Finland’s Paimio Hospital set to be a World Heritage Site
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Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Hospital (former Paimio Sanatorium) is in an elite race to be one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Sanatorium is listed in the tentative list. Sanatorium’s official website mentions that in many ways it is anFinland’s Paimio Hospital set to be a World Heritage Site
Finnish architect Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Hospital (former Paimio Sanatorium) is in an elite race to be one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Sanatorium is listed in the tentative list. Sanatorium’s official website mentions that in many ways it is an extremely modern hospital building. The multi-story hospital was based on the idea of greater efficiency and shorter distances. Movement between floors was by staircases, lifts, and shafts.The website further informs, “According to the view of the Finnish Standardisation Board, the standardization of the house building sector could be divided into standardization of parts of buildings and of complete buildings. The standardization of building parts was further classified as standardization of form and dimensions, or of quality. Aalto’s interest in the subject also concerned the use of materials in the Paimio Sanatorium building parts.”The UNESCO website says, “The site of the building was a sandy terrain in the middle of a pine forest, and was considered a healthy location. The main building was placed on the highest point of the area, and oriented in a north-south direction.”The building is dominated by a seven-story patient-room with its connecting sun balconies facing directly southwards. Other buildings in the hospital complex, such as the doctors’ and nurses’ residences, the sauna, heating plant, and garage, were freely laid out within the grounds of the sanatorium. The mainly two-story residential buildings are organized hierarchically and represented in their time a progressive type of housing. All buildings are white-rendered, forming an impressive contrast to the dark green fir trees of the forest landscape. The burial chapel (the so-called Rose Cellar), the water-pumping station, and the biological water purification plant were placed at the edge of the sanatorium grounds. In the 1960s, a terraced house for nurses and a garage — also designed by Aalto’s office — were added to the area.Often considered to be a pioneer in Modern Architecture and Design, Aalto (according to his official website) treated each building as a complete work of art – right down to the furniture and light fittings. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more