Chapter 3 | The Building of Paimio Sanatoriumof the slab did not have secondary beams as in the A wing, except for in the outer edge.
The structural engineer used the architect’s design as a starting point but added value to
it by optimising the use of material. This cantilevered slab exhibited Emil Henriksson’s
experience in beamless reinforced roofs, which was the type of solution he had used in
the paper warehouse of the Turun Sanomat Newspaper Building and on which he wrote
an article for Rakennustaito (The Finnish Construction Magazine) magazine.^711
The architect continued with drafting the sundeck wing once this building ele-
ment had been resolved. These schematic and simplified drawings were made for the
presentations. The vertical section of the sundeck wing was sketched by the architect
probably at the end of 1930. It illustrates the principle of the reinforcements.^712 In the
second drawing of the section, the sundeck slab illustrates the reinforcements in the
slab and shows the box construction.^713 Aalto understood the novelty and media value
of the structure they had developed as a team with the structural engineer.
The enclosed rear wall of the sundeck wing was in the drafting stage in the spring of
1930, marked as a reinforced concrete structure without insulating layers.^714 However, at
the construction stage, the structure was cast against a protective layer of bricks. The pho-
tographs of the Paimio Sanatorium Archive showed the bottom storeys having already
been cast and the formworks erected for the top part. The wall was constructed using the
slip forming technique, a method employed in industrial construction, particularly in the
construction of silos, which were admired by European modernist architects.
The image inked-in for publication shows a simplified version of the seven-storey
structure supported on one column row. The columns tapered upwards. The rear wall
was non-load-bearing and contained the tensile reinforcement. The rear wall was
protected on the outside with brick in conjunction with the casting. The rear wall did
not appear to have a foundation.^715
The tectonic solution of the sundeck wing acquired its final form as a joint effort
between the architect and the engineer. The drawings showed that the structural
engineer did not join the design team until May 1930. He gave added value to the
architect’s draft. The architect’s draft from July 1930 shows how the functionality and
form of the structure had eventually been resolved. The drawing created by “H.H” was
crucial to the final outcome.
The two lowest storeys of the sundeck wing were dated August 1930. The structural
engineer created drawings in the order of construction, but naturally the sundeck wing
structure had to be conceived as a complete entity. It is therefore likely that the struc-
tural drawings of the sundeck wing, which have not been preserved, were also created
in August 1930. The construction of the sundeck wing progressed in parallel with the
rest of A wing, one storey at a time.
711 Henriksson 1927.
712 Drawing No. 50-155. AAM.
713 Drawing No. 50-409. AAM.
714 Drawing No. 50-60. AAM.
715 Drawing No. 50-414. AAM.