Theory of design

Alvar aalto
• Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was
a Finnish architect and designer. His work
includes architecture, furniture, textilesand glassware. Aalto's early career
runs in parallel with the rapid economic growth and industrialization of
Finland during the first half of the twentieth century and many of his
clients were industrialists; among these were the Ahlström-Gullichsen
family.[1] The span of his career, from the 1920s to the 1970s, is reflected
in the styles of his work, ranging from Nordic Classicism of the early work,
to a rational International Style Modernism during the 1930s to a more
organic modernist style from the 1940s onwards. What is typical for his
entire career, however, is a concern for design as aGesamtkunstwerk,
a total work of art; whereby he – together with his first wife Aino Aalto –
would design not just the building, but give special treatments to the
interior surfaces and design furniture, lamps, and furnishings and
glassware. The Alvar Aalto Museum, designed by Aalto himself, is located
in what is regarded as his home city Jyväskylä.[2]
• Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto portrayed on a stamp published in 1976.
• BornHugo Alvar Henrik Aalto
3 February 1898
Kuortane, FinlandDied11 May 1976 (aged 78)
Helsinki, FinlandNationalityFinnishAwardsRIBA Gold Medal
AIA Gold MedalBuildingsPaimio Sanatorium
Säynätsalo Town Hall
Viipuri Library
Villa Mairea
Baker House
Finlandia HallProjectsHelsinki City CentreDesignSavoy Vase
Paimio Chair
Alvar Aalto was born on February 3, 1898 in Kuortane, Finland and died on May 11,
1976.

His name in itself means "wave" which later would come to life in his architecture. An
architect, designer of cities, and furniture maker, Aalto’s international style rested on a
distinctive blend of modernist refinement, indigenous materials, and personal
expression in form and detail.

His regional and cultural architecture has come to be known as the Scandinavian style.
His work included schools, libraries, churches, housing schemes, university plans, entire
urban layouts, glassware and plywood furniture.

Aalto's preliminary plans were freely sketched without the use of tools so that the
unfettered creative urge for inventive shapes and irregular forms was allowed full play
before functional relationships and details were resolved. His use of complex forms and
varied materials, acknowledged the character of the site, and gave attention to every
detail of the building. The volumes of space created through clustered overlapping of
forms were articulated with windows, and introduced views, and motion through
curved surfaces. These curved forms often used by Aalto were, he thought, related to
the anthropomorphic forms; he was always concerned with the human factor. The
curved forms also allowed for varied views along their paths. Natural materials such as
wood, brick, stone, copper, and marble were used and were always articulated with
natural lighting.
Aalto's style was contextual and vernacular, he was very sensitive to contours of the land,
angles and direction of the sunlight. He was very conscious of the need for social settings
linked directly to natural surroundings with the use of natural landscape. They achieved
this through natural living conditions, the use of natural materials, and integration within
the boundaries of landscape and vegetation. Nature, sun, trees, and air all served as
functions in creating a harmonious balance between natural and artificial.

In contradiction of Le Corbusier, Aalto said, "Nature not the machine should serve as the
model for architecture." This was very much in compliance with the thoughts of Frank
Lloyd Wright. He also remarked, "Architecture cannot disengage itself from natural and
human factors; on the contrary it must never do so. Its function is to bring nature ever
closer to us." Aalto's massive monumental designs both rich in surface textures and
traditional materials were showcased with his control of flowing spaces, natural light,
sureness of volume and combined with a great attention to detail.

He has influenced many through an international style that he so adorned. As he

once said, "nothing is ever reborn, but it never completely disappears either,
everything that has ever been emerges in a new form." His belief that buildings
should be individual solutions to a given set of problems became the driving force
of his architecture, a belief that has become internationally recognized and
accepted.
1929: Sanatorium Paimio, Finland
1930: Municipal Library Viipuri
1937: Terrace House Kuatya
1938: Villa Mairea Gullichsen Noormarkku, Finland
1939: Finnish Pavilion NY World’s Fair
1947: Baker House Dormitory MIT Cambridge, MA
1949: Helsinki University of Technology Espou, Finland
1956: Church of Vuokseniska Imatra, Finland 1958 Art Museum Aalborg,
Denmark
1958: House of Louis Carre Bazches-sur-Guonne, France
1959: Community Centre Wolfburg, Germany
1962: Community Centre Seiajoki, Finland
1964: Edgar J. Kaufman Conference Rooms Institute International NY
1967: Mount Angel Abbey Library Salem, OR
1971: Finlandia Hall Helsinki
1973: Taidemuseo Alvar Aalto Museum Jyvaskyla, Finland