window had special hinges connecting the interior and exterior sash together. The
ventilation window was opened and closed with a simple mechanism.^742
The doctors had considered Aalto’s window design that reached all the way down
to the floor too difficult to clean and had recommended a higher window to secure
sufficient daylight.^743 Standard No. 6, which showed the patient room window^744 , was
part of a series of drawings approved by the State Medical Board.^745 The delicately
structured window now had sections of uniform height. Its area had grown to approx-
imately 6.5 square metres and it was a double-glazed steel window divided into three
vertical sections and equipped with a ventilation window. A fixed desk was fitted in
front of the bottom panes, underneath which the floor rose towards the outer wall in
an S-shaped profile. Visually, it seemed as if the window reached all the way down
to the floor level, although the actual floor level was 30 centimetres lower than the
bottom edge of the window. The standard drawing showed radiator pipes under the
desk and a chair with tubular steel legs and bent plywood seat. Aalto presented venti-
lation, heating and fixed furniture as an interlinked system together with the window.
The drawing showed that Aalto treated the patient room window as an overarching
solution rather than a separate element.
Aalto designed a wooden blind to be installed outside the window.^746 The drawing
for this design is not marked as being a standard, but the list of standard drawings pre-
sented to the State Medical Board refered to a standard drawing for an external wooden
blind.^747 The intention was to create the appearance of a gigantic wooden wall, when the
blinds were down.^748 In addition, one unnumbered standard drawing showed the heat
insulation of the window sill, including the flashing, internal sill and steel window.^749
Aalto aimed to use this solution that he had initially designed for another building in the
patient room window. This drawing showed that the architect was aware of the problems
of thermal conductivity with steel windows, also known as the thermal bridge.
A diagram of the joining of the patient room and exterior wall was yet another
indication of Aalto’s holistic intent. The section presented a double-sash steel window
with a ventilation window. The top sash was now perpendicular instead of slanted,
as they had been in the previous version. Wooden blinds were placed outside the
window. The floor rised towards the exterior wall in an S-shaped profile. A fixed desk
was installed in front of the window, with radiator pipes underneath. The width-to-
height ratios were measured and the angle of the sunlight was shown at 45 degrees.
742 See the competition drawings Nos. between 50-24 and 50-30, 50-32 and 50-33. AAM.
743 Severi Savonen and Niilo Mäkinen’s statements to the Building Board concerning Alvar Aalto’s competition entry
on April 4, 1929. Documents related to the Paimio Sanatorium project. AAM.
744 Three drawings, all marked with a stamp “standard”, Nos. 50-53, 50-395 and 50-396, show the patient room
window and the related technical solutions. They are similar in content. In two of the drawings, the standard has
been marked with No. 6. AAM.
745 Drawing No. 50-395. AAM.
746 Drawing No. 50-225. AAM.
747 Work specification. Record No. 2466. State Medical Board 1930 Aa:4. NA.
748 Hahl 1933, p. 65.
749 Drawing No. 50-215 dated August 21, 1929 and related to Turun Sanomat Newspaper Buildling. AAM.