most important aspect of tuberculosis treatment. The Latourian innovator overshad-
owed the collective, on whose work his own achievements were based. At play are also
cultural rules and the renegotiation of power structures. There has been a tendency to
give credit for collective effort to strong (white, male?) individuals, which has thus acted
as a way to reinforce their position of strength in culture. In this respect, Aalto was no
different from Louis Pasteur, whose achievements Latour has analysed.^1002
Aalto’s architectural focus was on non-medical technology. As an example, the hood
collecting grease vapours in the kitchen of Paimio Sanatorium was featured in the press
as early as 1932, in a diagram in an article for Byggmästaren (The Master Builder)
journal. Similarly, the well-appointed institutional kitchen had represented a location
for the application of Taylorist management principles in hospitals in Canada and the
United States, where meals were delivered on trolleys through tunnels and lifts and
were served from ward kitchens. Similar efficient principles were applied in the hospital
laundry.^1003 The internal communications within Paimio Sanatorium and its kitchen
were well thought out from the very beginning. The minimum apartments in Frankfurt
had also emphasised the role of the kitchen as a well-equipped and well-designed unit.
By showcasing the Paimio Sanatorium kitchen through photographs and diagrams of
its ventilation system, Aalto created an impression of being a pioneer of institutional
kitchens as well as of increasing electrification in housing. Rafael Blomstedt’s com-
ments on Aalto’s kitchen appliances featured at the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in
Helsinki were praiseful, even if he regretted that the goods were imported from abroad,
which speaks volumes of how exceptional such modern comforts were in Finland. The
kitchen was one of the first units in the household to benefit from electrification. The
modern hospital kitchen served as a model for private homes in Finland, as electricity
consumption was still low compared to electricity production capacity.^1004
In my view, Aalto’s electrical competence was selective. For example, he showed no
interest in electrical motors or new low current systems. Instead, light fittings, lifts and
kitchens, which were central to the rationalist discourse, were of great importance to him.
In his articles, he decided to focus on issues that the international discourse dealt with.
Aalto used his position in the media to prove that he was aware of the role of acoustics,
as shown in his diagram of the curving corner of the patient wing corridor in Bygg-
mästaren in 1932. Le Corbusier had acknowledged the necessity to abate noise in blocks
of flats and the need of residents for privacy in his paper delivered in Brussels in 1930.
In his article, Aalto showed his Swedish colleagues that he was aware of the issue and
through his diagram presented one, aesthetically rewarding, solution to the problem of
sound insulation. In loose connection, it is worth bearing in mind that Sven Markelius
was musically very talented and his design for the Helsingborg Concert Hall was about
to reach its completion in the autumn of the same year. It is therefore likely that Aalto’s
understanding of the importance of acoustics had also developed through his dialogue
1002 Latour 1988.
1003 Adams 2008, pp. 124–126.
1004 Myllyntaus 1991, pp. 96–97.