Architecture as a care to Health: the case of Paimio Sanatorium

The emergency situation that we are now facing as a result of pandemic Covid-19 is turning our life upside down and changing the way of relating to the space that surrounds us. Many questions have been posed about the best use of spaces and the correct management of the flows, but not enough attention has been paid to the comfort of these environments. The humanization of places and strategies designed to make these spaces more responsive to the psychological and emotional needs of the people who come into contact with them are, in fact, absolutely fundamental in healthcare architectural design. It is clear that understanding an adequate development of the hospital space can favor the psycho-physical well-being of the people who live and work there, especially in historical periods characterized by pandemics. A virtuous example of architecture created in response to a pandemic situation is the Paimio Sanatorium, designed by the spouses Aalto, which was built following the program promoted by the Finnish government in response to the spread of tuberculosis in Europe in the early 1900s. The article intends to develop a reflection starting from the example of this organic architecture "tailor-made" for tuberculosis patients and on the possible design perspectives needed to address the pandemic we are experiencing.