The series of structural drawings for the Southwest Finland Agricultural Coop-
erative Building, 104 drawings in total, was enclosed with the building permit mate-
rials.^652 The number of drawings was considerable as in the 1920s the City of Turku
did not yet require structural drawings as part of building permit applications.^653 For
example, no structural calculations have been preserved on the highly advanced and
modern reinforced concrete structures of the Turun Sanomat Newspaper Building,
which was granted a building permit a year and a half later than the Southwest Fin-
land Agricultural Cooperative Building.^654
Emil Henriksson had also conducted concrete structural calculations for the res-
idential development Kellonsoittajankatu 8 (1925), designed jointly by architects Erik
Bryggman and Ilmari Ahonen^655 and shortly after the sanatorium project for Bryggman’s
Sports Institute of Finland in Vierumäki, which was based on a competition win.^656
Master builder Arvi Ahti also collaborated closely with a network of these Turku-based
builders.^657 Ahti built the houses designed by Bryggman for the Suomen Sokeri (Finnish
Sugar Company) office and plant workers (1923–1924)^658 and the apartment building
Atrium (1926–1927), and the aforementioned apartment building at Kellonsoittajankatu
8 and the Seurahuone Hotel, designed jointly by Bryggman and Ahonen (1926–1928).^659
It is likely that it was Bryggman who introduced Ahti and Aalto to each other.
The reinforced concrete frame of Paimio Sanatorium was contracted to Arvi Ahti,
a notable and influential Turku-based contractor.^660 He had served as the chair of the
Master Builders’ Union of Turku since 1923. Ahti and Henriksson were closely associ-
ated both personally and professionally. Ahti was Henriksson’s brother-in-law and his
business partner at Akso Oy company,^661 which imported PH light fittings, designed
by Poul Henningsen, to Finland in 1929 for at least two sites designed by Aalto.^662
It was likely lucrative to combine the roles of a contractor and master builder with a
652 The structural calculations for the Southwest Finland Agricultural Cooperative Building reinforced concrete struc-
tures were made between July and December 1927 and the project was granted a building permit on November
8, 1927. Record No. VII-20-4. TKA.
653 Constructional drawings have only been a requirement since 1956 when applying for a building permit in Turku.
Information received from Kirsi Helenius, information services secretary, January 18, 2013.
654 In the Turku City Archives, where the building permit documents are kept, there are no constructional drawings
concerning the Turun Sanomat Newspaper Building. The authority, responsible for granting permits at the time,
was the Provincial Archives of Turku. Similarly, in that archive there were no such documents concerning the
project either. No constructional drawings related to this project were found in the archives of TS either.
655 Database of architectural objects. MFA.
656 The seventh floor of the flat-roof building, the roof level, was recessed. There are three lower, flat-roofed wings
branching from the higher main mass. The construction of the main building began in 1933 and it was inaugurated
in 1937. For an image of the model see Bryggman 1937, pp. 81–87.
657 Arvi Verner Ahti was born in Turku in 1888 and graduated as master builder from Turku Industrial School building
construction department in 1911. He had made study trips to Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and
France in the 1920s. Having worked as a master builder, contractor and draughtsman until 1922, he continued as
a contractor. Tolonen 1930, pp. 16–17.
658 Soiri-Snellman 2010, p. 34 and p. 114.
659 Soiri-Snellman 2010, p. 61.
660 Veljekset Ahti Rakennusliike (Ahti Brothers Construction Firm) was one of the two major firms that dominated the
construction industry in Turku in the 1920s, carrying out 13 building projects in Turku between 1922 and 1926. The
firm employed ten master builders at its peak. Kankaanpää 1997, p. 78.
661 Jaakko Hartela’s interview on June 6, 2001 by the author.
662 The Defence Corps Building in Jyväskylä and Kemijärvi Church. Ollikainen 2010, p. 82.