Arhitektonski fakultet

Diplomski studij arhitekture i urbanizma

Andrea Mui, bacc.ing.arch.

Alvar Aalto

SEMINARSKI RAD

kolegij:
Englieski jezik u arhitekturi III
mentor:
Neda Bori, dr.sc.
ak.god. 2014/15

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LIFE

2.1. Childhood

2.2. Student days

2.3. Jyvlaskyla

2.4. Turku

2.5. Helsinki

2.6. War years

2.7. Mature career

3. WORKS

3.1. Paimio

3.2. Viipuri Library

3.3. Villa Mairea

10

3.4. Syntsalo

11

3.5. Paimio Chair

12

4. CONCLUSION

13

5. VOCABULARY

14

6. LITERATURE

15

Alvar Aalto

1. INTRODUCTION
Alvar Aalto was one of the most influential architects of the 20 th century, inspiring various
architects and artists even today. Due to his great versatility, his work is a combination of natural
science, art and history, with special regards for balance with nature and human needs. He
designed furniture, glassware, and also did paintings and sculptures, which he considered parts of
his architecture, as well as jewelry, typographical experiments, and was also actively publishing
essays and other writings on various subjects. Aalto was not only versatile but extremely
productive almost 200,000 of his drawings and 20,000 letters have been preserved.
Always searching for the most appropriate and most beneficial solution for the user, he was
also careful to consider the social aspects of the building, equally so in private single-family
houses as well as public buildings. Because of his work in many different fields of arts and crafts,
as well as producing works belonging to various styles, Aalto cannot be accurately placed in any
single category. He was almost everything an architect could be, all at the same time painter,
sculptor, furniture designer, critic and even a theorist.
It seems to me that there are many situations in life where the organization is too brutal; it is the
architects task to give life a gentler structure Alvar Aalto, 1955

fig.1. Alvar Aalto at his drawing table

Alvar Aalto

2. LIFE

2.1. Childhood
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born on February 3, 1898, in the village of Kuortane in central
Finland, as the oldest of five siblings. His father, Johan Henrik Aalto, was a land-surveyor, and
his mother, Selma Matilda, was a postmistress. Since his mothers side of the family was
Swedish-speaking, and his fathers side was Finnish-speaking, Aalto grew up being fluent in both
languages.
The memory of his fathers 'big white table', where his assistants worked and on which Alvar
first started drawing as a child, is one of the earliest from his childhood which inspired his
interest in architecture. His fathers role as a civil servant was probably one of the key influences
in formation of Aaltos opinions on social and political matters, since Johan was also the city
councilor in the Jyvaskyla, where he represented the liberal party.
His mothers father, Hugo Hamilkar Hackstedt, was a senior forestry officer and chief
instructor at the prestigious Evo Forestry Institute in Lammi. His opinions would later prove to be
one of the foundations of Aaltos respect for the natural environment. Also, the abundance of
forests and lakes, as well as great variations in natural daylight in Finnish landscape will
influence his designs in the choice of materials, use of natural light and free forms in his works.
The entire Aalto family moved to Jyvaskyla in 1903 in search of a better education for their
children. Aalvars schooling at the Jyvaskyla Lyceum was moderately successful because of
some problems with dyslexia. Nevertheless, he exceled in oratory and essay-writing, and also
contributed reviews and drawings to the local paper. He took piano lessons and studied painting
in studio of Jonas Heiska, where he became a gifted painter in watercolors and oil. He also took
part in various voluntary activities, as well as being the chairman of the drama club.
Three years after the family had moved, when Alvar was eight, his mother died of
meningitis. This was a heavy blow for him, and some even assume one of the reasons he tried so
much to achieve harmony in his work was to make up for what he had lost. Soon after, his father
remarried to his wife's younger sister, Flora, who had been working as an assistant in his office
while helping to look after the children.

Alvar Aalto

2.2. Student
When it came to choosing his profession, art competed with architecture. The turning point
may have been his time in the office of Jyvlaskyla architect Toivo Salervo during the summer of
1916. Saleryo was so impressed by Aaltos social skills, he said to him: You'll never be an
architect. Try for a career in journalism instead.
However, Aalto was determined in becoming an architect, and was supported in this ambition
by his father, who probably valued the social status that came with the profession. He began his
studies of architecture in 1916 at Institute of Technology in Helsinki, the capital of the Grand
Duchy as well as the location of Russian army headquarters. By the end of the same year, he was
shortly imprisoned under the suspicion that he helped the anti-Russian movement.
Aaltos studies were interrupted in 1918 because of the civil war which started after the
Finland declared its independence following the overthrow of the Russian Czar. While some of
his colleagues joined the revolutionaries, the Reds, Aalto managed to reach Jyvaskyla to join the
Whites together with his father and two brothers. He fought at the Battle of Lnkipohja and the
Battle of Tampere. Somewhere around this time, he managed to realize his first design, a house
for his parents at Alajrvi.
After the war, he resumed his studies until his graduation in 1921. He became involved in
journalism as a friend of the founder of the satirical magazine Kerberos, for which he
occasionally produced stories and drawing. In the years following his graduation, he worked on
several private commissions and made his first trips abroad. In this early stage of his career, his
architecture was influenced by Nordic Classicism, then dominant style in Finland which was a
combination of Art Noveau, Classicism and even Functionalism. Aalto was first influenced by
this style while working in Sweden as a student.

2.3. Jyvlaskyla
At first he tried to make a career in Helsinki, but decided to move back to Jyvlaskyla in 1923.
He didnt get the bank loan he needed so he took many smaller jobs outside of architecture, like
book illustration and journalism. He advertised his new office by installing one meter high letters
saying 'Studio of Architecture and Monumental Art Alvar Aalto' on the fence of the ground floor
of the City Hotel. During his time in Jyvlaskyla he participated in many competitions, designed
his first public buildings (Jyvlaskyla Workers' Club, Muurame Church, Aira Building apartment

Alvar Aalto

house), private houses and also did a lot of alteration work and renovation, mostly neo-classical
in style. In less than four years he had produced 34 design projects, 14 of which were built.
One year after his return to Jyvlaskyla, he married his assistant, architect Aino Marsio, who
is to become his partner, while making her own, independent career as an interior and industrial
designer. They had a daughter Johanna (Hanni) in 1925 and son Hamilkar in 1928. They traveled
to Italy for their honeymoon, and the influence of that journey can be seen in some of Aaltos
work. His designed his first public building, Jyvlaskyla Workers Club, as a small Italian palazzo,
and continued to use its concepts in his later work while mixing them with other styles, such as
neo-classical Muurame Church. Neo-Classicism remains a brief period in his career, and by the
1927 the influence of Functionalism, Modernism, Rationalism and International Style begins to
be seen in his work.

2.4. Turku
As his office grew and prospered, Aalto moved to Turku in 1927, closer to his largest
building project, the Farmers Co-operative building and also closer to Stockholm and Europe
and its new, modernist ideas. He began to travel abroad to Holland and France, and as a result,
his international contacts and large commissions increased significantly, and he quickly became
familiar with Functionalism and other contemporary trends. Aalto was influenced by the Swedish
architect Gunnar Asplund, whose work he admired, and also by his friend Sven Markelius, who
was involved with CIAM and invited Aalto to join in 1929. Aalto attended the Frankfurt
congress, and partially the one in Athens, but later left CIAM. During that period he became
close friends with artists such as Fernand Leger, Constantin Brancusi, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy,
Georges Braque, Alexander Calder and Siegfried Giedion.
Aaltos work begins to receive international recognition at the beginning of the 1930s for
numerous reasons, most important of which was the completion of the Paimio Sanatorium in
1933, which was heavily publicized around the world. Another key work which shows the turn of
his design style from classicism to modernism is the Viipuri Library (1927-35). However, despite
being internationally recognized as a pioneer in architecture, in his homeland he was still
underrated. Around that time, he came into some financial difficulties and had to negotiate a bank
loan and also move to a rented apartment and office in Helsinki, where he struggled with his
practice, building his first project in the capital only in 1954.

Alvar Aalto

Although he designed several of his building under the influence of Functionalism, that
period in his architecture was rather short, as he began to question its rules and ideas very soon.
He already began to express some of his doubts in his essays during the 1927, when he wrote:
there is no sense in inventing new forms which have no new content. In time, his criticism
becomes sharper and he begins with fierce attacks on Functionalism because of its inhumanity
and exclusion of the human factor from the design process, since he believed that the design of
architecture should be an integrated process Architecture not only covers all the areas of
human activity, it must also be developed in all of those areas simultaneously. If that does not
happen, we achieve only one-sided, superficial results (1940).

2.5. Helsinki
The entire family moved once again in 1933, to Helsinki. While Aalto had some problems
getting commissions in architecture during this period, his career as a furniture designer started to
advance during this period with the help of Marton Shand, who was inspired by his work and
offered to act as his marketing agent, and Sigfried Giedion who persuaded Wohnbedarf furniture
company to begin producing and selling his furniture. He held his first exhibition in London in
1933, which was followed by awards in Finnish competitions for glass design. In 1935, Aalto
founded Artek Wooden Furniture to oversee the marketing of his furniture and design products.
His wife Aino became the leader of the company and had developed it into an internationally
known name. He was finally accepted in Finland and elected on the Board of Finnish Association
of Architects in 1935.
The family finances improved and Aaltos built their own house in Helsinki with a space for
a small office in 1936. He received the commission to design the Finnish Pavilion for the New
York Worlds Fair in 1939, which attracted a lot of attention because of its unusual, organic
design. With the financial awards from the competitions, Alvar and Aino traveled to America for
the first time in 1938, for a period of six weeks, primarily to visit the Finnish Pavilion they
designed. In the following years, Aaltos connections with the US will deepen during several
visits, mainly to attend exhibitions featuring his works. During this time, he collaborated with
William Wurster, who was to become Dean of Architecture Department at MIT and an important
contact. Upon his return to Europe, the ensuing war interrupted the exhibition he organized in
Helsinki, as well as his plan for the launch of journal The Human Side.

Alvar Aalto

2.6. War years

Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939 despite its attempts to remain neutral.
Aalto has taken his family to Stockholm, but was called upon to join the army and stationed in
Kuopio. He managed to get transferred to an office position in Helsinki, and subsequently
avoided active service on the front. During the war, the province of Karelia was given to the
Soviet Union, which reflected on Aaltos architecture with the use of many elements of
traditional Karelian architecture, in a way that was pronounced more than was usual for Aalto.
In his efforts to assist in the war, he tried to contact several important international figures,
especially in the US, but achieved little save for personal results. He recieved invitations to the
United States for his entire family and traveled there for seven months in the 1940. During that
visit, he held lectures on many universities and was appointed as a visiting professor at MIT for
three months per year. There, he worked on the development of standardized housing he wanted
to implement in the reconstruction of Finland after the war. While teaching there, he also
designed a students dormitory, Baker House, which was completed in 1948. This was his first
building featuring red brick, the material which will define his next phase in architecture.
He became the Chairman of the Finnish Association of Architects in 1943 and retained that
position for the next fifteen years. He used his new position to implement the ideas of flexible
standardization through cooperation with Finnish Standardization Office, and also fought for the
independent profession of an architect.
In the period after his visit to the States, Aalto visited Sweden frequently from 1942 1945,
where he collaborated with architect Albin Stark, and together they designed several projects for
Axel Johnson, Starks rich patron. Despite the quality of those projects, none of them were
realized, as Stark died in 1945. After that, Aalto generally gave up on the idea of active practice
in Sweden, although he did participate in several competitions and eventually built a student
union building in Uppsala in 1963.

2.7. Mature career

After the war, Aalto became actively engaged in reconstruction work in Finland, designing
even the development plan for the entire ruined capital of Finnish Lapland, Rovaniemi, in 1945.
In 1949, Aino died of cancer, and three years later Aalto remarried to a young architect
named Elissa Mkiniemi, who had been working as an assistant in his office and later became a

Alvar Aalto

partner in his office. In the following years, Aatlos office grew significantly and his personal
style finally developed to its fullest. He became a member of the Academy of Finland in 1955
and then its president from 1963 to 1968, as well as receiving many high honors from different
parts of world. He won several important competitions, including Syntsalo Town Hall, the
Jyvlaskyla Institute of Pedagogics, Jyvlaskyla University and Helsinki University of Technology.
As his office expanded, his old house became too small and he designed for himself a new studio
building in Helsinki, which was completed in 1955.
During these years, Aalto did several mayor projects, culminating in several different plans
for Helsinki (1959-73), with which he suggested filling the void in the center of the city with a
line of buildings clad in marble, containing various cultural institutions. Only fragments of the
plan were realized the Finlandia Hall (1976) and an office building for the Helsinki Electricity
Company (1975).
The last period of Aaltos architecture is dedicated to great administrative and cultural
centers, some of which were realized completely (Seinajoki and Rovaniemi), and some only in
part (Jyvlaskyla). He wrote on importance of public buildings in 1953 Nevertheless, the role of
public buildings in our community must have the same significance as the major organs of the
human body if our communities are not to become polluted by traffic, psychologically unpleasant
and physically exhausting.
Alvar Aalto died in Helsinki on May 11, 1976, at the age of 78 years. After his death, his
wife Elissa carried on the work of his office until her own death in 1994, when Alvar Aalto
Architects stopped working after 71 years of existence.

Alvar Aalto

4. WORKS

4.1. Paimio
In 1929, Aalto won the competition for the new sanatorium in Paimio that is to become the
master-work of his functionalist period. Despite being based on the new, modernist style, Paimio
sanatorium already shows some subtle, but significant differences compared to the standard
functionalist approach. All in all, Paimio represents one of the key works of both Aaltos career
and the Rationalist architecture in general.

fig.2. Paimio Sanatorium

The location of the building and its relationship with the surrounding forest is carefully
considered, with it rising above the pines to gain maximum sunlight while also preserving as
much as possible of the forest. The sanatorium consists of four wings forming an asymmetrical
composition, each with its own separate function, connected by the area of the entrance hall. The
most important feature of the patients wing, the sun balconies, are designed in order to enable
each room direct access to the sunlight, but also to prevent too much light on the inside of the
room. The entire building is very carefully designed, down to the complete furniture and
equipment inventory and the coloring of the walls and ceilings. Some of the typical modernist
features include skeletal structure of the building, the use of large, striped windows, roof terrace
and the desire to use standardized products as much as possible.

Alvar Aalto

4.2. Viipuri Library, Vyborg, Russian Federation, 1933 35

Even in the design of the Vyborg Library, there can already be seen first traces of Aaltos
future organic style, especially in the free form of its wooden ceiling. That motif would also
appear in his Finnish Pavillion at the New Yorks World Fair as an aurora borealis wall.
The main area of the Viipuri library is the so-called book pit with its 'librarian's watchtower'
placed in the center, lit by numerous round skylights which rise above the roof surface in order to
solve the problems of winter snow and direct summer sunlight.

fig.3. the main area of the library

The highlights of the project include his use of abundant natural lighting, unpainted wood
surfaces and warm colors, as well as undulating lines in the interiors. All of these things show the
shift in his design from the strict and abstract modernist style toward his own organic style.

Alvar Aalto

4.3. Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, 1939.

His architectural masterpiece, Villa Mairea combines the international modernism and
Finnish vernacular tradition. Aalto designed Villa Mairea as a guest house for Harry and Maire
Gullichsen. With this house, his organic style emerges at last. He achieved this through the
skillful use of natural materials, especially wood, in its many forms, in order to create warm and
welcoming ambient close to nature.

fig.4. Villa Mairea

The skeletal structure is a functionalist feature of the house, yet it is positioned and shaped in
a way that makes it organic and natural. The openings of the building are formed in such a way to
blur the line between the forest on the outside and the interior of the house. Also, there are many
free-forms found throughout the house, from the shape of the outdoor swimming pool to the finer
details of the fireplace, as well as the eave above the entrance, characterized by randomly placed
thin wooden posts which make it appear as if it is a part of the forest.

10

Alvar Aalto

4.4 Syntsalo Town Hall, 1952

Saynatsalo Town Hall is Aaltos most prominent work from his red-brick phase, for which he
won the competition in 1949, during the final years of his work in the United States.
The building is a representation of everything Aalto admired about the European tradition:
democracy on a small scale, individuality, harmony with nature, moderation and elegance. It is
conceived as a Greek agora, a public square which was the meeting place for all the citizens and
on which all the important matters of state were resolved. The square courtyard is set one storey
above its surroundings and is enclosed by four wings of the complex which contain a variety of
functions. The access to the courtyard is via grassy terraced staircase at the west corner and a
granite staircase at the east corner. The dominant element of the building is the council chamber,
higher than the rest of the complex.

fig.5. the council chamber towering above the complex

The Town Hall contains spaces for business purposes, housing and a library in addition to its
basic function as a seat of the municipal council and administration. The entire interior, including
fixtures, furnishings, and lighting, was carefully designed by Aalto himself, with the use of wood
in addition to the red brick in the interior creating an interesting tactile quality.

11

Alvar Aalto

4.5. Paimio Chair

Aalto did a lot of furniture design, often for the purposes of his own projects. As such, his
furniture, lighting fixtures and other objects reflect the same stages as are seen in his architecture.
He always emphasized that these interior fittings were to be considered parts of his architecture
and not a simple additions to the finish product. He produced so much of furniture designs he
founded a special company in 1935 Artek to sell his products.
His experiments with the new materials and techniques lead to many innovative designs and
even some patents. One of most important examples of his work is Paimio chair, designed during
his work on the Paimio Sanatorium at the beginning of the 1930s.

fig.6. armchair model no. 31, designed for the Paimo Sanatorium

12

Alvar Aalto

5. CONCLUSION

The work of Aalvar Aalto is unique in its diversity of themes and mediums. He believed in
the complete design with the users wellbeing in mind. In his speeches and writing, he always
emphasized the architects responsibility as a servant of society.
Due to versatility, he tried to design everything in his buildings, down to the furniture and
lighting fixtures, but always with the idea of standardization and mass production in mind.
Despite following some functionalist ideas, he recognized their flaws very early and continued to
develop his own style more suited to the users. Like Functionalists, he often used the latest
available technology in his buildings, but it was never as pronounced as in the typical works of
Le Corbusier or Gropious, what sets Aaltos personal style apart as a first step in a new direction.
His buildings are much warmer and welcoming in ambience, reflecting his love of art and nature
in all its forms through the use of various materials and shapes.
Without the art, life becomes mechanized and dies, Alvar Aalto, 1947

13

Alvar Aalto

6. VOCABULARY
ALTERATION WORK (noun) modifications of the building in order for it to become fit for
a new purpose
BANK LOAN (noun) a larger sum of money borrowed from the bank, to be returned with
interests, in smaller payments over longer time period
CIVIL SERVANT (noun) a person working in government administration
TO COLLBORATE (verb) to work together with someone on a project
EAVE (noun) the lower overhanging part of the roof, usually above the entrance area
FORESTRY OFFICER (noun) a person responsible for managing the forests, a member of
the state forestry organization
INTERIOR FITTINGS (noun) the furniture and the equipment inside the building
LAND-SURVEYOR (noun) a person responsible for properly measuring and mapping the
landscape features, including the surface and shape of the land lots
LIGHTING FIXTURES (noun) the part of the lighting which contains the light bulb (or some
other lighting element), attached to the wall or ceiling
MOTIF (noun) a recurring, recognizable element or theme in art
ORATORY (noun) the art of public speaking
POLITICAL PARTY (noun) an organized group of people sharing the same political
opinions and goals, working together to gain political power
PATRON (noun) a person supporting another individual or organization by using his/her
money and/or influence
POSTMISTRESS (noun) a woman working in a post office
UNDULATING (adj) in a wave-like form

14

Alvar Aalto

7. LITERATURE
1.

Alvar Aalto, The Finnish Building Centre, Markku Lahti

Maija Homa and Vammalan

Kirjapain Oy, Vammala 1998 Markku Lahti, Maija Homa,

2.

Alvar Aalto, Nicholas Ray, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005

3.

Modern North, Julie Decker, Princeton Architectural Press New York 2010

4.

Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture, Magnano Lamugnani, Vittorio,

5.

www.archdaily.com (October 23, 2014)

6.

www.alvaraalto.fi (October 25, 2014)

7.

www.pinterest.com (October 27, 2014)

15