Alvar alto

ALVAR ALTO

SUBMITTED TO:AR. RUPALI BANSAL SUBMITTED BY:

ARCHI BATRADISHA RAIHARSH VERMAHAIZAL NAGPALISHMINDER SINGH

I DO NOT WRITEI BUILD

LIFE JOURNEYBorn Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto3 February 1898Kuortane, finland

Died 1May 1976 (aged 78)1Helsinki, Finland

Nationality Finnish

Awards RIBA Gold MedalAIA Gold Medal

Buildings Paimio SanatoriumSäynätsalo Town HallViipuri LibraryVilla MaireaBaker HouseFinlandia Hall

Projects Helsinki City Centre

Design Savoy VasePaimio Chair

• Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland.[6] 

• His father, Johan Henrik Aalto, was a Finnish-speaking land-surveyor and his mother, Selly Matilda was a Swedish-speaking postmistress.

• When Aalto was 5 years old, the family moved toAlajärvi, and from there to Jyväskylä in Central Finland. Aalto studied at the Jyväskylä Lyceum school, completing his basic education in 1916.

• In 1916 he then enrolled to study architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology. His studies were interrupted by the Finnish Civil War, which he fought in.

•  He built his first piece of architecture while still a student, a house for his parents, at Alajärvi.[8] 

• Afterwards, he continued his education, graduating in 1921.

HISTORY

• Aalto's career spans the changes in style from (Nordic Classicism) to purist International Style Modernism to a more personal, synthetic and idiosyncratic Modernism.

• Aalto's wide field of design activity ranges from the large scale of city planning and architecture to interior design, furniture and glassware design and painting

• It has been estimated that during his entire career Aalto designed over 500 individual buildings, approximately 300 of which were built, the vast majority of which are in Finland

• He also has a few buildings in France, Germany, Italy and the USA.

CAREER

• The beauty of his work is hidden in his design approach of Functionalism but with a strong connection to the organic relationship between man, nature and buildings.

• He coordinated these three components and created a synthesis of life in materialized form.

• He designed in very different scales – ranging from buildings, town plans, furniture, glassware, jewellery and other forms of art.

• His design philosophy was influenced by nature and organic materials, unlike other furniture of the same period with materials as tubular steel, which were quite modern at the time.

• With his innovative designs and natural forms he changed the course of design towards organic Modernism

PHILOSOPHY

WORKS OF ALVAR ALTO

ARCHITECTURAL SYLE: Nordic Classical

FEATURES:• Discontinuous glazing on all

four sides at entrance level.• This building houses a

restaurant and a coffee bar which supports the auditorium above.

• He employs various classical devices:

1.Circular atrium

2.Doric columns

3.Palladian window

4.Cartouches to decorate

the stuccoes wall

WORKERS CLUB(1924)

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

It was a two-storey building situated on the corner of two streets in the centre of the town, and with a café and restaurant on the ground floor. From the street level one entered an impressive entrance hall that led upstairs to the auditorium floor comprising a theatre space and foyer. In the basement floor spaces were reserved for, among other things, a kitchen, storage and washing and toilet facilities. Aalto also designed the lamps for the building as well as the decorative paintings and part of the furniture.

AA A

B

B

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

D

C

C

D

• ARCHITECTURAL SYLE: Functionalism

• FEATURES:

• Uses RCC frame with infill being an insulating brick cavity wall which is then rendered an painted white.

• Sun trapped balconies are cantilevered from the tapering RCC frame.

• Exposed lift shaft on the external wall

• Free form cantilevered canopy.

PAIMIO SANATORIUM (1929-33)

• Orientation: south of the balconies and the roof top sundeck was determined by the dedication to the supposed “healing “ powers of the sun.

• West: doctors houses; North : staff flats.

• Plan was meant to be functionally zoned and biodynamical aligned to the compass so that the direction of each wing was defined according to its requirements for sunshine and view.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

• A continuous sundeck that runs over the patient wing is protected with RCC canopy to reduce solar gain.

• Dining room was an enclosed mezzanine suspended from steel hangers form above• It had a lot of

natural light due to double-height windows, the sun blinds outside prevented glare

• Main staircase has natural light which is further enhanced by the yellow color of the stairs.

• Each patient had their own wall mounted cupboard and basin.

• Door handles designed to prevent coat sleeves from being caught in them.

• Designed lamps that were placed out of the patients line of vision.

Aalto also believed that bright colors made people feel better and be more active. So the lobby was treated with Bright yellow walls and floor tiles to offset the

ARCHITECTURAL SYLE: Modernism

FEATURES:EXTERIOR

• The courtyard of the villa was inspired by the organization of vernacular farmstead.

• The massing was inspired by the falling waters by Frank Lloyd Wright.

VILLA MAIREA(1924)

• A – Dining room• B – Sauna• C – Living room• D- Library• E - Studio• F - Staff• G - Kitchen• H- Restroom • I – children play area• J – Guest wing• K – Children’s room• L - Master bedroom

The interiors follow the grid of 2850 x 2850 m

B

CE

D

E

GFC

CC C

I

K

K

K

L

H

A

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Teak clad living room projects forward to create shallow balconies that lead on to the principle bedroom above

• Bedroom windows project out at an angle to address the line of approach to the house through the forest.

• The main entrance to the – the door is approached under a two level canopy supported by compound timber column and screened by miniature forest of poles.

Also design elements such as the pool and the rubble masonry wall add to the aesthetic.

Screening by vertical poles help to differentiate the interlinked spaces.

To enter this inner sanctum, columns are made to resemble tree trunks are located at certain points to create the impression similar to that of emerging through the fringes of a forest clearing.

• ARCHITECTURAL

STYLE:Modernist housing

• Baker house is a dormatory for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,designed in 1946.

• Aalto was assisted by three finish architects –veli paatela with his wife kaija and olav hammarstrom ,in addition to Aino.

• It was named baker house in 1950 after Everett moore BAKER , MIT’s dean of students, who was killed in plane crash that year.

BAKERS HOUSE(1947-48)

"The site is located on a heavily-trafficked street along the Charles River. In order to avoid as much as possible the disturbing view out onto this street, a curving plan form was chosen. By this means, no room was oriented at right angles to the street and its traffic. An attempt to make use of this phenomenon was made with the form of the building: the windows face diagonally to the passing automobiles and thus afford a quieter environment for the person within the room. The stairway system is housed in a paneled structure rising up the north side of the building which allows an unobstructed view along its entire length from the lowest landing."

• The stairway system is housed in a paneled structure rising up the north side of the building which allows an unobstructed view along its entire length from the lowest landing."

• The free fom of rooms were built with ‘rustic’ bricks-indeed he went to find the dark red reject bricks that were rough textured and included clinkers-but clad the orthogonal main common room in limestone

FEATURES

• The sets of rooms can be seen as an illustration of what aalto might mean by ‘flexible standardisation’.

• Each cell is essentially identical, but because of the shaped curve on plan 22 different room shapes are created on a typical floor of 43 rooms.

• The ground floor social area was ‘ORGANIC’,and related to the landscape in both geometry and use of materials.

• The lower floor is lit by virpuri like rooflights while the upper level has nearly contionous views towards the river

• Columns on the ground floor are simple plastered cylinder but on the upper level their connection with the trees beyond is emphasised by a splayed shape and timber cladding.

location Espoo

function auditorium, library, university

contributed by gonzalezdioslydiaAlvar Aalto designed the campus for the Otaniemi Technical University in Espoo, Finland between 1949 and 1966. Aalto's buildings for the university include the main building, the library, the shopping centre, and the water tower, with a crescent-shaped auditorium at the center

OTANIEMI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

• "The focal point of this university centre is the auditorium building with two large halls (also intended for congresses).

• All tuition rooms are in adjacent buildings grouped about small internal courts, and here are also found the smaller lecture-rooms, laboratories and professors' rooms.

• The centre is divided into three principal departments: general, geodetic and architectural.

• The chief materials are dark red brick, black granite and copper."

Outdoor lights by AaltoThe lamp-posts in the Otaniemi campus area have also been designed by Aalto. There are three types of lamp-posts: ones with a curved cover, ones with a straight cover, and ones with no cover at all.  The cover reflects the light indirectly, and does not significantly affect the amount of light, but has above all a decorative function.

Its staircase-like ascending rows of windows suggest from the outside and amphitheatre.

4. Heating plant The campus-based heating plant building designed by Alvar Aalto was realized at the outset of the 1960s. The most visible section of the building is the cube-shaped power plant, whose internal engineering is exposed to view from a glass façade. The roof of the structure and its linked projection are made of copper. The laboratories, offices and control centre are situated in the lower rectangular-shaped premises. Address: Otakaari 6

5.Jamerantaival 1 This building, completed in 1966, is the only dormitory on campus designed by Alvar Aalto. The four-storey, V-shaped edifice has over 200 rooms, and originally it functioned during the summers as a hotel. The southeast façade on the dormitory’s east wing undulates and the layout resembles a fan, which is reminiscent of Aalto’s previously designed MIT dormitory in Boston.

2. The Library The library building designed by Alvar Aalto was completed in 1969. It is Finland’s oldest and largest library in the technical field. The structure is clearly connected with the former main building next to it with respect to the materials and contours of the façades. The furnishings in the interiors, designed by Aalto and Elin Törnudd, are a fixed part of the whole: a large number of the shelves, tables, counters and lamps are original items

6. Otahalli Otahalli Sports Centre, designed by Alvar Aalto, was completed for the 1952 Olympics. The building’s larger hall was at one time the country’s largest structure of its kind, and the span between its wooden rafters is 45 metres. Otaniemi’s sports centre boasts a grassy field, grounds for track and field, a skating area, two street basketball courts, three tennis courts and a jogging track.

P L A N

P L A N

E L E V A T I O N S

S E C T I O N S

P I C T U R E S

In his campus plan, Alvar Aalto placed the School of Science and Technology main building in a very visible, central location. Situated on one of the seven hills of the area, at the end of a row of lime trees, it is sure to be seen; its landmark feature, the striking amphitheatre-like auditorium is particularly noticeable.

Otahalli (sports complex)

Plan

Side Elevation

The Library

Plan

Front View

Jamerantaival

plan

Elevation

Architectural style: Modern architecture

FINLANDIA HALL

• The Finlandia Hall is a congress and event venue in the centre of Helsinki on the Töölönlahti Bay.

• Finlandia Hall was designed in 1962 and built between 1967 and 72. The plan for the Congress Wing was drawn up in 1970 and it was constructed between 1973 and 75. With the completion of the first stage of his overall project.

• The main feature of the Finlandia Hall building is a tower like section with a sloping roof. Alvar Aalto’s idea behind the design was that a high empty space would provide better acoustics.

• A suspended ceiling hides the space to the audience but it allows the creation of the same deep post-echo as tall church towers.

• Aalto used marble in both indoor and outdoor surfaces as a contrast to black granite. For Aalto, marble was a tie to the Mediterranean culture, which he wanted to bring to Finland.

FEATURES

• The design of each lamp, piece of furniture, panel, flooring material and decorative board reflects the mature approach resulting from Aalto’s long career as an architect.

.

INTERIOR DESIGN

• The large asymmetrical auditorium is virtually free of right angles, yet still tightly controlled, with naturally harmonious and acoustically influenced wall reliefs and bold balcony outlines. In many respects, it is a simplified version of Aalto's most magnificent auditorium, in the Great Opera House in Essen.

The National Museum building on the other side of the street seems to rise from the edge of the Finlandia Hall tower. The effect is created by a black trapezium on the white marble surface of the Finlandia Hall tower. The trapezium has been measured to fit the rising tower of the National Museum when the Finlandia Hall is viewed from the eastern shore of the Töölönlahti Bay. Aalto liked to create optical illusions

OPTICAL ILLUSION

•  Main Auditorium (seats 1700)• Helsinki Hall (seats 340)• Terrace Hall (seats 250)• Elissa Hall (seats 130)• Aurora Hall (seats 894)• Veranda (seats 1700) • Finlandia Restaurant• Cafe Veranda • Galleria Veranda.

MAIN BUILDINGS

• The Main Auditorium has been a popular venue for meetings, congresses, festivities, concerts and events from the very beginning.

• The Auditorium seats 1700 people, 1200 in the stalls and 500 in the balcony.

• The floor is oak parquet and the blue sections of the wall are Finnish birch.

• The stage is 14 metres wide. It consists of several modular platforms. In the middle, there is an elevator to the storage rooms located on two floors underneath the stage. 

MAIN AUDITORIUM

Piazza is a large foyer that is full of natural light The colours are subdued and quiet. The floor or the foyer is covered with high-quality English wool carpeting.

The Congress Wing was completed in 1975. The special feature of the Congress Wing is the “waves” of the facade that give the building unique beauty and vivacity. The outer walls of the Wing are not direct. They curve, following the form of the terrain. On the one hand, Aalto wanted to save most of the trees on the site, but on the other hand, he wanted to avoid the monotony of direct walls. The Congress Wing contains convertible halls A, B and C, as well as several (total 13) smaller meeting rooms.

The Finlandia Restaurant consists of three dining rooms separated by movable walls. As a single space, the restaurant seats 380 people and accommodates a cocktail party for 650 people.

HOUSE OF CULTURE

FINNISH PAVILIONNEWYORK

HELSINKI

RIOLA PARISH CHURCHITALY

Headquarters for the White Guards

OTHER WORKS OF ALVAR ALTO

PAIMIO CHAIR

STOOL

CLEAR VASE

His design concepts were organic and using the human form.

His buildings and chairs were first prompted by the user. The seats and handles were moulded to the human form. Of all architectural furniture, his is the closest to

humanity. Alvar Aalto designed laminated timber furniture. He saw that tubular steel lacked human qualities. He used local Birchwood as a substitution for steel tubing.

CONCEPT OF FURNITURE DESIGNING

He concluded that standardization and mass production could not be sustained in Finland's small economy.

His chairs were the result of great study and investigation into, posture, laminated wood, aesthetic considerations and efficient mechanical methods of mass production.

Alvar Aalto’s furniture included:

The Paimio Chair

The Viipuri Stacking Stools

Cantilevered Chair

FURNITURE WORKS

Paimio Chair is said to have been influenced by the curved contours of the Finnish lakes.

It is one of the most elegant modern chairs. The frame is laminated birch bent into a

closed curve with solid birch cross-rails. The seat is molded from one piece of birch

plywood. The springy plywood fixed on a closed frame

was Aalto’s brainstorm for making a wooden chair “soft”.

The Paimio Chair is constructed from both two dimensional molded plywood and laminated timber.

PAMIO CHAIR

The curves are made by clamping layers of veneer and glue over a form to achieve the desired curved shapes.

It was supported by cantilevered continuous arm and leg frame of laminated Birch plywood steam bent in the shape of a "C" and had horizontal braces to the back.

The frame was thicker from the front of the seat down as there was more stress on the frame there.

He constructed the frame with 7 layers of lamination and less for the arms and back as they required less reinforcement.

VIIPURI STACKING STOOLS

They then take up a minimal storage space so are ideal for schools, meeting rooms or offices.

They were available in children and adult sizes.

The legs were varnished natural Birch timber and the seats were made from natural Birch timber, primary and white laminates.

The Viipuri collection of furniture complemented Aalto's forward thinking design.

The stacking stool - this was made up of only four wooden parts, three Aalto Legs and a round seat.

These three legged stools are versatile and functional

The stack ability means that they are ideal for large gathering areas with small storage spaces.

The legs were attached to the seat at 120 degree angles which meant they could interlock and stack easily.

PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT ARTEK

CANTILEVER CHAIR

• A Cantilever chair is a chair whose seating and framework are not supported by the typical arrangement of 4 legs.

• Instead is held erect and aloft by a single leg or legs that are attached to one end of a chair’s seat and bent in an L SHAPE.

• Otherwise known as the Cantilever chair no.31; Made of Bent laminated and solid birch frame with bent plywood seat section; has a more subtle curved form.