The Architecture of Alvar Aalto - Case Study Example

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ALVAR AALTO JANUARY 7th, 2015 INSTITUTION Introduction Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is a Finnish architecture and designer. He is a designer of various architectures and ateliers as well as paintings and drawings. He was one of the most famous painters and architects in Finland, where his architectural works and practice led top the rise of modern architecture. Modern architectural practice and its sustaining historiography has typically focused on the image of the designed object at the expense of the skills and conditions that shaped it; a focus on reputation rather than comprehension.”1 He was able to build and develop an atelier or architectural works that would portray ideas that were translated into material form. Alvar Aalto Architecture Alvar Aalto has designed and created a lot of architectural works as well as practices since he began his career back in the early 1920’s. He rose to be one of the most influential architectures in Scandinavian Europe. He was able to develop his architecture skills through drawing, and one of his main architecture works was the Aalto Atelier, which was modeled on an artistic atelier which was typical in Finland. He began by working from home till he was able to obtain a studio house in Helsinki seaside. ‘The intimacy of working ‘at home’ in direct contact with nature was an ideal of the National Romantic movement; and one that Alvar Aalto emulated from the time he moved into his studio-house at Riihitie in the Helsinki seaside suburb of Munkkiniemi in 1936’ (Harry Charrington 2010)2. He also constructed a separate atelier which was a 5-minute walk on Tiilimaki back in 1955 as seen in the diagram; Aalto Atelier from Tilimaki The Aalto atelier had been built as a result of a partnership of Alvar Aalto and Aino Marsio Aalto (1894-1949) and Elissa Aalto (1922-1994). Alvar was known to be more spirited and imaginative in drawing whereas Aino improved through observation. “Alvar’s design work was more spontaneous and removed from the everyday level, while Aino remained loyal to functionalist ideals and designed practical things that were carefully studied and finished throughout.” (Harry Charrington 2010. ‘Not a locked box: the everyday art of the Aalto atelier.’ Architectural Research Quarterly, 14, pp255-266) Aino Marsio boasted of expertise in internal architecture and materials which made her travel extensively working as a student under a master carpenter known as Niilo Wilander in Helsinki. Aalto would work in separate studios for meetings as well as working on prototypes. Aalto only got involved in projects that he thought or knew that would be of importance to him or how he evaluated the importance of the project. “The level of Alvar Aalto’s involvement in a project varied according to how important he thought it was, but there was always an expectation that the atelier’s architects, confident in the atelier’s purposive intention (Zweckmässigkeit), would extemporize and make suggestions on the atelier’s behalf.” (Harry Charrington 2010) Jaime Ferrer Fordes in “Tradition in Nordic Architecture” states that “The arts assumed a greater importance as a means of promoting cultural identity and emerged the National Romanticism as an attempt to build a national cultural identity rooted in tradition.” The ateliers were mainly created from sketches which would finally be designed to various projects. “Alvar Aalto’s drawings would mark out possible growth patterns and dynamic geometries that would lead to a sensual appreciation of the building as a topographical image reflected on, or against, the site.”3 (Harry Charrington, 2010 ‘Not a locked box: the everyday art of the Aalto atelier’. Architectural Research Quarterly, 14, pp. 255-266). Aalto also worked on various design strategies such as wooden architecture which was portrayed in Karelian architecture with the designing of the Karelian vernacular building. One of his most explicit attempts to mirror the growth of the Karelian building was through the additive plan for villa Tvitsbo, 1944. Plan for the Villa Tvitsbo 1941 Alvar Aalto began the development of architectural space as an abstraction of the forest. The idea of the ‘forest space’ is central to his mature work and provides a key to understand Villa Mairea at Noormarkuu, 1938-414. Aalto appreciated nature and the surrounding, hence the desire to create designs and architectures that were redirected towards the nature and landscape. Sketch of a branch of a flowering tree According to Jaime J. Ferrer Forés “Tradition in Nordic architecture” Aalto developed the feel for the nature of the wood through ‘the language of wood fibres’. He was clearly fascinated by its fibrous structure and worked with ‘wood experiments’ to explore the nature of materials and developed continuous laminated-wood frames as a sensory experience and plywood furniture link to craft traditions and manufactured by Artek.” Unlike John Utzon who mainly focused on natural form, as well as vernacular architecture, Alvar Aalto mainly focused on landscape, use of materials, buildings and so forth. According to Aalto “The first basic fundamental feature of Karelian architecture is the use of a single material’. Most of Alvar Aalto’s sketches were made in pencil and in two-dimensional drawings which would suggest various textuc.res in a single line. These sketches provided a representation of the general idea or the main idea, such as a building and its environment, a canopy of trees, etc. The perspective sketches of the urban spaces would situate a spectator as central to their composition. The main architectural scales used for the drawings were such as 1:200 which would enable the description of the overall design. “The scale of 1:200 permits the description of an overall formation and intention of spaces and forms unavailable at 1:500 scale but without the need to determine the functional minutiae that become exposed at 1:100 scale.”5- Harry Charrington (2010). Not a locked box: the everyday art of the Aalto atelier. Effects from Aalto Architecture Aalto’s architecture has brought major improvements especially towards modern architecture as seen in the texts, whereby there is more understanding and better use of authentic materials as well as communicating the impression of a drawing through sketches where most of these sketches were done on pencil. The drawings would also mark possible growth patterns in architecture, which would attract appreciation of the building or site as a topographical image. “The sensitivity towards nature, deeply rooted in the culturally defined relationship with the landscape, achieves an intense sense of place, to adapt buildings to the surrounding landscape. A desire to simulate the ‘natural variation’( Jamie J. Ferrer Forés “Tradition in Nordic architecture”)6 Aalto admired in Karelian buildings helps explain the picturesque roof compositions characteristic of several later designs, such as the Säynätsalo Town Hall, and the careful adjustment of buildings to topography is characteristic of all his work.” The sketches and drawing from Aalto’s work would later translate material form from basic ideas, which is basically where the architects expend their energy and time. “The process of translating ideas into material form is also what architects mainly expend their time and energy on. It is their pre-eminent skill, if not their genius. In its reluctance to consider this activity the architectural profession not only diminishes the worth of their habits and skills. (Harry Charrington 2010)”7 Cultural references as well as mentalities have now been able to unify as well as the local and universal architectural traditions with contemporal understanding as a result of the concept of Alvar Aalto’s architecture. “It is true that mentalities and cultural references now tend to unify, but these do survive in consciences as points of reference. These experiences speak of the search for a materiality, for an unpolished tactile quality, for an archaic touch that is increasingly out of the reach of architects.”8 (Jaime J. Ferrer Forés: Tradition in Nordic architecture). In modern architecture one can now derive reality form from the textures and they can also reveal a poetic understanding of the world culture. Modern architectures can also be able to appreciate nature or landscapes from the blending of architecture and nature. The architectures now portray an appreciation of material integrity and constructive logic from the architectural designs inspired by Alvar Aalto. Architectures would now be able to know the sources on where to use most of their energy as well as time in the developing of useful architecture and valuable architecture together with using constructive methods. Conclusion The architectural works by Alvar Aalto as well as Jorn Utzon have been able to inspire and bring conviction to modern architects along the generations to appreciate the nature as well as culture through their artistry and designs. The architecture of Aalto has also been able to encourage stronger relations with the past and the desire for the continuity of the nature. Despite the few challenges that he had, Alvar Aalto’s architecture work was successful and was mainly influenced by buildings, natural materials, as well as textures which would portray smoothness and warmth. Aalto’s work was clearly influenced by Saarinen’s use of materials and attention to details and he therefore developed the feel for the nature of the wood through ‘the language of wood fibers’. References (2010), Harry Charrington. "Not a locked box: the everyday art of the Aalto atelier." Architectural Research Quarterly, 2010: 266. Alvar Aalto, Peter Reed, Kenneth Frampton. Alvar Aalto: between humanism and materialism. New York: Museum of Modern Arts, n.d. Francis, Taylor &. Finnish Architecture and the Modernist Tradition. Malcolm Quantril, 2012. Menin, Sarah. Architecture Research Quarterly, 2010: 121. Schildt, Göran. Alvar Aalto: the complete catalogue of architecture, design, and art. Rizzoli, 1994. Read More