Turun yliopistollinen keskussairaala (Åbo universitets centralsjukhus)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

The Turun yliopistollisen keskussairaalan complex, built in stages, reflects changes in healthcare and the development of hospital design principles. The oldest layer, the provincial hospital of the 1880s, is flanked by 1930s functionalist-style hospital architecture and the modernist prefabricated construction of the central hospital from the 1960s.

At Kiinamyllynmäki, the oldest phase of hospital construction is represented by the provincial hospital buildings from the late 19th century, built according to the pavilion system. These include two single-storey wooden buildings in Neo-Renaissance and Swiss style from the late 1870s, and three two-storey stone buildings in Neo-Renaissance style from 1874-1881. The wooden buildings along Kiinamyllynkatu were originally residences for the gatekeeper and the assistant physician of the provincial hospital.

The new provincial hospital buildings from the 1930s, located on the southern edge of the hospital grounds along Kiinamyllynkatu, represented the general hospital of their time in terms of their spaces and technology. Typical of general hospitals of the first half of the 20th century, the so-called block hospital buildings are three to eight storeys high. The centralised, multi-storey hospital solution aimed to save staff time and, among other things, plot land. The room programme includes separate reception, ward, operating theatre, X-ray, outpatient clinic, laboratory and other spaces, arranged along the central corridor. The residential and dormitory building adjacent to the hospital on Kiinamyllynkatu is connected to the patient building by a connecting gallery.

The hospital, which already performed teaching functions in the provincial hospital period, includes buildings of various ages belonging to the nursing school and the Faculty of Medicine. The theoretical departments of the university's Faculty of Medicine are located on Kiinamyllynkatu, as an extension of the so-called A-hospital. In front of the institute stands the hospital chapel, which belongs to the 1930s complex.

The so-called U-hospital of Turun yliopistollisen keskussairaalan, completed in the 1960s, was designed by the architects Ragnar and Martta Ypyä. The thirteen-storey hospital rising along Hämeentie was built according to the so-called block system, concentrating functions in a single building. The reinforced concrete frame building has a white concrete-faced ribbon-window façade composed of sandwich elements. The lowest floors form a broad plinth for the tall ward building, which has a narrower frame. The southern façade has a long projecting balcony zone, and on the northern façade three lecture-hall windows break the band of the uppermost floors. Extending the hospital mass are lower pavilions housing the service centre and the heating centre. Their façades use large red brick tiles. The concrete parking building constructed in connection with the U-hospital is on the slope on the Kiinamyllynkatu side.

History

The Turku provincial hospital, which had begun operating in 1759 as the first provincial hospital in our country, moved from Linnankatu to its present site at Kiinamyllynmäki in the 1880s. The hill, located outside the planned town near Hämeentulli, had been home in the 18th century to a quinine mill shared by the Turku pharmacies.

By the early 1880s, the following had been completed at Kiinamyllynmäki, designed by architects Dahlström and Lindqvist of the yleisten rakennusten ylihallitus: a hospital ward block, a service centre, a skin and venereal diseases department and a psychiatric department. At the same time, the gatekeeper's residence and the assistant physician's residence were built in the area, along with a park. The utility building was raised in 1906 and 1930, and a new utility building was built north of the hospital at that time in 1931, to plans by architect T. Montell and engineer K.A. Krank.

The Turku provincial hospital had been training nurses since 1893, and the nursing school was established in 1931. A four-storey school and student hostel was built as an extension of the old utility building, to plans by R. Wessman, architect of the lääkintöhallitus. Wessman also designed the theoretical institutes of the Turun yliopiston lääketieteellinen tiedekunta, completed in 1948. The teaching building of the lääketieteellinen tiedekunta, completed in 1955, was designed by architect Jorma Järvi. The new provincial hospital building, the so-called A-hospital, was built in 1934-1937 to plans by Jussi Paatela and Uno Ullberg, architects of the building department of the lääkintöhallitus. It was jointly financed by the Turku regional municipal district and the state. In the same phase as the actual hospital, a tunnel to the utility building, a wing building, a chapel and a staff residence were built. The number of hospital beds increased by 298, to 525 in total.

The Act on the use of the Turku provincial hospital as a teaching hospital for a faculty of medicine to be established in the town came into force on 10 September 1943. A competition was held for the design of the hospital's new buildings, which was won in 1955 by the proposal "Kallonporaajan paratiisi" by Martta and Ragnar Ypyä. The Hospital Act and the Act on University Central Hospitals were adopted in 1956, and the state transferred the Turku provincial hospital to the keskussairaaliliitto in 1958. The Ypyö building plan was expanded after the competition, and the actual hospital building and the utility building were completed in 1964-1968, and the heating plant in 1962. In addition, a car park building was built at the hospital entrance, along with a tunnel connecting the various buildings. The number of hospital beds rose to about one thousand.

The Ypyö plan already included a second construction phase, in which the hospital area would extend to the other side of the railway. The car park building spanning Helsingintie and the railway line was built in 1997. The T-hospital, designed by the architectural firm Paatela-Paatela & Co Oy, is planned to be brought into use in 2011.