News coverage on the paper Aalto delivered in Oslo in 1931 reveals the Fordian
influence in his hospital design philosophy. Aalto emphasised the role of the patient as
the starting point for the design. Aalto maintained that architects should study human
behaviour and human needs and translate the findings into design and the choice of
materials: concrete, glass and linoleum. He held that, in a hospital project, physicians
and architects should work together and also that the hygiene standards required for a
hospital were equally appropriate when designing homes.^431
In reality, Markelius was not in the process of designing a hospital and his exhibition
ward elicited no reaction from Aalto, at least not publicly. The architectural intentions of
Markelius were best manifested in his main work until then, the Helsingborg Concert
Hall, completed in autumn 1932. The design had evolved from the classicist competition
win from 1925 towards new rationalism, as Alvar Aalto’s design for the Vyborg Library
had similarly evolved after 1927. For its placement and design of the stairs, Eva Rudberg
has also likened the Helsingborg Concert Hall to the theatre auditorium of the South-
west Finland Agricultural Cooperative Building.^432 It would seem plausible to assume
that close colleagues would be aware of the progress of each other’s ongoing projects and
that they would discuss them.
431 Anon 1931, p. 6; See also Schildt 1985, p. 65.
432 Rudberg 1989a, p. 41.Fig. 2.5d. The main interior of Helsingborg Concert Hall, designed by Sven Markelius,
has a similar spatial composition to the theatre auditorium of Aalto’s Southwest Finland
Agricultural Cooperative Building (see Fig. 2.3g), as acknowledged by Eva Rudberg. Photo
No. 1962-101-0334a. ArkDes.