Aalto's often-idealistic reform projects - his Renaissance revival, his rationalistic utopia - his writings as a propagandist during the war years; his comments on his own crucial travels to Italy, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the "decadence of public buildings"; critiques of building and furniture design - all reveal the progression of ideas and convictions that grew and changed throughout Aalto's life, both reflecting and influencing the course of architecture in the twentieth century.
Alvar Aalto and The Art of Landscape captures the essence of the Finnish architect’s landscape concept, emphasising culture and tradition, which characterised his approach to and understanding of architecture as part of the wider environment. From the forests of his youth to sights from his travels, Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) was influenced by outdoor landscapes. Throughout his career, he felt the need to shape the terrain and this became a signature of his architecture. Divided into five chapters, this book traces Aalto’s relationship with landscape, starting with an analysis of his definitions and descriptions of landscape language, which ranged from natural references and biological terms, to synonyms and comparisons. It includes beautifully illustrated case study projects from the 1950s and 1960s, discussing Aalto’s transformation of different landscapes through topography, terracing and tiers, ruins and natural elements, horizon outlines, landmarks, and the repetition of form. Featuring archival sketches, garden drawings, and plans, the book also contains Aalto’s text ‘Architecture in the Landscape of Central Finland’ from 1925 in the appendix. This book provides fascinating, untold insights into Aalto’s relationship with landscape and how this developed during his lifetime, for scholars, researchers, and students interested in architecture and landscape history, landscape art, and cultural studies.
Der Architekt und Designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) war einer der wichtigsten Vertreter organischer Gestaltung im 20. Jahrhundert. Seine Architektur fasziniert bis heute durch natürliche Materialien und skulpturale, geschwungene Formen. Für das Sanatorium in Paimio entwarf Aalto 1932 den ersten Freischwinger aus Holz, seine Savoy Vase (1936) gilt heute als das Symbol finnischen Designs schlechthin. Die Ausstellung gibt einen umfassenden Einblick in das Werk Aaltos, präsentiert seine wichtigsten Bauten, Möbeln und Leuchten und geht den Inspirationen nach, die sein Werk prägten. Schlüsselthemen sind Aaltos Dialog mit wichtigen Künstlern wie Hans Arp, Alexander Calder oder Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, seine intensiven internationalen Verbindungen, seine Auseinandersetzung mit Fragen des rationalen Bauens, aber auch seine Suche nach einer Gestaltung, die stets den Menschen in den Mittelpunkt stellt. 0Exhibition: Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany (27.09.2014-03.01.2015).
"These fascinating texts illustrate important aspects of Aalto's outlook and career. They begin with a charming piece, dictated by Aalto near the end of hs life, about growing up beneath his father's two-tiered white table where the surveyor's apprentices worked, and his gradual ascent to the top tier. From Aalto's early writings (which he signed with the pseudonym 'Ping') there is a satirical sketch about Christmas festivities at Benvenuto Cellini's place, attended by an unlikely mix of characters including Eliel Saarinen, André Le Nôtre, and Katshusika Hokusai. Aalto's often-idealistic reform projects - his Renaissance revival, his rationalistic utopia - his writings as a propagandist during the war years; his comments on his own crucial travels to Italy, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the 'decadence of public buildings'; critiques of building and furniture design - all reveal the progression of ideas and convictions that grew and changed throughout Aalto's life, both reflecting and influencing the course of architecture in the twentieth century. Other influences are also revealed in Aalto's contact with the Bauhaus in Germany, De Stijl in the Netherlands, Le Corbusier in France, and such important friends as Sven Markelius, Gunnar Asplund, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Siegfried Giedion, Lewis Mumford, Walter Gropius, and Frank Lloyd Wright, some of whom Aalto eulogizes in the chapter 'In Memoriam'. Annotated by Aalto's official biographer, Göran Schildt, [this book] is the essential, official guidebook to his philosophies and works. For architects, students, theorists, and admirers of Aalto's renowned architecture and design, this personal collection reveals the brilliant mind of the master. ... [This book] presents, for the first time, an illuminating collection of over 75 of his visionary lectures, speeches, articles, and other writings, and 100 archival illustrations"--Bookjacket.
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is the most prestigious Finnish architect of the last century, and the father of Nordic Modernism. He once said, God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper. In the U.S. Aalto's critical reception began with his design for the Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 World Fair in New York: Frank Lloyd Wright described it as a work of genius. After World War II, Aalto also designed MIT's student dormitory. Prior to this, the architect's Paimio Sanatorium (1929) and Viipuri Library (1935), both in Finland, had already attracted international praise. He was also an outstanding town planner, painter and sculptor. Aalto's Modernism entailed the use of natural materials, warm colors, and undulating lines, and he is considered an important early exponent of Organic Design as a result. Of his design work outside of architecture, Aalto's vases, lamps, glassware and laminated bent-plywood furniture (pioneered and produced through the design company he co-founded, Artek) are equally esteemed. Iconic pieces include the Savoy Vase, the Paimio Chair and the Beehive Lamp. This monograph on Aalto's highly collectible furniture designs expands our understanding of the diverse abilities of this influential architect/designer.
During the course of a career spanning more than fifty years, Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) designed nearly one hundred single-family houses. Aalto, also known for his furniture and glassware, worked in a distinctive style that blended modernism and traditional vernacular architecture. Now available in paperback, Alvar Aalto Houses presents twenty-six of Aalto's innovative residences-from small summer homes and postwar standardized housing to large housing complexes for industrial commissions-built between the 1920s and the 1960s.
An intellectual biography that reconsiders the influence of Aalto's Finnish origins and explores geography as a dominant theme in the history of modern architecture Perhaps no other great modern architect has been linked to a native country as closely as Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). Critics have argued that the essence of Finland flows, as if naturally, into his quasi-organic forms, ranging from such buildings as the Baker House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to iconic 20th-century designs, including his Savoy vase and bent-plywood stacking stools. What did Aalto himself say about the importance of nationalism and geography in his work and in architecture generally? With an unprecedented focus on the architect's own writings, library, and critical reception, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen proposes a dramatically different interpretation of Aalto's oeuvre, revealing it as a deeply thoughtful response to his intellectual and cultural milieu--especially to Finland's dynamic political circumstances following independence from Russia in 1917. Pelkonen also considers the geographic and geopolitical narratives found in his writings. These include ideas about national style and national cultural revival, and about how architecture can foster cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and regionalism. Expanding the canonical reading of Aalto, this work promises to influence future inquiries on Aalto for generations to come.
