T-Sairaala, TYKS, Finland, a set on Flickr. Architect: Mikael Paatela, Year of completion 2013.
A visit to a new T-Hospital in Turku was an exciting experience for someone who appeciates lean and functional architecture.
A week ago I visited first time in the new T-hospital in Turku. A hospital which would replace among other things one of the signal buildings of the Finnish architecture: Alvar Aalto's Paimio Sanatory (video). Paimio has been in active hospital use since 1930's and now, almost 80 years later, it was replaced with the new modern hospital building. But how does the new building comparison with an old one drawn by one of the icons in the modern architecture?A visit to a new T-Hospital in Turku was an exciting experience for someone who appeciates lean and functional architecture.
Comparison, of course, is just for fun since you can't really make a comparison between these two buildings. One central part of Paimio's great design is how the place is situated in the middle of the nature and how Aalto's architecture brings the surrounding nature as part of the building. One good example of this is the Main Building of The University of Jyväskylä.
Mikael Paatela's T-Hospital again is situated in the middle of the heaviest trafficked areas in Turku neighbouring the heavily trafficked E18 highway. And the greatest vision of the building is that when it could not turn itself outside, it turns inside.
T-Hospital lies as a fortress in a dull part of the city. Challenges with the surroundings are big and massive construction would make that even worse. But although the building looks like a white fortress the scale is the most biggest surprise to is. The building is bigger than you can expect when you look it from outside. When you walk in to the building you are astonished of its size. It's huge.
Inside you will be amazed to see spaceous lobbies, winter gardens and other recreational spaces. That is very different from the cost-effective architecture in which all the spaces are optimised for the production and "space not used in any productive work" is limited. Luckily, architect Mikael Paatela, has got the freedom to create spaceous and inspirational spaces which invite to sit and relax. Healing process has definetly been one of the central ideas of these spaces.
Also design of furnitures - which I do not know are they specially designed to this place (I believe so) - invite to sit and relax.
T-Hospital has many things common with its "predecessor" and I, who was earlier against moving the hospital functions away from Paimio, am not sure anymore. I belive I was converted after visiting the T-Hospital.
Via Flickr:
Photos from the new T-hospital (2013) in Turku
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