Alvar Aalto
b. Kuortane, Finland, 1898;
d. Helsinki, 1976.
The singular figure who established modern architecture in Finland. He studied at Helsinki Polytechnic, graduating in 1921 with all possible honours. His early work showed the familiar signs of a developing Neo-Classicism, but he ruptured the architectural scene in 1929 with his Internationalist-inspired entry for Paimio Sanatorium in the W of Finland. The obvious recall and refinement of Le Corbusier into the iconography of the Modern Movement as it was then developing, and the functionalist leap in scale from the domesticated-constructivist reference of the Turun Sanomat Building (1927-9) make Paimio the seminal building for Finnish architecture. As so often throughout Aalto’s immense oeuvre, his Mediterranean affinities, the Greek and Italian predilections, allowed a remarkable and consistent refinement of the Finnish cultural environment. Many of Aalto’s buildings in Finnish towns established a dignity and scale absent both before and after. The white period of “literal functionalism”, a cleansing of both national romanticist excess and Neoclassical limpidity, an absolute explosion into the rather provincial architectural scene, is nowhere better indicated than in the ill-fated Viipuri Library of 1935. This pivotal building displayed the source and what was to come in later projects. But it would be a mistake to claim a neat identification for Aalto’s architectonics so early on: the Villa Mairea (1939) indicated the transformation of romance as it moved into the Finnish landscape. Buildings that in Central Europe lacked regional discipline were given a privilege by Aalto in the Finnish space. It is this transition from the universal versions of modern architecture found in almost all Central European towns and cities to the Italianate refinements Aalto made that left such an influence on Finnish architecture and planning. Where planning was, and still remains, pocket-handkerchief plot isolation, Aalto’s complex village semiotics (Sayn5tsalo, Seinajoki, jyvdskyl5, Otaniemi) reinforced the domestic cluster whilst introducing a much-needed complexity to Finnish towns. Possibly because Aalto was neither theoretician nor teacher, his range and output were immense. His work abroad, significant for the response to site, material and form, can be seen best in the projects in Germany, America and Sweden. A useful exercise is to trace Aalto’s projects back to the functionalist-hygiene model (the streamlined Paimio) leading to the later marble-clad versions; or then the softer, more ambiguous statements, a lyricism from Viipuri and Mairea into the later red-brick statements (Pensions Institute, Helsinki, 1956, and The House of Culture, 1958). Often at work on multiple projects Aalto intermingles ideas and details; an activity that might be said to have led to less rigour in later buildings. It is no surprise that Aalto remains the admired master of many different types of famous architects, and, like Eliel Saarinen and Pietila, no doubt his reputation will survive eras of strict rationalism and indiscriminate pluralism.
List of major buildings / works
Pannto Sanatorium, Finland, 1929. Viipurt Library, 1935.
Villa Mairea, 1939.
Baker Dormitory, MIT, 1948.
Town Hall, Saynatsalo (1950-52).
Sunda Factory, 1954.
Pensions Institute, Helsinki, 1956.
Opera House, Essen, 1961-89.
Cultural Centre, Wolfsburg, 1964.
Mount Angel Library, Oregon, USA, 1970.
Finlandta Hall, Helsinki, 1975.
Riola Church, Italy, 1979.
Bibliography
Alvar Aalto, “The Humanizing of Architecture”, Architectural Forum, Dec. 1940.
Karl Fletg, Alvar Aalto (3 vols., 1963, 1971, 1978), Zurich 1983-4.
Goran Schildt,AlvarAalto: The Early Years, New York, 1984, and Alvar Aalto: The Decisive Years, New York, 1986.
W C. Miller, Alvar Aalto, A Bibliography, Illinois, 1976.
David Paul Pearson, Alvar Aalto and the Internationalist Style, London, 1989.
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