Paimio Sanatorium
A sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in which everything was designed for the sick: rooms with light and views, quiet washbasins, lamps that do not dazzle a patient lying down, and the Paimio chair of bent wood. Aalto’s functionalism is softer and more humane than its continental counterpart.
Tuberculosis was one of the great public health problems in Finland, and the municipalities of south-western Finland joined forces to build a sanatorium near Paimio. An architectural competition was held in 1929, and the young Alvar Aalto won. Construction took place over the following years, and the sanatorium opened in 1933. The only treatment of the time was rest, fresh air, sun and good food, so the building itself became part of the cure. Aalto built with a reinforced-concrete frame, flat roofs and large windows, and he placed the various parts in the surrounding pine forest so that they received the best possible sun and views. He worked closely with his wife Aino Aalto, and together they designed much of the furnishings themselves.
The building consists of several wings that spread out into the landscape. The tallest is the patient wing with the patients’ rooms, facing south, and at its end are open balconies where the patients lay on their recliners. At the top there is a roof terrace for the same purpose. Each room is planned for a patient lying down: the ceiling has a calm colour, the light does not dazzle, and the heating comes from the ceiling so that the feet are kept warm. The washbasins are shaped so that the water does not splash, and the windows are designed for ventilation without draughts. Other wings house treatment rooms, a dining hall, kitchen and staff housing. The Paimio chair, of bent birch plywood, is shaped to make breathing easier for the person sitting in it.
When tuberculosis could be treated with drugs after the Second World War, the sanatorium lost its original function and became a hospital for other diseases. Over time it was extended and altered, but the main parts were preserved. Hospital operations have now ceased, and the building is owned by a foundation working to preserve it and find new uses for it. Paimio made Aalto internationally famous and showed a softer, more humane functionalism than its continental counterpart. The furniture led to Aalto and his wife co-founding the company Artek. Aalto had close ties with Sweden, had visited the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930 and had friends among Swedish architects, and his work has since been a model for Nordic architecture and design.