believe the original Kirkbrides were only designed for 50-100 patients -- later designs basically gave up everything that made a Kirkbride a Kirkbride except for some minor architecture accents. In a world where communities are dying, where we don't know what to do with the mentally ill and drug addicted (and let them rot on the street as a "solution"), where we're constantly told that we can't offer treatment and healthcare to people because it's too expensive, these start to sound like a pretty damn good solution.