The Role of Alvar Aalto in Developing the Maturity of Jørn Utzon's Work
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Aalto and History
Keynote - Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network March 12th – 14th 2012, Seinäjoki and Jyväskylä, Finland Aalto and history Aino Niskanen Professor Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture Department of Architecture Finland [email protected] Publisher Alvar Aalto Museum ISSN-L 2323-6906 ISSN 2323-6906 www.alvaraalto.fi www.alvaraaltoresearch.fi Keynote - Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network March 12th – 14th 2012, Seinäjoki and Jyväskylä, Finland www.alvaraaltoresearch.fi In the present seminar the history of Alvar Aalto’s work is being dealt with on many different levels. As an introduction, I should like to discuss Aalto’s relationship with history. Many of the presentations over the course of the seminar will no doubt take these issues further. What do we know about Aalto’s formative years as an architect? During the period he was studying at the Helsinki Institute of Technology, 1916-1921, the teaching there had a strong emphasis on history: examples from the antiquities beckoned as a foundation for everything new. (Fig 1) Fig 1. Alvar Aalto in 1916. Photo: Schildt, Göran: The Early Years, p. 75. Nevertheless, those teachers considered important by Aalto were, according to Göran Schildt, above all important as pedagogues of attitudes: Usko Nyström, who taught the history of architecture of the antiquities and Middle Ages, emphasised the values of modesty, humanity, vitality, comfort and practicality. Armas Lindgren, who taught more recent architectural history, awoke a love in Aalto for Italian Renaissance architecture and an understanding of the organic thinking of Jugend architecture.1 In the paintings he made during his youth Aalto often portrayed historically layered urban milieus. -
Alvar Aalto and the Theory of Play: Through Analysis on Alvar Aalto’S Furniture Design
Alvar Aalto and the theory of play: Through analysis on Alvar Aalto’s furniture design Mayu Kamamoto / Osaka University / Osaka / Japan Blucher Design Abstract Proceedings November 2016, Play was an important concept for Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). He Number 1, Volume 1 http://www.proceeding emphasized the importance of play in design activities. Aalto seems to have been influenced by s.blucher.com.br/articl Yrjö Hirn (1870-1952), a Finnish aesthetician and author of Barnlek [Child’s play, 1916]. From e-list/icdhs2016/list the late 1920s to 1940s, Aalto designed not only buildings, but also furniture. In functionalism, which spread from the early 1920s, experimentation with wood for furniture played a very im- portant role for Aalto. He emphasized that this experimentation was closely related to the idea of play. This study demonstrates Aalto’s suggestive idea through an analysis of his furniture de- sign. It can be said that the concept of play guided him to develop this idea. Keywords Alvar Aalto, Yrjö Hirn, play, furniture design, functionalism Introduction Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was a Finnish architect and talented designer of furniture, glassware, lamps, and so on. He placed a lot of emphasis on play, a trait he shared with the Finnish aesthetician Yrjö Hirn (1870-1952). In 1916, Hirn wrote the book Barnlek [Child’s play], where he explained the importance of play. Aalto wrote an article entitled ‘Koetalo, Muuratsalo’ [Experimental house at Muuratsalo], pub- lished in the Finnish architectural journal Arkkitehti [Architect], where he stated the following: Whether or not Yrjö Hirn was the direct cause, at any rate the influence of his personality con- tributed to my firm conviction and instinctive feeling that in the midst of our laboring, calculating, utilitarian age, we must continue to believe in the crucial significance of play when building a society for human beings, those grown-up children. -
Read the Correspondent Article
Winter 2015 SILENT KILLER DR. KAZEM BEHBEHANI ON THE FIGHT CAPITAL ASSETS AGAINST DIABETES BANKING DOYENNE BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT NEMAT SHAFIK LYNNE DAVIS ON EMINENT BRITISH PRINTERS BARNARD & WESTWOOD CULTURE CLASH BARUCH SPIEGEL RETHINKING SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION IN KUWAIT OUTER SPACES SALMAN ZAFAR EXTOLLS THE NEED FOR GREEN UTZON UNTOLD KUWAIT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: THE MAKING OF A MASTERPIECE IN CONVERSATION HaIlIng from a DanIsh desIgn dynasty, Jan Utzon speaks to Charlotte Shalgosky about workIng wIth hIs father, the globally-recognIzed Jørn Utzon, on hIs desIgn of the KuwaIt NatIonal Assembly. Jan Utzon greets me warmly, even and environmental sympathies in his native Denmark he is strikingly most eloquently; a building that, tall. Looking much younger than his when it frst opened, epitomized seventy-plus years his limber frame the simplicity and the sensitivity of and sparkling eyes are remarkably Utzon’s understated brilliance as reminiscent of his father, Jørn, much as his love of the Middle East. with whom he worked so closely Even before it was completed, the throughout his life. late British architectural critic Stephen Gardiner wrote “When fnished, it Jørn Utzon died in 2008 having won will be one of the great buildings almost every architectural prize of the world”. and accolade, and having been lauded for his visionary designs. In 1968, when the competition Columbia University Professor, to design the Kuwait National Kenneth Frampton, wrote in the Assembly was being held, Jan Harvard Design Magazine “Nobody was just starting out on his own can study the future of architecture career in architecture in Denmark; without Jørn Utzon”. -
Lecture 22 Alvar Aalto and the Nordic Tradition
5/18/16 Lecture 22! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Alvar Aalto and the Nordic Tradition Alvar Aalto 1898-1975 *Eliel Saarinen Hvitträsk *Eliel Saarinen Luomo, Finland, 1903 Hvitträsk Luomo, Finland, 1903 *Eliel Saarinen, Hvitträsk, Luomo, Finland, 1903 *Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, Stockholm, 1920-28 Erik Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940), *Stockholm Public Library, Stockholm, Sweden, 1920-28 *Eliel Saarinen, Hvitträsk, Luomo, Finland, 1903 1 5/18/16 *Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, Stockholm, 1920-28 *Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, 1920-28 *Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, 1920-28 Boullee, National Library project Stockholm Public Library *Asplund, Stockholm Public Library, 1920-28 Aalto, Civil Guard Buildings: Stables, Seinajoki, Finland, 1924-26 Alvar Aalto (1898-1975) Aalto, Villa Vekara Karstula, Finland, 1924 Turun Sanomat News, Turku, Finland, 1928 Aalto, House for Terho Manner, Töyszä, Finland, 1923 2 5/18/16 * Alvar Aalto, * Alvar Aalto, Library, Library, Viipuri, Viipuri, Finland, 1927-35 * Alvar Aalto, Library, Viipuri, Finland, 1927-35 Finland, 1927-35 * Alvar Aalto, Library, Viipuri, Finland, 1927-35 * Alvar Aalto, Library, * Alvar Aalto, Library, Viipuri, Finland, 1927-35 Viipuri, Finland, 1927-35 * Alvar Aalto, (Tuberculosis) Sanitorium, Paimio, Finland, 1928-33 *(Tuberculosis) Sanitorium, Paimio, Finland *Alvar Aalto, (Tuberculosis) Sanitorium, Paimio, Finland 3 5/18/16 * Alvar Aalto, (Tuberculosis) Sanitorium, Paimio, Finland, 1928-33 *Alvar Aalto, (Tuberculosis) Sanitorium, Paimio, Finland Alvar Aalto, three-legged stacking -
The Utzon Paradigm
THE UTZON PARADIGM Roger Tyrrell Co-Director of the Jørn Utzon Research Network (JURN) and Adrian Carter Co- Director of the Jørn Utzon Research Network (JURN), Director of the Utzon Research Center, Aalborg University. RE-CONSIDERING UTZON “Comparable in subtle ways to the protean achievements of Le Corbusier, Utzon’s architecture emerges today as paradigmatic at many levels not least of which is the manner in which, from the beginning of his career, he would challenge the assumed superiority of Eurocentric culture.” (Frampton. K. 2003 p 6) This Paper strives to address three objectives. The first is to discuss the Utzon’s oeuvre from a paradigmatic perspective, the second to layer that paradigm within two distinct but interconnected frameworks. The third objective is to explore the fusion of this dichotomous paradigm through the concept of ‘poetic conjunction’. Jørn Utzon (1918-2008) is now internationally recognised as one of the most original, innovative and socially concerned of modern architects, perhaps the last great exponent of the humanistic Nordic tradition within modern architecture. He is the architect of what is still widely considered the most noble and humane housing built in Denmark, a simple, yet poetic modern church at Bagsværd and the most iconic and popular building of the 20th Century, his great unfinished masterpiece, the Sydney Opera House. (Fig 1) The Opera House has become the symbol of not just Sydney, but also Australia; that owes it origins to the maritime environment of Aalborg, where Jørn Utzon spent his youth, and the inspiration of his father Aage Utzon, an esteemed yacht designer. -
A Deep Organic Re-Reading of Alvar Aalto's Design Approach
A Deep Organic Re-reading of Alvar Aalto’s Design Approach Ari Hynynen Tampere University of Technology [email protected] Abstract The conceptual framework of ’organic architecture’ is the most common theory used in analysing Alvar Aalto’s life’s work. Actually, it could not be considered a real theory, but a quite fuzzy concept due to its many miscellaneous interpretations. Aalto himself talked about organic architecture without never explicating properly what it means. In this respect, more research should be done. For example, Aalto’s regional plans deserve to be analysed from this point of view. Perhaps the most favourable case is the Kokemäenjoki valley regional plan, for it offers new keys for interpretation due to its emphasis on textual representation. The other key used in this study is Goethe’s philosophy of science. Many writers have noticed its resemblance to Aalto’s thinking and approach. Unfortunately the argumentation is too often superficial, although more thorough processing seems to evoke new ideas on Aalto’s design approach, as well as on organic architecture on a more general level. Surprisingly these ideas appear quite topical in our digitalizing world. Introduction A vast number of different kinds of analyses have been published on the life’s work of architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). One of the most often applied interpretational frameworks has been the theory of organic architecture. The term ‘theory’ in this context, however, is misleading, in that there are almost as many interpretations of organic architecture as there are writers. The term ‘organic’ includes ‘naturalness’ – a concept that has been interpreted as equally often as the imitation of natural forms as the imitation of natural processes. -
Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël
Working papers - Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network March 12th – 14th 2012, Seinäjoki and Jyväskylä, Finland Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël Jaime J. Ferrer Forés Ph D. Architect Barcelona School of Architecture. Barcelona TECH Spain [email protected] Publisher Alvar Aalto Museum ISSN-L 2323-6906 ISSN 2323-6906 www.alvaraalto.fi www.alvaraaltoresearch.fi Working papers -Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network March 12th – 14th 2012, Seinäjoki and Jyväskylä, Finland www.alvaraaltoresearch.fi Introduction Alvar Aalto has a prominent place among modern architecture's masters and his widely acclaimed work spanning the decades between 1921 and 1976, with classicist beginnings, a functionalist period and a maturity characterized by the search for a synthesis between tradition and modernity is extraordinary, not only on account of its, but also because of the instruments, methods and reflections about the design process that his works offered: Aalto's architecture, all too frequently contemplated as a purely personal architecture, contains deep-rooted lessons and even its organic approach, if wisely applied, is transmissible. Aalto’s dedicated explorations and refining of significant universal themes in architecture provides an enormous resource for architects in the future. His timeless organic approach to design, rather than historic style ensures his continued relevance. This article explores Aalto's influence on the career of the Danish Architect Jean-Jacques Baruël. The article is divided in several sections. Firstly, the article present briefly Jean-Jacques Baruël's career. Secondly, the article will introduce the main distinctive characteristics of Jean-Jacques Baruël's architecture and Aalto's influence. It does not to attempt to describe his extensive work and projects, but to point out the central elements in his efforts. -
Jørn Utzon's Synthesis of Chinese and Japanese Architecture in the Design for Bagsværd Church
arq (2019), Page 1 of 22 © Cambridge University Press 2019 doi: 10.1017/S1359135518000696 history This article explores Utzon’s engagement with the cultures of Japan and China, demonstrating how he took inspiration from both calligraphy and monastery design. Jørn Utzon’s synthesis of Chinese and Japanese architecture in the design for Bagsværd Church Chen-Yu Chiu, Philip Goad, Peter Myers, Nur Yıldız Kılınçer Introduction article attempts to address the detailed process of In his essay of 1983, ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’, Utzon’s cross-cultural practices for his design of the Kenneth Frampton referred to the Bagsværd Church Bagsværd Church in order to reveal how Utzon as a primary exemplar, briefly citing the architect’s interpreted specific ideas, ideals, and artefacts from representation of ‘the Chinese pagoda roof’ in this East Asian building culture. project, to emphasise the importance of cross- To elucidate the above unsolved issues and examine cultural inspiration in the creation of ‘critical the precise role of Chinese and Japanese architecture regionalism’.1 Peter Myers followed Frampton in his in Utzon’s design of Bagsværd Church, the authors 1993 ‘Une histoire inachevée’, arguing for the have consulted both the Utzon Archives and the family significant role that Chinese architecture played as a collection of material from his architectural career, source for Utzon’s Bagsværd Church design and while conducting interviews with Utzon’s former further variations on the theme of Chinese and assistants and his son Jan Utzon. These new primary Japanese exemplars on Utzon’s work follows. sources have allowed the authors to review Utzon’s Françoise Fromonot established the importance of design process critically and analyse the architect’s the 1925 edition of the Yingzao-fashi (State Building perception and representation of various ideas, Standard, first published in1103 ad) and Johannes ideals, and artefacts of Chinese and Japanese building Prip-Møller’s 1937 Chinese Buddhist Monasteries for culture. -
Utzon's Beautiful Ideas: an Antidote to “The Australian Ugliness”?
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL UTZON SYMPOSIUM – SYDNEY AUSTRALIA WHAT WOULD UTZON DO NOW? Utzon’s Beautiful Ideas: An Antidote to “The Australian Ugliness”? Adrian Carter Utzon Research Center, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University There is no doubting that with the realisation of the As Gadamer notes, Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon created what is both (1714-1762), the German philosopher from whom we popularly and critically acclaimed to be one of the most have the origins of our contemporary understanding of beautiful works of architecture not only of its own era a sense of beauty, defined aesthetics as the art of and location, but that transcends time and place to thinking beautifully (Gadamer p.17). It was Hegel who achieve universal appreciation. What is the beautiful went further than Baugarten in the philosophical though? What was Utzon’s understanding of the consideration of the significance of the shared beautiful and where did the beautiful come from in his experience of the beautiful, and as Gadamer expresses work, not only at the monumental scale of the Sydney it determined that” the kind of truth that we encounter in Opera House, but also within his approach to domestic the experience of the beautiful does unambiguously make a architecture to which he was equally dedicated and claim to more than merely subjective validity” (Gadamer, adept; and how could his work, particularly his housing p.18) provide beautiful models for now and the future. Juhani Pallasmaa goes further and cites the Russian As Richard Leplastrier talking of his time with Utzon Nobel prize winning poet Joseph Brodsky’s belief that recounts, “Quite often in the office he would say something “the purpose of evolution is beauty” as underpinning his like “ah, that is such a beautiful idea” (Botin, Carter and own understanding and writings on architecture. -
Dwelling, Landscape, Place and Making
DWELLING, LANDSCAPE, PLACE AND MAKING Jørn Utzon Anthology Lars Botin, Adrian Carter and Roger Tyrrell Copyright © 2013 by Adrian Carter, Lars Botion and Roger Tyrrell / Jørn Utzon Research Network / Utzon Research Center, Aalborg University Title: Dwelling, Landscape, Place and Making Print: Aalborg University Press Graphics and Layout: Line Nørskov Eriksen ISBN: xxx-xx-xxxx-xxx-x 1st Edition, Printed in Denmark 2013 Published with the kind support of Department of Architectural Design and Mediatechnology, Aalborg University Portsmouth School of Architecture, University of Portsmouth FORMTEXT FORMTEXT FORMTEXT CONTENTS xx Introduction Part 1 Foundation xx The Utzon Paradigm – Tyrrell, R. and Carter, A. xx Jørn Utzon: Influences and Reinterpretation – Carter, A. xx Thrills, Wiews and Shelter at Majorca – Roberts, J. xx Architecture and Camping – Taylor, P. and Hinds, M. Part 2 Influence xx Jan Utzon’s Symposium Presentation xx Rick Leplastrier’s Symposium Presentation Part 3 Reflection xx Making the World: Space, Place and Time in Architecture – Pallasmaa, J. xx Landscape and Dwelling – Botin, L. xx The Nature of Dwelling – Tyrrell, R. INTRODUCTION Background and acknowledgments This anthology is based on the Proceedings of the Third International Utzon Symposium held on 1st April 2012 in the Dar el Bacha palace, Marrakech, Morocco. The Symposium was a further development of the previous two Symposia held by the Utzon Research Center in Aalborg, Denmark and represents a collaboration between the Jørn Utzon Research Network (JURN), The Utzon Research Center and L’ Ecole Nationale d’Architecture (ENA) of Morocco. Morocco was chosen as the location for the event in recognition of the significant influence it had upon Utzon’s canon after his visit in 1949. -
The Role of Jørn Utzon's 1958 Study Trip to China in His Architectural Maturity
$UFKLWHFWXUDO Chiu, C-Y 2016 China Receives Utzon: The Role of Jørn Utzon’s 1958 Study Trip to China in His Architectural Maturity. Architectural Histories, 4(1): 12, +LVWRULHV pp. 1–25, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ah.182 RESEARCH ARTICLE China Receives Utzon: The Role of Jørn Utzon’s 1958 Study Trip to China in His Architectural Maturity Chen-Yu Chiu Both before and after his study trip to China in 1958, Danish architect Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) consistently cited dynastic Chinese architecture as one of his essential design ideals. This article commences with a reconstruction, using archival and anecdotal evidence, of Jørn Utzon’s 1958 study trip to China with his close friend, the noted Norwegian architect Geir Grung (1926–89). The investigation seeks to explain both why, as a student, Utzon was so interested in the civilisation of China and how his carefully planned journey yielded Utzon both an intuitive grasp of ideas of Chinese architecture, and, most importantly, a continuing interest in China’s traditional systems of building construction. The answers could add to a methodological and theoretical framework for understanding Utzon’s work. Introduction This article then establishes built-form analogies Both before and after his study trip to China in 1958, the between Utzon’s 1958 study of Chinese architecture in situ Danish architect Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) consistently and his design proposals over the three decades following cited dynastic Chinese architecture as one of his essential the trip, with a view to retracing the path of Utzon’s grow- design ideas and ideals (Faber and Utzon, 1947; Utzon ing understanding of Chinese architecture during this 1962; 1970). -
Reader Botin, L
Reader Botin, L. Carter, A. Crowson, N. Palasmma, J, Roberts, J. Tyrrell, R. & other contributors. Published by: Jørn Utzon Research Network Funded by: Jørn Utzon Research Network Supported by: Portsmouth School of Architecture, UK & Aalborg University, Denamrk Photography by: Roger Tyrrell, Simon Batcheler, Nicola Crowson & Adrian Carter Cover image by: Created by Nicola Crowson from and photograph by Roger Tyrrell Copyright © 2012 Jørn Utzon Research Network.. All rights reserved. No images may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or media including photocopying without prior permission from the authors. www.utzonresearchnetwork.org A copy of this book is available from the British Library in London and the University Library in Portsmouth. ISBN 978 1 86137 629 9 FREE TO REGISTERED JURN MEMBERS Thanks to the following partners for their support, contribution and friendship: Dwelling, Landscape, Place & Making. Jørn Utzon Research Network Reader Contributions from: Juhani Pallasmaa John Roberts Adrian Carter Roger Tyrrell Dr Lars Botin Nicola Crowson Mathew Hindes Poppy Taylor Created for those attending the Inaugural JURN Workshop and the Third Utzon Symposium held in Morocco in April 2012. Shadows , Ben Youssef Medersa by S . Batcheler 2012 FOREWORD Welcome to the inaugural Jørn Utzon Research Network (JURN) Spring Workshop and the Third International Utzon Symposium; a tri-partite collaboration between the Utzon Research Center (Aalborg Denmark), l’Ecole Nationale d’Architecture of Rabat, Morocco and JURN. Jørn Utzon, the architect of the world renowned Sydney Opera House, is considered to be of unique international significance as an exemplar of a tectonic and humane modern architecture that is grounded in place, culture, community and that is, in the fullest sense of the term, sustainable.