3.3 The Reinforced Concrete Frame: A Great Architectural Challenge
3.3.1 AALTO COLLABORATED WITH LOCAL
DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS
The concrete structures of Paimio Sanatorium were designed and dimensioned by Emil
Henriksson, a young engineer and master builder who played an active role in the busi-
ness life of Turku and held several positions of trust.^648 He graduated as a reinforced
concrete engineer from the Technical School of Strelitz, Germany in 1924. After his
return to Finland, he ran his own private engineering firm specialising in reinforced
concrete structures in Turku from 1924 until 1932.^649 Aalto and Henriksson had col-
laborated prior to the sanatorium project on the Southwest Finland Agricultural Coop-
erative Building, the Standard Apartment House^650 and the Turun Sanomat Newspaper
Building. In these projects, modern reinforced concrete structures were employed, as
showcased by the roof truss structures of the theatre auditorium of the Agricultural
Cooperative Building.^651 They also collaborated on the Turun Sanomat Newspaper
Building, which had a flat slab construction throughout the edifice. Its foundation was
a reinforced concrete slab poured on timber piles. The basement exhibited a mushroom
column arrangement and the asymmetrical columns of the printing hall were cast in
metal formwork. Emil Henriksson, who kept abreast of new developments, wrote
an article for Rakennustaito (The Finnish Construction Magazine) magazine about
reinforced mushroom slabs even before the Turun Sanomat project began, in 1927. The
mushroom columns, introduced in the article and used in the Turun Sanomat building,
represented a novel solution in Finland that was first used in industrial buildings.
648 Henriksson had been a member of the third bridge-building committee in Turku in the 1920s, as well as a member
of the board of Turku Industrial School since 1927 and a board member for numerous business enterprises. In
1932, he was made managing director in the construction firm Hakkala & Tuominen, in which he was partner. Hen-
riksson also wrote and lectured on concrete construction. Tolonen 1930, pp. 116–117; Jaakko Hartela’s interview,
June 6, 2001 by the author.
649 Emil Herman Henriksson, who, in 1930, changed his name to Hartela, was born in Värtsilä in North Karelia in- He trained as a master builder on a three-year program at Kuopio Industrial School’s building construction
department. In summer 1914, he worked as a trainee at the construction site of Bühler steel factory in Düsseldorf’s
Buderich. After graduating, Henriksson worked for Turun Insinööritoimisto Oy engineering office in Turku and
Helsinki from 1915 to 1916. After this, he joined a Helsinki-based construction firm Tähtinen & K:nit, returning to
his native town of Värtsilä in 1917, where he served as a master builder for Ab Wärtsilä Oy until the beginning of
the Civil War, in which he fought on the side of the White army. Having worked as an independent draughtsman
and master builder between 1919 and 1922, Henriksson travelled to the Netherlands and from there to Germany,
where he continued his studies. In 1932, he was one of the founding partners of the construction firm Hakkala &
Tuominen and moved from being a designer to a builder. Henriksson died in 1970. Möttönen 2012.
650 Building permit granted July 30, 1928. Record No. VII-30-3. TKA.
651 Constructional drawings. Record No. VII-20-4. TKA.