Alvar Aalto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer, as well as a Alvar Aalto sculptor and painter.[1] His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware. Aalto's early career runs in parallel with the rapid economic growth and industrialization of Finland during the first half of the twentieth century and many of his clients were industrialists; among these were the Ahlström-Gullichsen family.[2] The span of his career, from the 1920s to the 1970s, is reflected in the styles of his work, ranging from Nordic Classicism of the early work, to a rational Alvar and Elissa Aalto in the 1950s. International Style Modernism during the 1930s to a more organic modernist style from the 1940s onwards. His Born Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto furniture designs were considered Scandinavian 3 February 1898 Modern.[3] What is typical for his entire career, however, Kuortane, Finland is a concern for design as a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total Died 11 May 1976 (aged 78) work of art; whereby he – together with his first wife Helsinki, Finland Aino Aalto – would design not just the building, but give special treatments to the interior surfaces and design Nationality Finnish furniture, lamps, and furnishings and glassware. The Alvar Awards RIBA Gold Medal Aalto Museum, designed by Aalto himself, is located in AIA Gold Medal what is regarded as his home city Jyväskylä.[4] Buildings Paimio Sanatorium Säynätsalo Town Hall Viipuri Library Villa Mairea Baker House 1 Biography Finlandia Hall 1.1 Life 1.2 Architecture career Projects Helsinki City Centre 1.2.1 Early career: classicism Design Savoy Vase 1.2.2 Early career: functionalism Paimio Chair 1.2.3 Mid career: experimentation 1.2.4 Mature career: monumentalism 2 Furniture career 3 Awards 4 Works 4.1 Significant buildings 4.2 Furniture and glassware 5 Quotes 6 Critique of Aalto's architecture 7 Memorials 8 Notes 9 Footnotes 10 References 11 Other reading 12 See also 13 External links 1 of 13 13.4.2014 9:49 Alvar Aalto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto Life Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland.[5] His father, Johan Henrik Aalto, was a Finnish-speaking land-surveyor and his mother, Selly (Selma) Matilda (née Hackstedt) was a Swedish-speaking postmistress. When Aalto was 5 years old, the family moved to Alajärvi, and from there to Jyväskylä in Central Finland. Aalto studied at the Jyväskylä Lyceum school, completing his basic education in 1916. In 1916 he then enrolled to study architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology. His studies were interrupted by the Finnish War of Alvar Aalto portrayed on a stamp Liberation, which he fought in. He fought on the side of the White Army [6] published in 1976 and fought at the Battle of Lankiphja and the Battle of Tampere. He built his first piece of architecture while still a student, a house for his parents, at Alajärvi.[7] Afterwards, he continued his education, graduating in 1921.[8] In the summer of 1922 he began his official military service, finishing at the Hamina reserve officer training school, and was Alvar Aalto Studio, Helsinki promoted to reserve second The signature of Alvar Aalto on the (1954–56) lieutenant in June 1923.[9] wall of Jyväskylä's theatre building. In 1920, while still a student, Aalto made his first trip abroad, travelling via Stockholm to Gothenburg, where he even briefly found work with the architect Arvid Bjerke.[10] In 1922, he accomplished his first independent piece at the Industrial Exposition in Tampere.[7] In 1923 he returned to Jyväskylä, where he opened his first architectural office,[11] under the name 'Alvar Aalto, Architect and Monumental Artist'. At that same time he also wrote articles for the Jyväskylä newspaper [12] Alvar Aalto Studio, Helsinki Sisä-Suomi under the pseudonym Remus. During this time, he (1954–56) designed a number of small single-family houses in Jyväskylä, and the office's workload steadily increased. In 1925, he married architect Aino Marsio.[13][nb 1] Their honeymoon journey to Italy was Aalto's first trip there, though Aino had previously made a study trip there.[13] The latter trip together sealed an intellectual bond with the culture of the Mediterranean region that was to remain important to Aalto for the rest of his life. On their return, they continued with a number of local projects, notably the Jyväskylä Worker's Club. However, the Aaltos moved their office to Turku in 1927, and started collaborating with architect Erik Bryggman. The office moved again [11][14] in 1933 to Helsinki. Main Building of the Jyväskylä University (1955) The Aaltos designed and built a joint house-office (1935–36) for themselves in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki, but later (1954–56) had a purpose-built office erected in the same neighbourhood – nowadays the former is a "house museum" and the latter the premises of the Alvar Aalto Academy. In 1926 the young Aaltos designed and had built a summer 2 of 13 13.4.2014 9:49 Alvar Aalto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto cottage in Alajärvi, Villa Flora. In 1938, the Aaltos visited the United States for the first time,[11] ostensibly to visit the Finnish Pavilion, which they had designed, for the New York World Fair of the following year.[15] Aino Aalto died of cancer in 1949. Aino and Alvar Aalto had 2 children, a daughter Johanna "Hanni" Alanen, born Aalto, 1925, and a son Hamilkar Aalto, 1928. In 1952 Aalto married architect Elissa Mäkiniemi (died 1994), who had been working as an assistant in his office. In 1952 Aalto designed and had built a summer cottage, the so-called Experimental House, for himself and his new wife in Muuratsalo in Central Finland. Alvar Aalto died on 11 May 1976, in Helsinki,[8] and is buried in the Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki. Auditorium of the Viipuri Municipal Architecture career Library in the 1930s. Early career: classicism Although he is sometimes regarded as among the first and most influential architects of Nordic modernism, a closer examination of the historical facts reveals that Aalto (while a pioneer in Finland) closely followed and had personal contacts with other pioneers in Sweden, in particular Gunnar Asplund[16][17]and Sven Markelius.Aalto 1998, p. 76 What they and many others of that generation in the Nordic countries had in common was that they started off from a classical education and were first designing classical architecture, though what historians now call Nordic Classicism[18] – a style that had been a reaction to the previous dominant style of National Romanticism – before moving, in the late 1920s, towards Modernism. On returning to Jyväskylä in 1923 to establish his own architect's office, Aalto busied himself with a number of single-family homes, all designed in the Nordic Classicism style, such as the manor-like house for his mother's cousin Terho Manner in Töysa in 1923, a summer villa for the Jyväskylä chief constable in 1923 and the Alatalo farmhouse in Tarvaala in 1924. During this period he also completed his first public buildings, the Jyväskylä Workers' Club in 1925, the Jyväskylä Defence Corps building in 1926 and the Seinajoki Defence Corp building in 1924–29. Aalto also entered several architectural competitions for prestigious state public buildings, both in Finland and abroad, including the two competitions for the Finnish Parliament building in 1923 and 1924, the extension to the University of Helsinki in 1931, and the building to house the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1926–27. Furthermore, this was the period when Aalto was most prolific in his writings, with articles for professional journals and newspapers. Among his most well-known essays from this period are "Urban culture" (1924),[19] "Temple baths on Jyväskylä ridge" (1925),[20] "Abbé Coignard's sermon" (1925),[21] and "From doorstep to living room" (1926).[22] Early career: functionalism The shift in Aalto's design approach from classicism to modernism 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. Yet his humanistic approach is in full evidence in the library: the interior displays natural Villa Mairea in Noormarkku materials, warm colours, and undulating lines. Due to problems over financing and a change of site, the Viipuri Library project lasted eight years, and during that same time he also designed the Turun Sanomat Building (1929–30)[nb 2] and Paimio Sanatorium (1929–32). Thus, the Turun Sanomat Building first heralded Aalto's move towards modernism, and this was then carried forward both in the Paimio Sanatorium and in the on-going design for the library. Although the Turun Sanomat Building and Paimio Sanatorium are comparatively pure modernist works, they too carried the seeds of his questioning of such an orthodox modernist approach and a move to a more 3 of 13 13.4.2014 9:49 Alvar Aalto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto daring, synthetic attitude. It has been said that his work on two of these three buildings (not the Viipuri Library) showed similarities to Walter Gropius' style, in particular his work on the Bauhaus school of design in Dessau.[8] His work on the Viipuri building started to show his individuality in a departure from the European norms. Through Sven Markelius, Aalto became a member of the Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM), attending the second congress in Frankfurt in 1929 and the fourth congress in Detail of Baker House facade on the Athens in 1933, where he established a close friendship with László Charles River Moholy-Nagy, Sigfried Giedion and Philip Morton Shand.