Alvar Aalto

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Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 — May 11, 1976) was an outstanding Finnish architect and designer, sometimes called the "Father of Modernism" in the Nordic countries. His work includes architecture, furniture and glassware.

Contents

[edit] Life

Alvar Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland. He studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology from 1916 to 1921. He returned to Jyväskylä, where he opened his first architectural office in 1923. The following year he married architect Aino Marsio. Their honeymoon journey to Italy sealed an intellectual bond with the culture of the Mediterranean region that was to remain important to Aalto for the rest of his life. Aalto moved his office to Turku in 1927, and started collaborating with architect Erik Bryggman. The office moved again in 1933, to Helsinki. The Aaltos designed and built a joint house-office (1935-36) for themselves in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki, but later (1954-55) had a purpose-built office built in the same neighbourhood. Aino Aalto died in 1949 and in 1952 he married architect Elissa Mäkiniemi (died 1994). In 1957 they designed and had built a summer cottage, the so-called Experimental House, for themselves in Muuratsalo, where they spent their summers.

[edit] Art and reputation

Auditorium of the Viipuri Municipal Library in the 1930s.
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Auditorium of the Viipuri Municipal Library in the 1930s.

Although sometimes regarded as the first and the most influential architects of Nordic modernism, a closer examination of the historical facts reveals how Aalto (while a pioneer in Finland) closely followed and had personal contacts with other pioneers in Sweden, in particular Gunnar Asplund and Sven Markelius. But what they and many others of that generation in the Nordic countries had in common was that they started off from a classical education and were first designing in the so-called Nordic Classicism style before moving, in the late 1920s, towards Modernism.

In Aalto's case this is epitomised by the Viipuri Library (1927-35), which went through a transformation from an originally classical competition entry proposal to the completed high-modernist building. His humanistic approach is in full evidence there: the interior displays natural materials, warm colours, and undulating lines. The Viipuri Library project lasted eight years, and during that same time he also designed the Turun Sanomat Building (1929-30) and Paimio Sanatorium (1929-33): thus the Turun Sanomat Building first heralded Aalto's move towards modernism, and this was then carried forward both in the Paimio Sanatorium and in the on-going design for the library. But though the Turun Sanomat Building and Paimio Sanatorium are comparatively pure modernist works, even they carried the seeds of his questioning of such an approach and a move to a more daring, synthetic attitude.

Aalto was a member of the Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne; attending the second congress in Frankfurt in 1929, and the fourth congress in Athens in 1933. It was not until the completion of the Paimio Sanatorium (1929) and Viipuri Library (1935) that he first achieved world attention in architecture. His reputation grew in the USA following the critical reception of his design for the Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair, described by Frank Lloyd Wright as a "work of genius".

It could be said that Aalto's reputation was sealed with his inclusion in the second edition of Sigfried Giedion's influential book on Modernist architecture, Space, Time and Architecture. The growth of a new tradition (1949), in which Aalto received more attention than any other Modernist architect, including Le Corbusier. In his analysis of Aalto, Giedion gave primacy to qualities that depart from direct functionality, such as mood, atmosphere, intensity of life and even 'national characteristics', declaring that "Finland is with Aalto wherever he goes".

Aalto's awards included the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects (1957) and the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects (1963).

[edit] Works

Aalto's wide field of activity ranged from furniture and glassware designs to architecture and painting. His vase designs are world-famous. He invented a new form of laminated bent-plywood furniture in 1932. Aalto furniture is manufactured by Artek, a company Aalto co-founded. Aalto glassware (Aino as well as Alvar) is manufactured by iittala. Aalto's career spans the changes in style from pre-modernism (Nordic Classicism) to purist International Style Modernism to a more synthetic and idiosyncretic approach.

[edit] Significant buildings

Detail of Baker House facade onto the Charles River.
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Detail of Baker House facade onto the Charles River.
Helsinki Univ. of Tech. Auditorium.
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Helsinki Univ. of Tech. Auditorium.
The Aalto-Theater opera house in Essen, Germany.
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The Aalto-Theater opera house in Essen, Germany.

[edit] Furniture and glassware

The Savoy Vase, also known as the Aalto Vase.
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The Savoy Vase, also known as the Aalto Vase.
Chairs
Lamps
Vases

[edit] Quotes

"God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper." Alvar Aalto, Sketches, 1978, 104.

[edit] Trivia

  • Alvar Aalto is the eponym of the Alvar Aalto Medal, now considered one of world architecture’s most prestigious awards.
  • Aalto was featured in the 50 mk bill in the last series of the Finnish mark (before the Euro).
  • 1998 marked the centenary anniversary of Aalto's birth. The occasion was marked in Finland not only by several books and exhibitions but also by the promotion of specially-bottled red and white Aalto Wine, and a specially-designed cup-cake.

[edit] References

Göran Schildt

Göran Schildt has written and edited many books on Aalto, the most well-known being the three-volume biography, usually referred to as the definitive biography on Aalto.

  • Alvar Aalto. The Early Years Rizzoli, New York, 1984 [The first and by far the most rewarding of Schildt's 3-volume biography on Aalto. In addition to covering the early years, the book also contains more general theoretical essays by Schildt on Aalto's work]
  • Alvar Aalto. The Decisive Years Rizzoli, New York, 1987. Volume two in the biogrpahy
  • Alvar Aalto. The Mature Years Rizzoli, New York, 1991. Volume three in the biogrpahy.
  • The Architectural Drawings of Alvar Aalto, 1917-1939, in eleven volumes. Prepared by the Alvar Aalto Archive in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, and the Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä; with introduction and project descriptions by Göran Schildt. New York, Garland Pub., 1994.
  • Alvar Aalto in His Own Words. Rizzoli, New York, 1998.
  • Alvar Aalto: The Complete Catalogue of Architecture, Design and Art. Rizzoli, New York, 1994.
Other authors
  • Porphyrios, Demetri Sources of Modern Eclecticism, Academy Editions, London, 1982. [This still remains the most astute and erudite study ever made of Aalto's architecture. It goes beyond mere chronology and formal explanation to study the theoretical underpinnings of the work]
  • Pallasmaa, Juhani (Ed.) Alvar Aalto Furniture, Museum of Finnish Architecture. Helsinki 1984
  • Reed, Peter (Ed.) Alvar Aalto: between humanism and materialism. Museum of Modern Art/H.N. Abrams. New York, 1998. [The catalogue book that accompanied the huge Aalto exhibition at the MoMA in 1998]
  • Ruusuvuori, Aarno (Ed.) Alvar Aalto 1898-1976. Museum of Finnish Architecture. Helsinki 1998
  • Jormakka, Kari; Gargus, Jacqueline; Graf, Douglas The Use and Abuse of Paper. Essays on Alvar Aalto. Datutop 20, Tampere 1999.
  • Connah, Roger Aaltomania - Readings against Aalto? Building Information LTD, Helsinki 2000. [A brilliant treck through Aalto discourse, in terms of Aalto's position within Finnish and international architecture, as well as the problems of obfuscation in Aalto scholarship]
  • Weston, Richard Alvar Aalto. Phaidon, London, 1995 [The largest of the traditional histories of Aalto's life and works. Based essentially on secondary sources]
Research notes
  • Books have been written on very many of Aalto's designs. His work is also well documented in the various architectural magazines.
  • The extensive archives of Alvar Aalto are nowadays kept at the Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland. Material is also available from the former offices of Aalto, at Tiilimäki 20, Helsinki, nowadays the headquarters of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.
  • The Alvar Aalto Museum and Aalto Academy publish a journal (twice a year), ptah, which is devoted not only to Aalto scholarship but also to architecture generally as well as theory, design and art.
  • One of the most extensive collections of references on Alvar Aalto in the U.S. can be found at the University of Oregon.
  • For a brief chronological list of the life and works of Aalto, as well as a bibliography, see the publication Alvar Aalto Arkkitehti / Architect 1898-1976, Rakennustieto / Alvar Aalto Säätiö, Helsinki, 1999. However, the best source for information about the oeuvre is Alvar Aalto: The complete catalogue of architecture, design, and art, edited by Schildt.
  • Non-Finnish speakers tend to make a big issue of the fact that Aalto is the Finnish word for 'wave' - as if he was predestined to design the sort of architecture he did. However, Aalto is a rather common surname in Finland.
  • Though Aalto is one of the most written about modern architects, research is made more difficult for non-Finns because nearly all primary material is in Finnish. Thus most non-Finnish research tends to look for points of interest outside Finland or beyond the historical facts. Such writings also tend to rely heavily on secondary sources, on those few works written by Finns translated into English.

[edit] External links

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