Among the most striking aspects in the architecture of Paimio Sanatorium is the role sunlight is given in the design. Seen as a counterforce to the dust and dirt of the early 20th century city from where the plague of tuberculosis was thought to arise, natural light made up a central energy in the sanatorium’s healing agenda.

Taking inspiration from the reclined position that convalescents spent most of their time here in, and the strong interrelation of the Sanatorium’s interiors with the changing light envelope of the Finnish year, Midsummer Nighshifts is a hands-on opportunity to study how the surfaces that surround us mediate our connection with our outdoors surroundings.The project reinvests patient rooms and reception areas, lounges, balconies and corridors by taking benefit from the spaces of the building and its history of laying. The residency takes place during the June zenith with its sleepless nights and the blurring of boundaries between the interiors and the exteriors.

The Midsummer Nightshifts are two-night stays at the Sanatorium’s main building during which participants will explore the building in its different parts, and use different natural materials, including beeswax, sea salt and wool to filter, cast back and affect in other ways the dimming twilight. Inhabiting, dozing, sleeping and snacking, the visitors get a chance to occupy the Sanatorium’s iconic main building over the twilights of white nights.

Participants will leave all electronical devices before entering the dormitory wing. On the ward, they are relying on the day light only – or in this case, on the nocturnal light.