Paimio Sanatorium is a former tuberculosis sanatorium in Paimio, Finland Proper, designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Aalto received the commission to design the building after winning an architectural competition for the project held in 1927. The building was completed in 1929, and soon after recievd much critical acclaim both in Finland and abroad. The building is widely regarded as one of his most important early designs, and was designed at the same time as the Vyborg Library. Though the building represents the 'modernist' period of Aalto's career, and followed many of the tenents of Le Corbusier's pioneering ideas for modernist architecture (e.g. stripped windows, roof terraces, machine aesthetic), it also carried the seeds of Aalto's later move towards a more synthetic approach. For instance, the main entrance is marked by a nebulous-shaped canopy unlike anything being designed at that time by the older generation of modernist architects. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 46 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Alvar Aalto Paimio Sanatorium Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 46 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Alvar Aalto Paimio Sanatorium Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones and joints. ... Sanatório Heliantia A sanatorium refers to a medical facility for long-term illness, typically cholera or tuberculosis. ... Paimio (Pemar in Swedish) is a municipality of Finland. ... Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi in Finnish, Egentliga Finland in Swedish) is a region in south-western Finland. ... Finlandia Hall. ... Auditorium of the Viipuri Municipal Library in the 1930s. ... Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, widely known as Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887– August 27, 1965), was a French Swiss born architect, famous for his contributions to what is now called modernism, or the International Style. ... Modern architecture is a broad term given to a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose around 1900. ...

Aalto's starting point for the design of the sanatorium was to make the building itself a contributor to the healing process. He liked to call the building a "medical instrument". For instance, particular attention was paid to the design of the patient bedrooms: these generally held two patients, each with his or her own cupboard and washbasin. Aalto designed special non-splash basins, so that the patient would not disturb the other while washing. The patients spent many hours lying down, and thus Aalto placed the lamps in the room out of the patients line of vision and painted the ceiling a relaxing dark green so as to avoid glare. Each patient had their own specially designed cupboard, fixed to the wall and off the floor so as to aid in cleaning beneath it.

In the early years the only known "cure" for tuberculosis was complete rest in an environemnt with clean air and sunshine. Thus on each floor of the building, at the end of the patient bedroom wing, were sunning balconies, where weak patients could be pulled out in their beds. Healthier patients could go and lie on the sun deck on the very top floor of the building. As the patients spent a long time - several years - in the sanatorium, there was a distinct community atmosphere among both staff and patients; something which Aalto had taken into account in his designs, with various communal facilties, a chapel, as well as staff housing, and even specially laid out promenade routes through the surrounding forest landscape. In the 1950s the disease could be partly dealt with by surgery and thus a surgery wing, also designed by Aalto, was added. Soon after, antibiotics saw the virtual end of the disease, and the number of patients was reduced dramatically. The building served exclusively as a tuberculosis sanatorium until the early 1960s, when it was converted into a general hospital. Today the building is part of the University of Turku Central Hospital. Aalto and his wife Aino designed all of the sanatorium's furniture and interiors. Some of the furniture, most notably the Paimio chair, is still in production by Artek. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 104 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Paimio Sanatorium Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (600x800, 104 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Paimio Sanatorium Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... An antibiotic is a drug that kills or slows the growth of bacteria. ... Turun yliopistollinen keskussairaala (Finnish for Turku University Hospital, commonly TYKS) is a hospital in Turku, Finland. ... The word Artek has several meanings: Its the commonly used name for Arctic Technology Centre, established in late summer 2000 to teach and provide in-service training for Greenlandic and Danish students and businessmen in Arctic technology. ...

The sanatorium is nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State...

References

• Göran Schildt, Alvar Aalto. The Early Years. Rizzoli, New York, 1984.
• Margaretha Ehrström, Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen and Tommi Lindh, Nomination of Paimio Hospital for Inclusion in the World Heritage List. Museovirasto, Helsinki, 2005.