Wards had to be light, airy, and have southerly facing main windows. For corridor asylums, wards were often cramped, featuring many individual rooms and no day rooms. By the time of Severalls, the wards were much larger, dormitories were more common, and large day rooms were available with large bay windows for the maximum of light.

Below: A main thoroughfare through the corridor asylum also doubles up as a ward, with cells on the right, and a small squat day room on the left. By the time Severalls was built, the main corridors were separate, the cells were mostly kept off the day rooms, and the day rooms themselves were large, light and airy.