According to the second contract, the architect undertook the general management
of the sanatorium construction work including the back office and administrative
work, and negotiations with the developer, subcontractors and contractors. He was also
required to take responsibility for similar duties during the actual construction phase. In
addition to building planning, the architect’s remit also included drawing up complete
designs for furnishings and special equipment as well as programmes, managing the
procurement thereof and the management of construction work concerning the entire
sanatorium, except for accommodation intended for private use. The architect’s fee for
the general management of the construction work was FIM 250,000, of which FIM
70,000 was paid against the interior design drawings.^586 The architect’s fee was not
tied to the building costs. The contracts Aalto entered into gave him a great deal of
power on the project, particularly in terms of the interior design, as he was in charge of
procurement for the interior.
According to Alvar Aalto, the design team at his practice consisted of, in addi-
tion to himself, architects Aino Marsio-Aalto, Erling Bjertnæs, Harald Wildhagen,
Lauri Sipilä and Lars Wiklund.^587 Aino Marsio-Aalto^588 and Harald Wildhagen^589
were between 30 and 40 years of age, while the other designers were approximately
30 years old. The Norwegian Wildhagen had the most work experience, having
previously worked in Berlin, among other places. Another Norwegian Bjertnæs^590
and the Finn Wiklund^591 had graduated in the same year, 1925, the former in Oslo
and the latter in Helsinki. The Finn Sipilä had only recently received his degree and
was the youngest in the team.^592
Alvar Aalto typically did not mark his drawing with his initials and he only signed
the set of drawings addressed to the State Medical Board and some of the drawings
intended for exhibitions or publications. Apparently only few, probably less than five
586 Contract No. 2 between the Building Board of the Sanatorium of Southwest Finland and architect Alvar Aalto, June
28, 1929. Documents related to the Paimio Sanatorium project. AAM.
587 Aalto 1933b, p. 86.
588 Aino Aalto (née Marsio) was born in Helsinki in 1894, and she studied architecture at Helsinki University of Tech-
nology between 1913 and 1920. She initially worked at Oiva Kallio’s firm and from 1923 at Gunnar A. Wahlroos’
practice in Jyväskylä until 1924, when she started working together with Alvar Aalto and also married him the
same year. Heporauta 2004, pp. 12–45.
589 Harald Carlsön Wildhagen was born in Bergen in 1895 and he graduated from the Norwegian University of
Technology in 1919. At the beginning of his career, he had served as an assistant for M.A. Bachke’s practice in
Trondheim and for Philip Holtmann’s practice in Berlin in 1922. He worked for Aalto’s practice from 1928 to 1930.
Between 1930 and 1934 he worked as a private practitioner in Oslo together with Edgar Smith Berentsen. Register
of Norwegian architects. NN.
590 Erling Bjertnæs was born in Fianarantsoa on Madagascar on November 13, 1899. He completed his architecture
studies at the Norwegian University of Technology in 1925, and at the beginning of his career worked at the
architectural practice of Alvar Aalto for three and a half years in Turku, Finland. He also worked at the practices
of Norwegian architects including Blakstad, Munthe-Kaas, Arneberg, Reinhart and Reppen for about two years.
During the period 1931–35, he spent part of his time practising privately. Register of Norwegian architects. NN.
591 Lars Alexander Wiklund was born in Angelniemi, Finland, in 1899 and finished his architecture studies at Helsinki
University of Technology in 1925. He was Swedish-speaking. Anon 1948, p. 578.
592 Lauri Rafael Sipilä was born in Mynämäki in 1904 and graduated as an architect from Helsinki University of
Technology in 1929. He had previously served as a lecturer at the Helsinki Industrial School between 1928
and 1929. Anon 1948, 479.