Chapter 1 | Introductionand particularly so in the sphere of the CIAM movement.^74 Division between the
town and the country was associated with the enlightenment philosophy. On the one
hand, the moral and aesthetic philosophy of the enlightenment directed the attention
towards nature, while on the other hand, it led towards the rationalistic organisation of
industrial production. This dualism, about which Aalto also wrote, has been seen as the
substratum for 20th century design^75.
In Henry Ford’s theory, the workers were also to benefit from the rationalisation of
work. Affording more attention to working conditions would be rewarded in increased
productivity and higher wages. Industrialisation brought in its wake the mass markets,
as it made consumer commodities available to larger sections of population than ever
before. Mass media and mass production developed hand in hand. The role of the press,
film and radio was becoming central, as they represented new technologies and moder-
nity. Women entered the world of work, started to earn their own income and the power
balance within the family changed as women became more emancipated. The change in
social structures also led to the development of new spatial formats, for example, in hous-
ing architecture, with collective houses as good examples. Although in reality, collective
houses were never built to a major degree in Sweden and there were even fewer built
in Finland, they had a distinct bearing on the shift in the role of housing design. Social
change also reflected on the paradigm shift in hospital building in the 1920s.^76
Industrialisation led to occupational differentiation and the importance of pro-
fessional expertise grew. Construction firms required a wider range of competences
and the design process became more collective. Engineers and technicians of different
disciplines contributed their scientific knowledge and practical skills. The introduction
of reinforced concrete structures required the ability to conduct structural calculations,
while the feasibility of the plumbing, sewage, heating, ventilation and electrical installa-
tions needed to be verified at the design stage. In Finland, the architect would be head-
ing the public-sector construction project at the time, collaborating with an increasing
number of specialists and experts. The role of the architect was, however, changing.
Private consultancies were a fairly new phenomenon,^77 there was competition between
occupational groups. Also the first women entered the design profession.
74 In his article in issue 5/1935 of Neue Zürcher Zeitung of June 24, 1935, Sigfried Giedion divided the Neues Bauen
movement into four stages: typical of the first stage were the use of new materials, in particular, reinforced
concrete; the second stage centred on the aesthetic and spatial concept inspired by Cubism; the third stage
concentrated on the question of social housing with little concern for the aesthetics; and the fourth stage focused
on urban and community planning. Georgiadis 1993, p. 73; For the situation in Sweden, see Eriksson 2001 and
Hall 2009.
75 Porphyrios 1982, p. 83.
76 The Canadian architectural historian Annemarie Adams has compared the pavilion-style hospital typical of the pe-
riod before World War I to multi-storey block hospitals, which gained ground in the inter-war period. Her primary
research interests were hospitals in the United States and Canada. The change was brought about not only by
the increase in the number of storeys and the changing floor plan but also by the changing objective of medical
treatment, which moved away from preventive care to curing diseases, and hospitals were built with private
rooms instead of large wards to serve paying customers. Adams 2008, pp. xvii–xviii.
77 See e.g. Viljo 1985, pp. 9–13.