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. 

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 died in Helsinki in May 1976.  

VILLA MAIREA

Lower Plan

Upper Plan

Location Plan

 The villa was designed 1937 to 1938 and built 1938 to 1939.

"Expressionistic variations within a modern/organic framework." (greatbuildingsonline.com)

"The Villa Mairea was built as a country house for the architect's friends Marie and Harry Gullichsen. The house stands in the middle of a pine forest at the top of a hill in western Finland. The house looks out mainly on to continuous unbroken stretches of forest, with a narrow vista through an opening in the trees on to a river and sawmill (which at the time of the house's construction was one of the first industrial enterprises in this part of Finland)."

— Karl Fleig. Alvar Aalto. New York: Praeger Publishers. p175.

AALTO SUMMER HOUSE 

 
A living architectural sketch-pad, with experimental masonry patterns, unifying shed roof.  

Location: Muuratsalo, Finland

 

 

 

 

 

 "The summerhouse at Muuratsalo is not only a place to live and work but is also a sort of experimental house. It is located in the lake country of north-central Finland, one hour by motor boat from the nearest railroad station. Two wings of equal length set perpendicularly to each other, one containing the living area and the other the bedrooms, form a square court which is closed to the exterior by means of high walls. The exterior walls of this court are developed as mosaic-like experimental walls, divided into about fifty areas in which different types and sizes of brick and ceramic tile with different methods of jointing are used, so as to test their effect from both the aesthetic and practical standpoints. The lean-to roof rises steeply over the living area towards the west wall."

 

— Karl Fleig, ed. Alvar Aalto. Scarsdale, N.Y.: Wittenborn and Company, 1963. p200.