ALVAR AALTO

Some of works by: ALVAR AALTO

Aalto Studio,

Munkkiniemi, Helsinki, Finland, 1956

Aalto Summer House,

Muuratsalo, Finland, 1953.

Academic Bookshop

Helsinki, Finland, 1962 to 1969.

Baker Dormitory

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1947 to 1948.

Enso-Gutzeit HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland, 1959 to 1962

Finnish Pavilion, 1937Paris, France, 1935 to 1937

Finnish Pavilion, 1939

New York, New York, 1939

Flats at BremenNeue Vahr district, Bremen, Germany, 1958 to 1962.

Flats at HansaviertelHansaviertel, Berlin, Germany, 1955 to 1957.

Flats at Lucerne

Lucerne, or Luzern, Switzerland, 1965-1968

House of CultureHelsinki, Finland, 1955 to 1958.

Mount Angel Library Mount Angel, Oregon, 1970.

National Pensions Building,

Helsinki, Finland, competition 1949, built 1952.

Otaniemi Technical University LibraryOtaniemi, Finland, 1964 to 1969

Otaniemi Technical UniversityOtaniemi, Finland, 1949 competition, completed 1964.

Paimio SanatoriumPaimio, Finland, 1929 to 1933.

Riola Parish ChurchRiola, Italy, 1975 to 1978.

Saynatsalo Town HallSaynatsalo, Finland, 1949 competition, built 1952.

Seinajoki LibrarySeinajoki, Finland, 1963 to 1965.

Seinajoki Town HallSeinajoki, Finland, 1962 to 1965.

Turun Sanomat BuildingTurku, Finland, 1927 to 1929.

Viipuri LibraryVyborg, USSR, 1927 to 1935.

Villa CarreBazoches-sur-Guyonne, France, 1956 to 1959.

Villa MaireaNoormaku, Finland, 1937 to 1939.

Worker's ClubJyvaskyla, Finland, 1924

Biography Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland in 1898, the son of a surveyor. He graduated with honors from Helsinki Polytechnic in 1921 after which he opened his own practice. He held the position of Professor of Architecture at MIT 1946 to 1948, and was President of the Academy of Finland 1963-68.

Although his early work borrowed from the neoclassic movement, he eventually adapted the symbolism and functionalism of the Modern Movement to generate his plans and forms. Aalto's mature work embodies a unique functionalist/expressionist and humane style, successfully applied to libraries, civic centers, churches, housing, etc.

A synthesis of rational with intuitive design principles allowed Aalto to create a long series of functional yet non-reductionist buildings. Alvar Aalto generated a style of functionalism which avoided romantic excess and neoclassical monotony. Although Aalto borrowed from the International Style, he utilized texture, color, and structure in creative new ways. He refined the generic examples of modern architecture that existed in most of Europe and recreated them into a new Finnish architecture. Aalto's designs were particularly significant because of their response to site, material and form.

Aalto generated a large body of work in Germany, America, and Sweden. Often at work on multiple projects, he tended to intermingle ideas and details within his work. The spectrum of Aalto's work exhibits a sensual detailing that separates him from most of his contemporaries.

Aalto was a master of form and planning, as well as of details that relate a building successfully to its users. His buildings have provided renewed inspiration in the face of widespread disillusionment with high modernism on one hand, and post-modernism on the other.

Aalto died in Helsinki in May 1976.

Details

Winner of the Sonning Prize, 1962