ABSTRACT
The hospice movement emerged largely as a reaction to the way in which death and dying was dealt with in the hospital building. The common catch phrases of the hospice movement dying with dignity and living to the end are both enabled through spatial practices. Hospice buildings were more residential and homely than their hospital counterparts. The place of death and dying has moved from home to hospital, to early homes for the dying, to hospice and back home again. The term hospice derives from the Latin word hospitium, meaning a guest house where tired and often sick travellers or pilgrims were taken in and looked after by members of a religious order. The modern hospice movement emerged largely as a reaction to the systems and environments of the hospital building and to their dealings with dying. The development of the modern hospice philosophy can be closely linked to Cicely Saunders's disciplinary experience.
