Alvar AaltoBy Scott Vriens

DESIGN ERA

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born in the year 1898. His work was depicted throughout the modernist era. The modernist era was all about the power of human beings to create, improve and reshape their environment with the help of scientific knowledge or technology. Alvar Aalto used these concepts to create unique forms of architecture and furniture alike. The modernist era is also about adding on and restoring past “pieces of art” which include old buildings. Aalto once stated that “Nothing is ever reborn, but it never completely disappears either, everything that has ever been emerges in a new form.” This is the basis of every one of his designs as having had an influence in the modernist era, this was a very important code to follow by. He has influenced many through an international style that he adorned. The span of his career, from the 1920s to the 1970s, is reflected in the styles of his work.

STYLE

Aalto’s style was all about using curved forms, as he thought they were often related to the anthropomorphic forms he always concerned with human factors. Natural materials such as wood, brick, stone, copper and marble were used and were also always used with natural lighting. As a designer, Aalto’s style lay on a bold mixture of modernist refinement, indeginous materials and personal expression. 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 peaceful balance between natural and man made.

SPECIFIC WORK

• One furniture piece of Alvar Aalto’s specific work is the Paimio Scroll Chair. It is the best-known piece of furniture designed by Aalto. Admired for both its sculptural ingenuity and its comfort, this chair tests the limits of plywood manufacturing. The chair’s frame is of two closed loops of lamenated wood. In between rides the seat which is a thin sheet of plywood tightly bent at both top and bottom into a scroll-like shape.

• Another of Aalto's famous works is the Paimio Sanatorium. This is an excellent example of how he followed the concept of having his creations relate to the anthropomorphic needs of humans, as the building itself was designed to contribute to the healing process of patients. This concept is why his name is so highly thought of in the furniture industry because Aalto accommodates the needs of humans. (I will use this process in my concept design).

PHILOSOPHY

"Nature not the machine should serve as the model for architecture.” This was the philosophy of Alvar Aalto. It means that his designs were held by the requirements of having the environment act as their template, and not on the basis of artificial work. He prided himself on his philosophy and as a result is the most famous modernist designers to date.

INFLUENCED BY

Alvar Aalto was influenced by the works of cubist artists, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. His passion for painting led to the development of his unique architectural style. Cubism and collage (which were explored by the painters Picasso and Braque) became important elements in his work. Aalto used colour, texture and light to create one-of-a-kind architectural landscapes. It was also Aalto’s mentor who greatly influenced him to be an architect. Armas Lindgren was a professor who taught the and influenced the Finnish architect. Lindgren worked with old buildings and that continued through his whole life. He made numerous aquarelles on churches, mainly the wooden churches of the 17th and 18th century.

IMPACT ON SOCIETY

From a Finnish perspective, there is special significance in the fact that Alvar Aalto was the first among Finnish architects to adopt modernism's view of architecture so thoroughly that within a short space of time he became the leading architect of the new movement in the Nordic countries. Important from the point of view of Finnish architecture and society was Aalto's contribution to the standardized construction and socially oriented architectural planning of the modernist movement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=1408

http://architecture.about.com/od/greatarchitects/p/aalto.htm

http://www.iie.org/en/Offices/New-York/about-alvar-aalto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armas_Lindgren