Aino and Alvar Aalto’s “cathedral to health”, completed in 1933, was designed to provide the breathing space, support, and holistic care required to rehabilitate tuberculosis patients before the development of a medical treatment and cure. A true “gesamtkunstwerk” — or “total work of art” — the Aalto’s considered every detail from the buttercup yellow corridors, to the curved edges of walls, chairs, and steps, and the ‘no-splash’ angled sinks, to optimise patient wellbeing. People could spend years at Paimio Sanatorium, slowly recovering from TB or spending their remaining time as best they could; taking in the forest air, eating well, and socialising in the communal dining hall, or on the terraces.
