Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Light, air, and hygiene [...] were the best treatment for tuberculosis at the time.
The design and construction of specialized sanatoria coincided with the advent of Modernism. Architectural elements like flat roofs, terraces and balconies, and white- or light-painted rooms spread across Europe. Not unlike the sanatorium, the new architecture was intended to cure the perceived physical, nervous, and moral ailments brought on by crowded cities.
— CityLab
The collective desire to cure and prevent the seemingly unstoppable tuberculosis epidemic through deliberate design choices had given tremendous momentum to a revolutionary movement in our fairly recent architectural past: Modernism. Staircase inside Alvar Aalto's Paimio Sanatorium. Photo courtesy... View full entry
Considered one of Alvar Aalto's most important works, it came as little surprise that news of a Finnish district's plan to sell the architect's Paimio Sanatorium was met with shock and attempts at appeal. Architects from the Finnish Association of Architects formed the Pro Paimio Committee and... View full entry
Latches that wouldn’t catch on doctors’ lab-coat sleeves replaced ordinary doorknobs, plywood wardrobes were raised off the floor for easier cleaning...radiant heat panels in the ceiling minimized drafts and balconies were oriented for optimal sun exposure. Other Modernist sanatoriums include the Klinik Clavadel in Davos, Josef Hoffmann’s Purkersdorf Sanatorium outside of Vienna and Jan Duiker and Bernard Bijvoet’s Sanatorium Zonnestraal — T Magazine
Alice Gregory, with a paean to sanatoriums. Plus, a review of contemporary, historical and Modernist, spa culture. View full entry
