Alvar Aalto was born in Alajärvi in central Finland and raised in Jyväskylä. Following the completion of his architectural studies at the Helsinki University of Technology he founded his own practice in 1923, based in Jyväskylä, and naming it Alvar Aalto, Architect and Monumental Artist. Although many of his early projects are characteristic examples of 'Nordic Classicism' the output of his practice would, following his marriage to fellow Architect Aino Marsio-Aalto (née Marsio), take on a Modernist aesthetic. From civic buildings to culture houses, university centers to churches, and one-off villas to student dormitories, the ten projects compiled here—spanning 1935 to 1978—celebrate the breadth of Aalto's œuvre.
1. Jyväskylä University Building (1951)
2. House of Culture (1955)
3. Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949)
4. Stephanuskirche (1968)
5. Viipuri Library (1935)
The library was awarded the 2014 Modernism Prize for its recent renovation.
6. Heilig Geist Kirche (1962)
7. Muuratsalo Experimental House (1953)
8. Maison Louis Carré (1959)
9. Riola Parish Church (1978)
10. MIT Baker House Dormitory (1948)
Finally: The Aalto Studio (1955)
"Alvar Aalto designed the building at Tiilimäki 20 in Munkkiniemi, Finland, as his own office in 1955. The building is only a short walk from Aalto's own house, where the office had previously been located. He ran the office until his death in 1976. After that, the office continued under the leadership of Elissa Aalto until 1994. The building came into the custodianship of the Alvar Aalto Foundation in 1984 and today houses the Alvar Aalto Foundation, the Alvar Aalto Academy and the Alvar Aalto Museum Architectural Heritage." (via Aalto Foundation)
You can investigate the studio rooms on Google StreetView:
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