Alvar Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer who studied architecture in Helsinki from 1916-1921. He experimented with bending wood and established a plywood workshop in 1929. In the 1930s, he started producing innovative plywood chairs and built the Paimio Sanatorium, known for its organic links between people, nature, and buildings. He co-founded the furniture design company Artek in 1935. Aalto's designs were influenced by nature and organic materials, and he helped shift design towards organic modernism. Some of his most famous designs include the Paimio chair, Savoy vase, and Villa Mairea.

1. ALVAR ALTO
. Studied Architecture between 1916-1921 at the Technical
University of Helsinki,
,
. Experimented the bending of wood with Aino Marsio for five years,
. established an experimental plywood workshop in Turku in 1929
with Otto Korhonen,
. Started to produce his innovative plywood chairs in the1930s, and
create a new trend in use of plywood,
. Built Paimio Sanatorium in Turku in 1930s,
. Designed the Villa Mairea, one of the most admired buildigns of
modern architecture with his perception of organic links between
people, nature and buildings,
. Founded Artek, a furniture design company in 1935 with his
colleagues Harry and Marie Gullichsen,

2. . 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,
. Designed vases with curvilinear bases and straight sides for Savoy Restaurant – Turku in 1937 which
produced in Iittala glass works,
. With his innovative designs and natural forms he changed the course of design towards organic
Modernism,
. his ideas had a strong influence on designers of the period such as Charles and Ray Eames,
. 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 those three components
and created a synthesis of life in materialized form,
. Designed in very different scales, buildings, town plans, furniture, glassware, jewellery and other
forms of art,
ALVAR ALTO

3. Paimio chair,
Stool
ALVAR ALTO

4. The Aalto Vase, also known as the Savoy Vase, is a world
famous piece of glassware and an iconic piece of Finnish
design created by Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino Marsio. It
became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a
range of custom furnishings and fixtures created by Alvar
Aalto and Anio for the luxury Savoy resaurant in Helsinki
that opened in 1937
Savoy Vase
ALVAR ALTO

5. WORKERS CLUB –ALVAR ALTO
•Discontinous glazing on all four sides at
entrance level.
• The accommodation inside - a meeting-
room above and a restaurant below - is
clearly expressed on the exterior
•Doric columns
•Circular atrium
Cartouches to
decorate the wall
Palladian windows

6. WORKERS CLUB –ALVAR ALTO

7. VILLA MAIREA–ALVAR ALTO

8. VILLA MAIREA–ALVAR ALTO

9. VILLA MAIREA–ALVAR ALTO

10. VILLA MAIREA–ALVAR ALTO

11. MIT Baker House Dormitory / Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto designed the Baker House in 1946 while he was a professor at the Massachussets
Institute of Technology, where the dormitory is located. It received its name in 1950, after the
MIT's Dean of Students Everett Moore Baker was killed in an airplane crash that year.

12. The dormitory is a curving snake slithering on its site and reflects many of
Aalto's ideas of formal strategy, making it a dormitory that is both inhabited
and studied by students from all over the world.
MIT Baker House Dormitory / Alvar Aalto
The site runs along the north side of the Charles River and from the very start
Aalto's plans seek to find ways of maximizing the view of the river for every
student.

13. MIT Baker House Dormitory / Alvar Aalto
fan-shaped ends, and by the "giant gentle
polygon" resolving itself into a sinuous curve,

14. Creating 43 rooms and 22 different room shapes per floor that although similar,
still required distinct designs for the placement of built-in furniture.
MIT Baker House Dormitory / Alvar Aalto

15. MIT Baker House Dormitory / Alvar Aalto
Instead of rooms, a stairway systems is housed on the
north side of the building with an unobstructed view of its
surroundings.
The plan is composed around a single-loaded corridor. Aalto
refused to design north-facing rooms since he wanted most
rooms to have a view of the river from the east or west, and
thus proposed enlarging the rooms on the western end into
large double and triple rooms that receive both northern and
western light.