Paimio Sanatorium

PAIMIO SANATORIUM, ALVAR AALTO

Built year: 1932

A MEDICAL INSTRUMENT AND ITS POLITICAL AGENDAS _

Tuberculosis outbreak happened leading to nation-wide public construction

Tuberculosis had a sudden outbreak with a risen proportions of cases in the city in 1920s, which led to the construction of the hospitals and sanatorium in the region. Got independence from Russia in 1917, the government declared a countrywide development of public construction which included construction of hospitals, old people’s houses and mental health facilities and tuberculosis sanatoriums featuring all over the nation. Such architecture built the core of the city by amalgamating the cultural value of the nation’s identity.

During the phase of mid nineteenth to the twentieth century, the development of such building allowed the patients to be isolated from the community but provided with peaceful atmosphere for the patients to control the medical conditions of the patients. It is said that the disease was mainly connected to the rapid growth of industrialization with the low quality of hygiene for the urban level working class people. At this point, exploration and treatment of the illness had matched with the appearance of modernism. This was a social development that architecture included the joining of spaces with social reason. It additionally endeavoured to make another clean way of life with communist qualities.

THE STORY OF SUNLIGHT HITTING THE CONTOURS

_ The orientation of the built-in response to the program and also the human beings occupying the site.

Alvar Aalto, very meticulously designed the built around the contoured landscape making it look like a lost castle amidst an island. The fresh air from the surroundings and the abundant sunlight coming through the windows which were placed in a very specific direction in order to treat/ease the symptoms of the patients. Hence, a remote location which allows the patients to use the open ground and also terrace and move about the space even being isolated from the other part of the city.

The patients with allowance, also used to have their own mingling on the serpentine walkway with small features of fountains bringing in surprise elements for the users. Overall, the built responded to the major criteria for the treatment and governing through the superimposing multiple blocks merging with one another.

ARCHITECTURE AND BUILT _ Nordic Classicism and Rationalistic approach in architecture

Alvar Aalto, very consciously placed the building amidst the forest by generating the maximum sunlight a building could catch up in an area where sunlight is scarce. There has been a substantial derivation of cultural and rational approach of architecture of the city or the region being superimposed in the character of the architect. By understanding his underlying foundations in a public colloquialism, especially that of the past, Aalto had the option to expand huge plan perspectives from the National Romantic development into his very own translation of present-day architecture. Aalto's plan, which was the winning section for a 1929 competition, prevails on both a macro and micro, consistently incorporating the forested scene with dramatic balconies and articulated layout with pop of color delivering one of the greater combinations in terms of deliverance of the site to the users.

THE ORGANISATIONAL IMPOSITION _ The clarity in the bifurcation of the different functions.

Alvar Aalto, has given a very materialistic manifestation as to how the division of the spaces work in the building. He, as an architect thought of giving the services, frames, and other requirements, priority resulting a functional building in response to the demands of the age. The architecture of the building deals with the visible transformation of the built-in response to the changing nature of the spaces. Hence, the building is also termed as a medical tool with adapts to the nature and the context surrounding it.

An institutional building of this scale emerged with the overlapping multiple axis which came together and formulated this complex machine that derived many strategies and the base for the other.

A wing Patients’ wing and nurses apartments

B wing Reception, operating theatre, phototherapy treatment, dining hall, library, workshops and staff dormitory

C wing Staff dormitory, kitchen and laundry

D wing District heating plant

DYNAMICRHYTHMOFMOVEMENT _ The frames framing the enclosures and the path following it.

The functional boxes placed in a very strict analytical way and when they come together, they formulate these Lego-like boxes made to fit in a way that generates a very dynamic built. The boxes overlapping one another making zones of focus and the negatives of which form semi enclosed spaces.

Each and every built form has bigger enclosures on the façade letting ample amount of sunlight entering the built. Aalto’s ideologies of the space were to incorporate as much as sunlight in the space along with balancing pop of colors in the space and hence deriving a unique language of the built which sits isolated in the dense forested region.

OTHER

WORLD AND

THEIR INFLUENCES

_ The influence of CIAM leading to modernist architecture in Finland.

The influence of family’s connection to technology and construction, also the affection of him towards the culture of the place made him believe in the autonomous expression of the Finnish architecture. Aalto being travelling to different parts of Europe allowed him to make cross cultural references from an indicative generation of the cities. The amalgamation of the architectural styles into the Finnish architecture led to internationally recognised system which led to the classical principles of cultural and functional influences on the architectural project.

Along with the criteria of family and cultural influences, the building represented the modernistic turn in the architect. The building represented the seeds and roots of the points formulated by Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. The modernistic approach derived by the functionality of the elements developed for the building. CIAM was also an important milestone in the career of Aalto, in which he represented the architecture of Finland. CIAM, being led by Le Corbusier rooted seeds which in return added a more synthetic and rational approach in the architectural style of Paimio Sanatorium.

THE SECTIONAL DRAMA _ The faces of colours, furniture and the openings in combination with the services all coming together in one package

Space as a whole portrays a part of language with is formulated by the overall built form. In this the patients’ room is a perfect example for it. The placement of the built, the bigger windows, services tucked in on one side of the wall resulting a channel of service alley without disrupting the built and the aesthetics of the space.

The transition from floor to parapet and window is well formulated which reduces the bacteria contamination and in accordance shows a continuation and makes it as one element as a whole. The abundant sunlight coming from the window and a central light makes the space comfortably lit for a person to rest. Greens on the terrace with open horizon of the forest gives a soothing taste to the people and giving all the treatment to the patients placing them amidst the built nature of space.

THE EVOLUTION IN HEALTHCARE SECTOR

_ Functionalism's association with modernism leading to detailed elements in the space.

The building being built in the time period of 1929 had a setback of not having sufficient number of resources of medical to treat the disease. The advert of modernism during the time period of mid nineteenth and twentieth century, modernism started to get associated with the functionalism. Hence, the development of the building had a strong connection with the culture and context of the space along with the requirements of the patients and the mental conditions of the same as being isolated from the community. The main intention of the space was to humanise it in order to reside in it. The approach being blending the modern tension into the standardisation of design and realisation of the building.

For Aalto design was not a container for obliging capacities but rather a living organic entity, a daily existence power to be capable and appreciated in the assortment of upgrades which it had to bringing to the table.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Quantrill, M. (1983). ALVAR AALTO: A Critical Study. New Amsterdam Books.

Heikinheimo, M. (2018). Paimio Sanatorium under Construction. Arts, 7(4), 78. doi:10.3390/arts7040078

Heikinheimo, M. (2016). Architecture and Technology_ Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium. Aalto University publication series.

Woodman, E. (2020, July 22). Revisit: ‘Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium continues to radiate a profound sense of human empathy.’ Architectural Review. https://www.architecturalreview.com/buildings/revisit-aaltos-paimio-sanatorium-continues-to-radiate-a-profound-sense-of-human-empathy

Alvar Aalto: The Human Modernist. (2017, March 16). Merchant & Makers. http://www.merchantandmakers.com/overview-of-the-work-of-alvar-aalto/

Paimio Sanatorium. (n.d.). Alvar Aalto Foundation | Alvar Aalto -Säätiö. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.alvaraalto.fi/en/architecture/paimio-sanatorium/

Riding, A. (2007, April 4). Alvar Aalto: A fresh look at a “friendly” Modernist. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/arts/04iht-aalto.1.5140475.html

FOR PLANS, SECTIONS AND IMAGES

Beaudouin, L. (2018). ALVAR AALTO PAIMIO | Emmanuelle et Laurent Beaudouin - Architectes. Beaudouin Architectes. http://www.beaudouin-architectes.fr/2018/09/alvaraalto-sanatorium-de-paimio/

Team, A. (2021, January 22). Paimio Sanatorium / Alvar Aalto. ArchEyes. https://archeyes.com/paimio-sanatorium-alvar-aalto/

Design and the Modern World Final Assignment | Ui6717