Thread by @specialagentCK

The news is horrifying right now so let's talk about something nice. Yesterday I visited the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyvaskyla, Finland, and found it utterly captivating. Here's Alvar with his second wife, Elissa (image courtesy of Christian Leclerc).

In 1957, Aalto said:

'...a society based on representation and clearly marked class divisions is a thing of the past, as is the human dwelling based on it.'

If only. But I like his optimism.

Aalto designed a wide range of structures, from private homes for well-to-do friends to hospitals to churches to apartment complexes, etc. He also got involved in the design of interior fixtures and decor, such as lamps, chairs, and dishes. He was quite the design polymath.

I don't typically like modernist or functionalist design, but Aalto's won me over because he was aware of industry, science, and practicality while still taking into account nature and the habitat into which the buildings would be placed.

For example, he said:

'The right spot for our doorstep is where we step out of the street or road into the garden. The garden wall is the real external wall of the home.'

He also wrote that he wanted to 'make the garden into an interior space'.

Many of Aalto's designs have biological names. There's the 'reindeer antler plan', for example, and another suite of buildings where parallel structures are arranged in a 'lamellae' fashion. He viewed homes in neighbourhoods as 'clusters of crystals'.

Here, for example, you can see the reindeer antler plan. Note that individual family plots are hexagonal, as in beehives. This was planned for Rovaniemi, and was meant to fit well with the natural lie of the land there.

Hailing from Finland, Aalto understood that we can both crave contact with nature and want to shut ourselves away from it, depending on the season. He strove to design homes that balanced these desires throughout the year and allowed appropriate comfort/access.

In terms of non-building design, Aalto is probably best known for his chairs. Any of these designs look familiar from office buildings, hotel lobbies, grandparents' houses? They were internationally famous and popular, so chances are you've sat in an Aalto creation at some time!

I couldn't help but notice how many of the styles in the museum are back in fashion today. Aalto's work had a distinct postwar-midcentury flair, and yet it also feels contemporary -- not just because it's timeless but because people are loving functionalism at the moment.

Both Aalto's first (Aino) & second (Elissa) wives were hugely influential and worked closely with him. There are letters where Alvar thanked Aino for her flawless instincts. Both she & Elissa made many contributions to the decorative elements of the interior, eg fabrics, lights.

It was interesting to read about the amount of care Aalto took in researching before designing. For one sanatorium, for example, he investigated the amount of light that rooms on all sides of the property would get throughout the day.

He measured elevations & topography. Rather than levelling the building surface, he created stepped buildings following natural slopes. He liked industrial materials for practicality, but also advocated local wood and stone. Buildings were meant to be a part of the landscape.

When I look at Aalto's buildings, I see both a 1960s Hollywood sort of look and the aesthetic of brand new eco-buildings. How can something simultaneously look vintage and new?? He seemed ahead of his time in many ways.

Also: How did he get away with flat roofs in snow country?

He understood the joy and peace that could be found in having a bit of nature with you wherever you were. He understood it was, in fact, unnatural and depressing to be shut away without it. Is that a Scandi ethos? Certainly not an American one, sadly.

Aalto experimented with materials and styles to see how they were impacted by exposure. The photos of this made me ponder my love of urban/rural decay. I think I love how the decay blurs the boundaries between inside and outside, natural and manmade.

One of my favourite buildings was his Church of the Three Crosses. There was copious use of natural lighting to make the interior warm and inviting. The spire was unusual and I wondered, How do visionaries come up with these unique designs? Functional but also ground-breaking?

Interestingly, Aalto designed loads of things that were never built, or never built in their entirety. People liked what he produced, but for various reasons many projects just didn't go forward. I wonder if that felt frustrating, perhaps insulting? Or just the industry norm?

Throughout his life, Aalto also wrote articles about architecture and design, including for lay publications. He wanted to get people thinking and not just following along blindly. Why live in a house or apartment? Why arrange rooms this way? What's the purpose of a courtyard?

Ultimately, he seemed to want unity. To bring people into contact with nature. To foster family interactions. To provide spaces for communities to be together. To give both rich and poor access to a functional, comfortable home. To have spaces that make life enjoyable.

I've never thought as much about architecture as I did yesterday, and now I think I'll never see it the same way again. It is--or can be--about so many complex issues associated with identity, psychology, mission, growth. It's more philosophical than I'd ever realized!

So, in short, if you ever find yourself in Jyvaskyla, visit the Alvar Aalto museum. It's worth every penny of the €6 entrance fee, and then some. And keep your eyes open if you travel around Europe--there are Aalto buildings all over the place, not just Finland!

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