PRESS RELEASE Free use

Alvar Aalto’s Masterpiece – Villa Mairea a DVD Film

Alvar Aalto’s Masterpiece – Villa Mairea is a sensitive documentary film written, filmed and directed by Rax Rinnekangas. Villa Mairea was the home of Maire and Harry Gullichsen, designed by Alvar Aalto and built in Noormarkku, the Ahlström ironworks estate in 1939. The narration for the film has been written by architect Juhani Pallasmaa, who is also the film’s narrator. He leads the viewer through the rooms of Villa Mairea, and helps in understanding the different levels of Aalto’s philosophy as well as the building itself, a building which has become one of the icons of modern architecture.

The booklet accompanying the film includes two articles. In the first, architect Kristian Gullichsen writes about the ideal home to which he moved in 1939 when he was seven years old. The house has since become an uninhabited monument. At times, however, Villa Mairea awakes to the life of a family, the games and laughter of children or as a discussion forum and meeting place for international artists and architects. In the second article Juhani Pallasmaa delves deep into the philosophy of the house.

Rax Rinnekangas is a director, photographer and author. He has published over 20 books: novels, short stories, essays and photography books. He has held over 40 private exhibitions in Finland and around the world and has received several awards. His central theme is man and the memory of the past. In his documentary Alvar Aalto’s Masterpiece – Villa Mairea the importance of light as one particular visual element is also strongly present.

DVD, film 26 minutes, NTSC-disc Finnish/English Booklet in English Rakennustieto Oy, 2005 ISBN 951-682-779-9 P Bad Taste Ltd. 2005

More information: Building Information Ltd: Managing Editor Kristiina Lehtimäki, e-mail: [email protected] ______www.rakennustieto.fi Rakennustieto Oy, PL 1004 00101 Helsinki, puh. 0207 476 400