Alvar Aalto
B
y the 1950s, Alvar pendence in 1917 and, by
Aalto, the great the mid-1920s there was no
Finnish architect,
Architect was one of the hand-
1898-1976 ful of people in Finland who
were considered so important
that, if they were late for a
Finnair flight, the airline de-
The most important Finnish
layed take-off until they were
architect of the 20th century, safely on board. More often
than not, Aalto did arrive
ALVAR AALTO (1898-1976) late and Finnair passengers
was a central figure in grew accustomed to waiting
for him to board the aircraft.
international modernism. Aalto enjoyed this so much
His greatest buildings, like
that, if he arrived on time, he
instructed his chauffeur to
the 1927 Viipuri Library drive around Helsinki Airport
until he was late enough to
and 1928 Paimio Sanato- stage a grand entrance.
rium, fused the naturalism
Such aplomb was typical of
of Finnish romanticism with
Aalto who, even at the start of
modernist ideals: as did his his career, had the chutzpah
to style himself as a world-
influential furniture and class architect. Born Hugo
glassware. Alvar Henrik Aalto in 1898 in
the Finnish town of Kuortane,
he graduated in architecture
from the Helsinki University
of Technology in 1921 before
assisting the Swedish architect
Arvid Bjerke. Back in Finland
in 1924, he opened the Alvar
Aalto Office for Architec-
ture and Monumental Art in
Jyväskylä, and emblazoned
the name beside the entrance
in two-foot-high letters.
Aalto’s timing was flawless.
Finland had won its inde-
The flag of The Republic of Finland,
a region in northern Europe
Alvar Aalto
20
that they made it their home.
They furnished their house
shortage of architectural com- with Marcel Breuer chairs
missions in a newly indepen- imported from Germany and
dent country eager to define a gramophone for practis-
a new identity. In Jyväskylä, ing the foxtrot. Already a
Aalto was one of a group of favourite with the Finnish
young artists and intellectuals media, Aalto styled himself
longing to play their part in as a cosmopolitan intellectual
Finland’s cultural renaissance. in interviews with proclama-
They included a young archi- tions like: “Flying is the only
tect Aino Marsio whom he civilised form of travel for the
married in 1924. modern man”.
“One of the handful of people...who were
considered so important that, if they
were late for a Finnair flight, the airline
delayed take-off until they were saftely on
board. “
Aalto eked out a living as a Having flirted with tradi-
journalist, while enthusiasti- tional Finnish influences in
cally entering – and eventu- Jyväskylä, Aalto ensured that
ally winning – a series of his Turku buildings, like the
architectural competitions. 1927-28 Turun Sanomat news-
paper offices, 1927-35 Viipuri
His early buildings were Library and 1928-33 Paimio
workers’ housing and student Sanatorium, bore the influ-
clubs in Jyväskylä, but in 1927 ence of the International Style
Aalto won the commission he had admired on European
for the Southwestern Finland trips. Rather than simply rep-
Agricultural Cooperative licating that style, like other
Building in the ancient capital young architects, he redefined
of Turku. More liberal than it. In their scale, mastery of
Helsinki and closer to their light and distinctive palettes,
growing circle of friends else- Aalto’s buildings were charac-
where in Europe, Turku so terised with a robust human-
appealed to Alvar and Aino ism. (contined on next page)
21
When designing the Paimio
Sanatorium, for instance, he
approached the project from
the perspective of a patient
and created a serene, but
cheering environment. No
detail escaped him: from
the canary yellow paint on
the stairs, the heating and a
specially modified tap from
which water poured noise-
Paimio Sanatorium
lessly to avoid disturbing fel-
low patients.
Aalto also designed all the
sanatorium furniture in-
cluding the 1931-32 Paimio
Chair. Inspired by the tubular
steel Marcel Breuer chairs in
his own home, the Paimio
Chair was devised to ease
the breathing of tubercolosis
patients in a combination of
moulded wood and plywood
which, Aalto believed, would
be warmer and more comfort-
22
able than metal.
When the Paimio Sanatorium
was completed in 1933, the
influential critic Siegfried
Giedion hailed it as a modern-
ist masterpiece alongside Wal-
ter Gropius’ Bauhaus Dessau
and Le Corbusier’s League
of Nations project. Aalto was
still only 35 years old.
Despite his prominence in
international circles - where
he counted artists like Con-
stantin Brancusi and Fernand
Léger among his friends, as
well as fellow architects such
as Gropius, Breuer, László
Moholy-Nagy and Sven
Markelius – Aalto felt mar-
ginalised in Finland. He and
Aino moved to Helsinki in
1935 and built a new home
and studio in the suburb
of Munkkiniemi. They also
founded a furniture company
Artek to manufacture the
wooden chairs and stools they
had designed for the Pai-
mio Sanatorium and Viipuri
Library.
“When the Paimio
Sanatorium was
completed in 1933,
the influential critic
Siegfried Giedion
hailed it as a mod-
ernist masterpiece
alongside Walter
Gropius’ Bauhaus
Dessau and Le Cor-
busier’s Leauge of
Nations project.
Aalto was still only
35 years old. “
Paimio Sanatorium
Chair 1930
Alvar Aalto
Villa Mairea
Aalto did not win an ar-
chitectural commission in
Helsinki until 1937 when
he and Aino were asked to
design the Savoy Restaurant
in the city centre. The grace-
fully curvaceous 1937 Savoy
Vase - inspired, or so said
Aalto by “a young Eskimo
girl’s leather breeches” – is
still a best-seller today. Dur-
ing this period, Aalto also
designed an extraordinary
house for the industrialist
and art collector Harry Gulli-
chesen and his wife Maire, in
whose honour it was named
the Villa Mairea. They asked
for a house which was both
modern and Finnish. Aalto
responded with an idiosyn-
cratic, but exquisite composi-
tion of stripped logs and steel
posts, concrete beams and
grass rooves. The sauna was
an “homage to Hollywood”
kidney-shaped pool and the
interior conceived as a replica
of a Finnish forest with black
Architect 1898-1976
Dormitory at the Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology.
After Aino’s death in 1949,
he married another architect,
Elissa Mäkiniemi. Firmly
established as a world-class
architect, Aalto won a string
of awards –including Gold
Medals from the Royal Insti-
“His design was an
inspired homage
to the forms, light,
shadows of Fin-
land’s forests. Walk-
steel columns clad in rattan or ing through the
birch. Pavillion was like a
magical forest stroll.
In 1939, Aalto was asked to
design the Finnish Pavilion Even solipsistic
at the New York World’s Frank Lloyd Wright
Fair. Already acclaimed for
his Pavilion in the 1936-37 described it as a
Paris International Exposition, work of ‘genius’.“
which had won him a 1938
exhibition at theMuseum of
Modern Art, New York, Aalto
upped the ante for the World’s
Fair. Like Villa Mairea, his
design was an inspired hom-
age to the forms, light and
shadows of Finland’s forests.
Walking through the Pavil-
ion was like a magical forest
stroll. Even solipsistic Frank
Lloyd Wright described it as a
work of “genius”.
The World’s Fair launched
Aalto in the US, where he
was awarded visiting profes-
sorships and architectural Finnish Pavilion at the
commissions including the New York World’s Fair
1946-49 Baker House Senior in 1939
23
tute of British Architects and Denmark and Iran. Yet none since his death in Helsinki in
American Institute of Archi- of Aalto’s post-war projects 1976, it has been for his early
tecture – as well as commis- matched the magical qual- Finnish masterpieces that he
sions in Germany, France, ity of his pre-war work and, is remembered.

BIOGRAPHY 1936 Aalto’s Finnish Pavilion for the Paris

International Exposition wins praise from
1898 Born in Kuortane, Finland to Johan Le Corbusier.
Henrik Aalto and Selma Hackstedt.
1937 The Savoy Restaurant opens in
1921 Completes an architecture diploma at Helsinki with an interior and furniture de-
Helsinki University of Technology. signed by Aalto including the wavy glass
Work experience with Armas Lindgren in Savoy Vase.
Helsinki and Arvid Berjke in Gothenberg,
Sweden. 1938 Starts work on Villa Mairea for Maire
Gullichsen and her industrialist hus-
1923 Returns to Finland and opens the Alvar band, Harry. Exhibition of Aalto’s work at
Aalto Office for Architecture and Monumen- the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
tal Art in Jyväskylä. Designs Finnish Pavilion for New York
World’s Fair.
1924 Marries the architect Aino Marsio. They
work together on small local projects such 1939 Travels extensively in the US and ac-
as housing and student clubs. cepts a professorship at MIT until World
War II forces him to return to Finland.
1927 Wins a competition to design an ag-
ricultural cooperative in Turku and moves 1946 After the War, Aalto returns to MIT
there with his family. and designs Baker House.

1928 Starts work on the Viipuri Library,
Turun Sanomat newspaper offices and the
Paimio Sanaotorium.
1929 Attends his first Congrès Internationaux
d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) conference.
He and Aino befriend Le Corbusier, Walter
Gropius, Marcel Breuer and the critic Sig-
fried Giedion.
1949 Aino dies after a long illness.
1952 Marries the architect Elissa Mäkini-
emi and builds a house for them in Muur-
salto. Begins work on the Helsinki House
of Culture.
1955 Designs the Church of Three Crosses
at Vuokenninska, Finland.

1933 Moves office to Helsinki. His Paimio
moulded wood furniture is exhibited at Fort-
num & Mason department store in London.
1934 Builds a new family home in a Helsinki
suburb and founds the Artek furniture com-
pany with Aino and Maire Gullichsen.
1959 Starts working on the Helsinki City
Plan and Essen Opera House, which will
eventually be completed after his death in
1988.
1969 Designs the Iran Museum of Modern
Art in Shiraz.

1976 Alvar Aalto dies in Helsinki.

24 Alvar Aalto