{"id":6339,"date":"2016-03-02T22:05:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T03:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6339"},"modified":"2018-08-24T14:16:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:16:03","slug":"wednesday-march-2-2016-looking-back-at-alvar-aalto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=6339","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, March 2, 2016 \u2014 Looking back at Alvar Aalto"},"content":{"rendered":"

What used to be called the \u201cInter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Style of Mod\u00adernism\u201d in archi\u00adtec\u00adture may have filled the plan\u00adet with iden\u00adti\u00adcal glass box\u00ades, but there were always some archi\u00adtects who nev\u00ader quite fit into its straight\u00adjack\u00adet. Among them, the one that appealed to me most when I first start\u00aded being inter\u00adest\u00aded in archi\u00adtec\u00adture (as a teenag\u00ader) was the Finnish archi\u00adtect and indus\u00adtri\u00adal design\u00ader Alvar Aal\u00adto (1898\u20131976). The Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Style worked with the cre\u00addo of \u201cform fol\u00adlows func\u00adtion,\u201d but it was, I could see, a hol\u00adlow slo\u00adgan. The rigid orthoxy of that kind of \u201cmod\u00adernism\u201d had noth\u00ading to do with \u201cfunc\u00adtion,\u201d since all build\u00adings, no mat\u00adter what their pur\u00adpose, loca\u00adtion, or con\u00adtext, were the same. Build\u00adings in rain-soaked places that need\u00aded eaves could\u00adn\u2019t have eaves. The \u201cfunc\u00adtion\u201d of cheap\u00adness, of course, deter\u00admined build\u00ading lay\u00adouts, not the func\u00adtion of what you were going to do in them. At first, Aal\u00adto paid lip-ser\u00advice to the mod\u00adernist ortho\u00addoxy, but soon his build\u00adings start\u00aded to devi\u00adate from it. Even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly he evolved a flu\u00adid style, often work\u00ading close\u00adly with his wife Aino, in which every aspect of a build\u00ading was con\u00adsid\u00adered, includ\u00ading inter\u00adnal sur\u00adfaces, light\u00ading, and fur\u00adni\u00adture, as an inte\u00adgral whole. His scale was human, out\u00ader forms were play\u00adful and visu\u00adal\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00ading. He loved curv\u00ading, flu\u00adid lines, so that even today much of his work feels \u201csci\u00adence fic\u00adtion-ish.\u201d White\u00adness dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded the aes\u00adthet\u00adic, but it was nev\u00ader a bor\u00ading blankness. <\/span>
\n\"16-03-02<\/a>\"16-03-02<\/a>
These three images illus\u00adtrate what I mean. The one on the left is a tuber\u00adcu\u00adlo\u00adsis sana\u00adto\u00adri\u00adum designed for the small Finnish town of Paimio in 1928, and com\u00adplet\u00aded in 1932. At this time, Aal\u00adto was still in the orbit of offi\u00adcial Mod\u00adernism, fol\u00adlow\u00ading Le Cor\u00adbusier\u2019s basic rules, but he was already lay\u00ading the foun\u00adda\u00adtions of his more holis\u00adtic approach. Note the date of the design \u2014- it still looks mod\u00adern. The sec\u00adond and third images show the kind of inte\u00adri\u00ador space that Alvar and Aino con\u00adceived when the silent film had bare\u00adly been dis\u00adplaced by the talkie. Notice that the forms are sim\u00adple, but not ster\u00adile. Human\u00adi\u00adty and com\u00adfort are the \u201cfunc\u00adtions\u201d being served, not ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal con\u00adfor\u00admi\u00adty, cheap\u00adness, or man\u00adu\u00adfac\u00adtur\u00ading con\u00adve\u00adnience. It still looks good.\"16-03-02<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What used to be called the \u201cInter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Style of Mod\u00adernism\u201d in archi\u00adtec\u00adture may have filled the plan\u00adet with iden\u00adti\u00adcal glass box\u00ades, but there were always some archi\u00adtects who nev\u00ader quite fit into its straight\u00adjack\u00adet. Among them, the one that appealed to \u2026<\/p>\n

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