Considered a national heritage site, Alvar Aalto's Sanatorium was completed in 1933 bringing international recognition to the country. His modern design was carefully tailored to the needs of tuberculosis patients for which the facility was built.
The design features a large roof terrace with extensive views of the forest to accommodate open air exposure, a common treatment for tuberculosis. Patients were to be taken up to the roof as part of their daily routine. Alvar Aalto also designed the Paimio Chair to be used in the patients' lounge. The angle of the back of this armchair was intended to help patients breathe more easily.
Exterior view. Paimio Sanatorium by Alvar Aalto, 1933, located in Paimio, Finland. Courtesy by Marianna Heikinheimo/Aalto University.
Between the 1920s and the 1930s, the only treatment for tuberculosis consisted of rest and exposure to the sun and pure air. That is why the Alvar Aalto Sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in Paimio, Findland, sits in a clearing between large trees and pure air, away from the urban core. A place surrounded by nature in which to maintain a healthy life and tranquility, where to receive solar radiation and be protected from winds by trees.
In this period of time Alvar Aalto had already done purely rationalist works, but with this project starts a new thought in which good and calculated mechanical operation is not enough, but the human aspect becomes relevant:
The design features a large roof terrace with extensive views of the forest to accommodate open air exposure, a common treatment for tuberculosis. Patients were to be taken up to the roof as part of their daily routine. Alvar Aalto also designed the Paimio Chair to be used in the patients' lounge. The angle of the back of this armchair was intended to help patients breathe more easily.
Exterior view. Paimio Sanatorium by Alvar Aalto, 1933, located in Paimio, Finland. Courtesy by Marianna Heikinheimo/Aalto University.
Between the 1920s and the 1930s, the only treatment for tuberculosis consisted of rest and exposure to the sun and pure air. That is why the Alvar Aalto Sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in Paimio, Findland, sits in a clearing between large trees and pure air, away from the urban core. A place surrounded by nature in which to maintain a healthy life and tranquility, where to receive solar radiation and be protected from winds by trees.
In this period of time Alvar Aalto had already done purely rationalist works, but with this project starts a new thought in which good and calculated mechanical operation is not enough, but the human aspect becomes relevant:
"It is not rationalization itself that is wrong in the first period, past, of modern architecture." The mistake is that the rationalization was not deep enough ...
Making a more human architecture means making a better architecture, and this means a functionalism deeper than a purely theoretical one, this goal can be achieved only with architectural methods, with the creation and combination of different techniques that provide man with the most harmonious existence. "
Making a more human architecture means making a better architecture, and this means a functionalism deeper than a purely theoretical one, this goal can be achieved only with architectural methods, with the creation and combination of different techniques that provide man with the most harmonious existence. "
Exterior view. Paimio Sanatorium by Alvar Aalto, 1933, located in Paimio, Finland. Courtesy by Marianna Heikinheimo/Aalto University.
In this way, the building is not a single compact linear block: it disintegrates in the landscape looking for the best possible orientation for each function, as well as the integration with the environment. This results in the formation of five blocks that will house very specific functions (bedrooms, common uses, kitchen ...) each optimally oriented according to your needs; that will be joined with transversal connections to each other, being unified in the same building.
Access to the sanatorium is by car, between the large trees between which the building is inserted. This way of approaching the building, almost by surprise, without reference to other nearby buildings, means that the architect does not propose an important façade to the building, but rather the volumes that enclose a space that functions as a facade, marking the entrance through a marquee with curved shapes.
The module of the patients' rooms is where the greatest dedication and study of the project reside. Despite having adopted all the principles of rationalism (use of concrete in a reticulated structure, or the concentration of facilities), Aalto considered that this current had taken a major step in the modernization of architecture, but it was not enough and had remained short, he left the individual aside. That is why the rooms of the sanatorium of Paimio represent a true argument about humanized architecture.
Exterior view. Paimio Sanatorium by Alvar Aalto, 1933, located in Paimio, Finland. Courtesy by Marianna Heikinheimo/Aalto University.
This sector has a west and southwest orientation, which allows a perfect sunlight and ventilation in the mornings to the bedrooms, while, using the corridor as protection, the cold north wind is avoided. This block has the privileged position within the outline of the building: turning its back on the whole, the rooms are open to nature, without any visual interference, seeking the contact of the patient with the forest in order to take advantage of the therapeutic nature of nature.
Currently, the Sanatorium is nominated to become a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
