3.4.2 WINDOW DELIVERIES
When presenting the final drawings to the Building Board in December 1929, Aalto
enquired about the possibility of using iron-framed windows. The Building Board
replied that the window frames had to be made of wood, but should Finnish-made
iron frames become available, the work specifications should leave a reservation for this
option.^766 According to the work specification submitted to the State Medical Board
for approval, the staircases, corridors and dining halls in the main building would be
fitted with wood-iron-framed windows, the patient rooms with wood-iron windows or
wooden windows and the rest of the main building with wooden windows.^767 When
discussing the work specification in May 1930, the Building Board left the decision
regarding the windows on the table.^768 The window acquisitions became topical in
spring 1931. Aalto’s role in the window acquisitions was decisive, as the Building Board
authorised him to call for tenders for the windows and doors to the sanatorium.^769
Crichton-Vulcan was a Turku-based machine workshop, shipyard and rope manu-
facturer with long traditions. Its tender for the various windows^770 was enclosed with
two drawings drafted by the workshop’s drawing department, relating to the A wing
corridor windows.^771 Chricton-Vulcan proposed 40 millimetre standard profiles with
double glazing in a single casement. The windows would be delivered with pitch pine
glazing beads and steel profiles with a single coating of anticorrosion paint. The brass
screws for the glazing beads were also included in the tender. The tender specified the
number, size and weight of each window type. The bronze fittings, including the hinges,
handles and locks were listed by window type and priced separately. The tender also
included the strip windows of the sundeck corridor^772 , which had been crossed out by
hand and the total price at the bottom of the tender was exclusive of these.^773 They were
changed to wooden windows at the tender calculation stage.
Dated the same day was another tender placed by Crichton-Vulcan for the patient
room windows. It proposed three different methods of manufacturing the required 150
windows. The first two options specified a 32 millimetre standard profile steel window,
delivered sand blasted and with a single coat of anticorrosion paint, but without glaz-
ing. The third option, wood-framed with T-profile enforcements, was a substantially
766 Building Board December 8, 1929, Section 2. PSA.
767 Work specification. Record No. 2466. State Medical Board 1930 Aa:4. NA.
768 Building Board May 3, 1930, Section 4. PSA.
769 Building Committee January 25, 1931, Section 2. PSA.
770 The tender covered the following windows: 6 x IR 12; 6 x IR 13; 102 x IR 14; 5 x IR 2; 17 x IR 22; 5 x IR 23; and
24 x IR 24. Cost estimate No. 6161/T-1079. Offer of Ab Chrichton-Vulcan Oy, April 7, 1931. Work, location and
material specifications and cost estimates. Contract agreements. PSA.
771 The drawings in questions, PF-33-½ and PF-34-½, are held at the drawings archive of Paimio Hospital. PSA.
772 Window type IR 24. Drawing No. 50-327. AAM.
773 Cost estimate No. 6161/T-1079. Offer of Ab Chrichton-Vulcan Oy, April 7, 1931. Work, location and material specifi-
cations and cost estimates. Contract agreements. PSA.