could be and that public money should not go to waste when such a significant new
piece of legislation had been passed, overrode his regard for any moral concerns
over due process.
The competition period closed on January 31, 1929, by which 13 entries had been
submitted. The competition entries were placed in three classes by the jury: one entry
in the lowest class, eight in the middle class and four in the top class, three of which
were awarded. The jury was unanimous as regards the winning entry, submitted under
the title Piirretty ikkuna (Drawn Window), by Alvar Aalto. The second prize was
awarded to a team of three architects, Kaarlo Borg, Otto Flodin and Paavo Hanstén
for their entry, Valo (Light). The third prize went to Antero Pernaja, Martta Ypyä
and Ragnar Ypyä for their entry, Ammon-Ra.^571 The Award Committee proposed
purchasing Erik Bryggman’s entry, entitled Ympyrään piirretty kolmioristi (Triangular
Cross Drawn Inside a Circle), for its architectural merit, but the Building Committee
rejected the proposal.^572
The jury considered Alvar Aalto’s Piirretty ikkuna architecturally interesting, but
somewhat “restless and pretentious” as a whole. The arrangement of rooms was con-
sidered pleasing and their layout successful. However, the dimensioning of the build-
ing was criticised: the main stairway was too narrow, the patients’ bathing facilities
overestimated and the cubic volume of the building insufficient. The jury favoured
economy in the basic solutions, and felt that a wider frame would reduce the external
wall surface and thus the heating costs.^573
571 In her doctoral dissertation, architect Leena Makkonen has analysed Martta and Ragnar Ypyä’s entries in the
architectural competitions for Paimio Sanatorium and South-Carelia Sanatorium in 1928–1929. Makkonen 1999,
pp. 51–56.
572 Building Board February 25, 1929, Section 2. PSA.
573 Anon, 1929b, pp. 42–46.