Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)

A Gentler Structure for Life

To Alvar Aalto life, art, architecture, and creativity were inseparable from everyday work. When developing ideas or researching a design challenge he moved as easily in the world of natural sciences as he did in the world of art.

Remarkable book

This remarkable book celebrates the 1998 centenary of Alvar Aalto's birth. It is not the most comprehensive book on his work, but it is without question the most sumptuous and poetic. 23 projects from different decades are featured, ranging from private houses to public buildings. The text, written by Marku Lahtti, director of the Alvar Alto Museum, intelligently complements the photographic genius of Maija Holma, whose bold images capture the finest details of Aalto's structures and interiors.

Works include

Works include Finland Hall, Helsinki; Art Museum, Aalborg, Denmark; Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki; House of Culture, Helsinki; Villa Mairea, Noormarkku; and Aalto's own house in Helsinki.
Alvar Aalto - A Gentler Structure for Life is a visual feast and features three four-page foldouts.

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)

Alvar Aalto was born in 1898 in the village of Kuortane, situated between the lake country of central Finland. After leaving school Aalto went on to study at the Helsinki University of Technology where he graduated with a degree in architecture in 1921. Back in Jyväskylä, he opened his first architectural office in 1923.
In 1927 the Aaltos moved to the southwestern city of Turku to carry out some important commissions and from there to the Finnish capital, Helsinki, in 1933. In the late 1930s when he designed the Villa Mairea, one of the most admired private residences of modern architecture. Aalto's later masterpieces include the municipal building in Säynätsalo, completed in 1952, and the Vuoksenniska Church (1959).
Alvar Aalto's designs are notably characterized by the use of organic forms,for example, his famous Savoy vase of 1937. Alvar Aalto believed that design should not only acknowledge functional requirements but should also address the psychological needs of the user and that this was best achieved through the use of natural materials and especially wood, which he described as "the form inspiring, deeply human material".
In 1952, he married the architect Elissa Mäkiniemi, with whom he collaborated until his death. Alvar Aalto's life and work was celebrated by the Museum of Modern Art, New York through three exhibitions held in 1938, 1984 and 1997.

Structure for Life

Alvar Aalto: A Gentler Structure for Life by Marku Lahtti
Publisher: Gingko Press
ISBN: 9516824757

More information

Architecture Main Page
Alvar Aalto Masterworks