Humane Considerations in Architecture and the Outstanding Universal Significance of 20 th Century Cultural Heritage: The Case of Paimio Hospital in Finland

Abstract

The finding of the under-representativity of 20 th century heritage properties on the World Heritage List urged many States Parties to the World Heritage Convention to nominate heritage properties representing this pattern for listing as World Heritage Sites. One of these properties is Paimio Hospital in Finland designed by Alvar Aalto. One of the major themes that have been adopted to justify the hospital's Outstanding Universal Value is the humane considerations in Alvar Aalto's design. The main aim of this study was to explore the common themes and criteria that have been frequently adopted to justify the Outstanding Universal Value of 20 th century heritage properties. The study also aimed at discussing the humane considerations in Alvar Aalto's design of Paimio Hospital and the relevance of these considerations to the justifications of the outstanding significance of Hassan Fathy's heritage in Egypt. To achieve the previous aims, seven case studies representing recent heritage were adopted for the analysis of the common themes and criteria adopted to justify the Outstanding Universal Value of recent heritage. One of the previous case studies, which is Paimio Hospital, was adopted for a further analysis of the humane considerations in its design. The findings revealed the diverse humane considerations in Alvar Aalto's design of Paimio Hospital. The findings also revealed that criterion (i) is one of the most frequently adopted criteria to justify the Outstanding Universal Value of 20 th century heritage properties. The study suggests that humane considerations in architecture can also be adopted to justify the outstanding significance of Hassan Fathy's heritage in Egypt.