Alvar Aalto Architect

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.

This is a much needed and lively study of the still insufficiently known Finnish modern master Alvar Aalto, whose sensitive and increasingly revelant architectural legacy will surely only increase in stature as the years unfold.--Kenneth Frampton

This new biography of Aalto is the first to comprehensively cover his life, from the backwoods of Ostrabothnia to international fame and all of his buildings, from the early alterations and extensions to shops and houses in Jyvaskyla to Finlandia Hall. It draws on Aalto's archive, recollections of former employees and contemporaneous publications to fully explore Alvar Aalto the architect, rather than simply Alvar Aalto's architecture.

Aalto is often called the quintessential modernist, and at first glance this appears to be rightly so. The forms are organic, the materials compatible. Yet Aalto is also the master of the ambiguous space and mystery; in one building one senses history but not exactly why, and in another Aalto has combed a curve to create an almost unbearable tensio

Aalto built three major works in America that counted among the most important in his career - the Finland Pavilion at the New York World's Fair, Baker House at MIT and the Library at Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon. This text deals with the complex nature of Aalto's experience with America.

Alvar Aalto was concerned about the social aspect in all building. This book contains not only a pictorial record of Aalto's collective housing but also an extensive discussion of his ideals about dwellings.