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Alvar Aalto

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Finlandia Hall.

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 — May 11, 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. He is generally known as Alvar Aalto.

Alvar Aalto's work includes architecture, furniture and glassware. Aalto was noted for his humanistic approach and for being one of the first and the most influential architects of Scandinavian modernism, so much so that he is sometimes known as the "Father of Modernism" in Scandinavia - though a closer examination of the historical facts reveals how Aalto (while a pioneer in Finland) closely followed and had personal contects with other pioneers in Sweden, in particular Gunnar Asplund and Sven Markelius. But what they and many others of that generation in Scandinavia 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 first prominent Modernist works, the Turun Sanomat Building (1929-30) and Paimio Sanatorium (1929-33) can be regarded as more purist modernist works, but even they carried the seeds of his questioning of such an approach and a move to a more free, synthetic approach.

Aalto was a member of the Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne. Major works include the Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Finland, and the campus of Helsinki University of Technology. Aalto's glassware includes the world-famous Aalto Vase.

He is the eponym of the Alvar Aalto Medal, now considered one of world architecture’s most prestigious awards.

Biography

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.

After Aino's death Aalto married Elissa Mäkiniemi.

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.

Significant buildings

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

Furniture and glassware

File:Aalto vase.jpg
The Savoy Vase, also known as the Aalto Vase.
Chairs
Lamps
Vases

Selected works

References

Göran Schildt

Göran Schildt has written and edited many books on Aalto.

  • Aalto, Alvar. 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.
  • Aalto, Alvar. Alvar Aalto in His Own Words. Schildt, Göran, (Ed.) Rizzoli, New York, 1998.
  • Schildt, Göran. Alvar Aalto: The complete catalogue of architecture, design, and art. Timothy Binham, English translator. 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.
  • 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.
  • Roger Connah 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]
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.
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