Alvar Aalto, born in Finland in 1898, was a renowned architect and designer known for his contributions across architecture, furniture, textiles, and glassware. His work transitioned from Nordic classicism to a more organic modernism, emphasizing the relationship between nature and human-made structures, with significant projects including the Villa Mairea, Bakers House, and Finlandia Hall. Aalto's design philosophy favored organic materials and human-centric forms, aiming to harmonize functionality with aesthetic appeal.

1. ARCHITECT ALVAR AALTO
SUBMITTED BY:
GEETIKABANSAL (14025)
PRERNA CHOUHAN (14044)
SHWETA LONGIA (14061)
SIMRANDEEP KAUR (14063)
YASHIKA JINDAL (14072)
SUBMITTED TO:
AR. HIMADRI GOGOI
AR. SHIVANI VERMA
AR. PRIYANKA KAUSHAL

2. HUGO ALVAR HENRICH AALTO
• BORN ON 3RD. FEBUARY 1898 IN
KUORTHANE,FINLAND.
• HE WAS FINNISH ARCHITECT AND A
DESIGNER, AS WELL AS SCULPTURE AND
PAINTER.
• HIS WORK INCLUDES ARCHITECTURE,
FURNITURE, TEXTILES AND GLASS WARE.
• HE STUDIED ARCHITECTURE BETWEEN
1916 TO 1921 AT THE TECHNICAL
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI.
• OPENED HIS FIRST ARCHITECTURAL
OFFICE IN JYVASKYLA IN 1923.
• HE BUILT HIS FIRST PIECE OF
ARCHITECTURE WHILE STILL A STUDENT,
A HOUSE FOR HIS PARENTS, AT ALAJARVI.

3. CAREER
•AALTO’S CAREER SPANS THECHANGES IN
STYLE FROM NORDIC CLASSICISM TO
PUREST INTERNATIONAL STYLE.
•MODERNISM TO THE MORE PERSONAL,
SYNTHETIC AND IDIOSYNCRATIC
MODERNISM.
•AALTO’S WIDE FIELD OF DESIGN
ACTIVITYRANGES FROM THE LARGE SCALE
OF CITY PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE TO
INTERIOR DESIGN,FURNITURE AND GLASS
WARE DESIGN AND PAINTING.
•IT HAS BEEN ASTIMATED THAT DURING HIS
INTIRE CAREER AALTO DESIGNED OVER 500
INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS, APPROXIMATELY
300 OF WHICH WERE BUILT, THE VAST
MAJORITY OF WHICH ARE IN FINLAND.
•HE ALSO HAS FEW BUILDING N ITALY,
FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE U.S.A..

4. PHILOSOPHY
• HE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY WAS INFLUENCED
BY NATURE AND ORGANIC MATERIALS,
UNLIKE OTHER FURNITURE OF THE
SAMEPERIOD WITH MATERIAL AS A 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.
• THE BEAUTY OF HIS WORK IS HIDDEN IN HIS
DESIGN IN APPROACH OF FUNCTIONALISM
BUT WITH A STRONG CONNECTION TO THE
ORGANIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN,
NATURE AND BUILDINGS.
• HE DESIGNED IN VERY DIFFERENT SCALES-
RANGING FROM BUILDINGS, TOWN PLANS,
FURNITURE, GLASS WARE, JEWELLARY, AND
OTHER FORMS OF ART.

5. FAMOUS BUILDINGS OF ALVAR AALTO
1/22/2021
Paimio sanatorium
Finlandian hall
Villa mairea
Alvar aalto museum
Bakers house
Paimio lounge chairs

6. CONCEPT OF FURNITURE DESIGNING
• HIS DESIGN CONCEPTS WERE ORGANIC AND USING THE HUMAN
FORMS
• HIS BUILDINGS AND CHAIRS WERE FIRST PROMPTED BY THE USERS
• THE SEATS AND HANDLES WERE MOULDED TO THE HUMAN FORM.
• OF ALL ARCHITECTURAL FURNITURE HE IS THE CLOSEST TO
HUMANITY.
• ALVAR AALTO DESIGNED LEMINATED TIMBER FURNITURE
• HE SAW THAT TUBULAR STELL LACKED HUMAN QUALITIES
• HE USED LOCAL BIRCH WOOD AS A SUBSTITUTION FOR STEEL TUBING

7. FURNITURE WORKS
• HE CONCLUDED THAT STANDARDIZATATION AND MASS
PRODUCTION COULD NOT BE SUSTAINED IN FINNLAND’S SMALL
ECONOMY.
• HIS CHAIRS WERE THE RESULT OF GREAT STUDY AND
INVESTIGATION,POSTURE,LAMINATED WOOD,ASTHETIC
CONSIDERATIONS AND EFFICIENT MECHANICAL METHODS OF MASS
PRODUCTION
• ALVAR AALTO’S FURNITURE INCLUDED :-
• THE PAIMIO CHAIR
• THE VIIPURI STACKING STOOLS
• CANTILEVERED CHAIR

8. THE PAIMIO CHAIR VIIPURI STACKING STOOL
CANTILEVERED CHAIR

9. VILLA MAIREA
(1938–1939)
• Villa Mairea is a villa, guest-house, and rural
retreat
• Designed and built by the Finnish modernist
architect Alvar Aalto for Harry and Maire
Gullichsen
• location- Noormarkku, Finland.
• The building is located in the middle of a pine
forest to the northeast of old Noormarkku.
• It is aligned in a north-south direction so that
its oasis-like garden opens to the wested

10. CONCEPT
• Aalto began work on the Villa
towards the end of 1937
• His first proposal was a rustic
hut modeled on vernacular
farmhouses
• His design was inspiered by
Falling Water by F.L.Wright

11. GROUND FLOOR PLAN • A-Music room
• B-garden oom
• C-living room
• D-library
• E-enternace hall
• F-canopy
• G-dinning hall
• H-office room
• I-kitchen
• J-bathrooms
• K-servent's room
• L-servent's bedroom
• M-outer dinning
• N-lower terrace
• O-sauna
• P-deck
• Q-pond
N
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
K
L
L
M
N
O
P
Q

12. FIRST FLOOR PLAN
• A-guest's room
• B-upper deck
• C-playing hall
• D-children's
bedroom
• E-family room
• F-maire's studio
• G-harry's
bedrooom
• H-maire's
bedroom
• I-upper terrace
A
A A
B
C D
D
D
E
F
G
H
I

13. FEATURES
• THE composite columns were inspired
by japanese architecture
• The space under the entrance canopy
is like a room marked out by nature,
from which one steps forward into an
entrance hall lit by a circular roof-
light. The main door is of red beech
while the frames of the small round
windows and the ‘free-form’ door
handle are in bronze. In spite of the
costly materials, the language of form
is modest and unassuming.

14. FEATURES
• The asymmetric studio tower with its
dark wooden cladding creates a
tension in the overall form of the
building. Beneath it is the entrance to
the conservatory. The studio tower is
supported on a similar asymmetric
column to the entrance canopy, but
the material here is white-painted
metal.
• In addition to the entrance canopy
and the studio tower, the swimming
pool forms a dynamic free-form motif
in the garden.

15. MAIN STAIRWAY
• The main stairway is the most important architectural
feature on the lower floor.
• The stairs are wide and set between round vertical
timbers. These tightly but irregularly grouped vertical
timbers make the stairwell space a separate islet which
can be used to move unnoticed to the private side of the
house.
• The naturalistic theme of the main stairs emphasises
their verticality and transparency, which unite the
entrance hall with the internal courtyard.
• The details of the stairway were drawn several times
highlighting the interplay between symmetry and
irregularity
• As built, the stairs are finished in grey carpet, but the
lowest stair is in birch finished with a high-gloss varnish.
It forms an asymmetric landing, like a speaker’s podium

16. MAIRE'S STUDIO
• The studio is a high space with light from the
windows and a roof-light.
• There are two doors from the studio to the
narrow balcony which encircles the studio
tower.
• The room also has its own internal balcony
with wooden stairs leading up to it.
• .The studio has direct access to the large
living room downstairs.
• The narrow stairs are concealed behind a
slatted wooden door.

17. FEATURES
Fireplace in outer
dinning
Rattan – wrapped
columns
continue to evoke
the Finnish forest.
Bedroom windows project out at
an angle
to address the line of approach
to the house through the forest.
In the upstairs hallway was the
children’s
play space with its circular roof-light.
This hallway also provides access
to the guest wing with its ascetic
corridor which is also
illuminated by a roof-light.

18. ELEVATIONS

19. INTERIOR

30. Bakers house
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) bakers house
dormitory ,Massachusetts
Built in the year 1947

31. INTRODUCTION
• Ar. ALVAR AALTO DESIGNED BAKERS HOUSE IN 1946 WHILE HE
WAS A PROFFESOR AT MIT.
• IT RECEIVED ITS NAME AFTER THE MIT’S DEAN OF STUDENTS
EVERETTE MOORE BAKER WAS KILLED IN AN AEROPLANE CRASH.
• BAKERS HOUSE IS A DORMITORY FOR MIT.
• HE WAS ASSISTED BY THREE ARCHITECTS NAMELY VELI PAATELA,
HIS WIFE KAIJA, OLAV HAMMARSTORM.
• IT WAS CONSTRUCTED IN THE YEAR 1947-1948.
• IT WAS ACCOMODATED IN THE YEAR 1949.
• IT WAS LABELLED AS SENIOR DORMITORY DURING THE DESIGN
PROCESS BUT LATER IT WAS USED BY BOTH UNDERGRADUATE
AND POST GRAGUATE STUDENTS .

32. LOCATION OF BAKERS HOUSE
• THE INSTITUTE RUNS ALONG THE
NORTH SIDE OF CHARLES RIVER.
• HIS PLAN WAS TO MAXIMIZE THE
VIEW OF THE RIVER FOR EVERY
STUDENT
• THE SITE IS LOCATED ON A HEAVILY
TRAFFICATED STREET ALONG
CHARLES RIVER

33. Form of building
• IN ORDER TO AVOID THE DISTURBING VIEW OUT ONTO THIS
STREET A CURVING PLAN FORM WAS CHOSEN.
• DESIGN WAS A MIXTURE BETWEEN A SKI LODGE AND A SHIP.
• THE DORMITORY IS A CURVING SNAKE SLITHERING ON ITS SITE.
• EARLY SKETCHES SHOW CLUSTERS OF ROOMS FACING SOUTH
AND A SIMPLE SINGLE SLAB WOULD NOT DO THAT SO A FAN
SHAPED END WAS DESIGNED RESOLVING ITSELF INTO A
CURVE.
• W SHAPED FORM ALLOWS UNIQUE VIEW OF THE RIVER FROM
EACH ROOM .
• W SHAPE MAXIMIZE THE NO OF ROOMS WITH A SUNNY
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE AND OBLIQUE ANGLES SOFTEN NOISE
FROM DRIVE.

34. Rear elevation
Plan ground floor
Front elevation

35. BATHROOM
GARDEN
VERTICAL CIRULATIO
HORIZONTAL
CIRCULATION
COMMON AREA
PRIVATE ROOM

36. ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
• THE FORM ISTABLISHED A
WIDE VARIETY OF ROOM
SHAPES,CREATING 43 ROOMS
ON EACH FLOOR AND 22
DIFFERENT SHAPE ROOMS .
• THE BUILDING HAS 6 FLOORS.
• THE PLAN IS COMPOSED
AROUND A SINGLE LOADED
CORRIDOR.
• AALTO REFUSED TO DESIGN
NORTH FACING ROOMS SINCE
HE WANTED TO HAVE A VIEW
OF THE RIVER FROM EAST
AND WEST OF EVERY ROOM.
INTERIOR OF ROOM
CORRIDOR

37. • EACH FLOOR WAS CONNECTED
WITH THE HELP OF A STAIRCASE
LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF
THE BUILDINGWITH AN
OBSTRUCTED VIEW OF THE
SURROUNDINGS.
• A LOT OF SQUARE N
RECTANGULAR WINDOWS WERE
LOCATED NEAR THE STAIR CASE.
• THE EXTERIOR FAÇADE OF THE
ROOMS WAS CLADDED WITH
DRAK RED RUSTIC BRICKS HAVING
A ROUGH TEXTURE.

38. • WHEREAS THE MAIN ORTHAGONAL
COMMON ROOM WAS CLADDED IN
LIMESTONE.
• IT CREATED A CALM AND STATIC SPACE
IN CONTRAST TO THE DYNAMIC
CLIMBING STAIR.
• THE GROUND FLOOR SOCIAL AREA
WAS ORGANIC RELATED TO THE
LANDSCAPE IN BOTH ITS GEOMETRY
AND USE OF MATERIALS .
• THE LOWER FLOOR IS LIT BY CIRCULAR
VIIPURI ROOFLIGHTS
• GROUND FLOOR COLUMNS ARE
SIMPLE PLASTERED CYLINDERS BUT ON
THE UPPER FLOORS THEYARE
EMPHASISED BY TIMBER CLADDING.

39. FINLANDIA HALL

40. INTRODUCTION
• THE FINLANDIA HALL IS A
CONGRESS AND EVENT VENUE
IN CENTRE OF HELSINKI ON THE
TOOLONLAHTI BAY.
• THE FINLANDIA HALL WAS
DESIGNED IN 1962 AND BUILT
BETWEEN 1967 AND 1972.
• THE PLAN FOR THE CONGRESS
WING WAS DRAWN UP IN 1970
AND IT WAS CONSTRUCTED
BETWEEN 1973-75 WITH THE
COMPETITION OF THE FIRST
STAGE OF HIS OVERALL PROJECT.

41. FEATURES
• THE MAIN FEATURE OF THE
FINLANDIA HALL BUILDING IS A
TOWER LIKE SECTION WITH A
SLOPING ROOF.
• AALVAR AALTO’S IDEA BEHIND THE
DESIGN WAS THAT A HIGH EMPTY
SPACE WOULD PROVIDE BETTER
ACOUSTICS.
• A SUSPENDED SEALING 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 MEDITARRIAN CULTURE,
WHICH HE WANTED TO BRING TO
FINLAND.

42. INTERIOR DESIGN
• THE DESIGNOF EACH LAMP,
PIECE OF FURNITURE, PANEL,
FLOORING MATERIAL AND
DECORATIVE BOARD REFLECTS
THEMATURE APPROACH
RESULTING FROM AALTO’S
LONG CAREER AS AN ARCHITECT.
• THE LARGEA ASYMMETRICAL
AUDITORIUM IS VIRTUALLY FREE
OF RIGHT ANGLES, YET STILL
TIGHTLY CONTROLLED WIYH
NATURALLY HARMONIOUS
ACOUSTICALLY INFLUENCED
WALL RELIEFS AND BOLD
BALCONY OUTLINES. IN MANY
RESPECTS, IT IS SIMPLIFIED
VERSION OF AALTO’S MOST
SIGNIFICANT AUDITORIUM IN
THE GREAT OPERA HOUSE IN
ESSEN.

43. OPTICAL ILLUSION
• 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
TOOLONLAHTI-BAY.
• AALTO LIKE TO CREATE OPTICAL
ILLUSION.

44. MAIN BUILDINGS
• MAIN AUDITORIUM (SEATS-
1700)
• HELSINKI HALL (SEATS- 340)
• TERRACE HALL (SEATS-250)
• ELISSA HALL (SEATS-130)
• AURORA HALL (SEATS-894)
• VERANDAH (SEATS-1700)
• FINLANDIA RESTAURANT
• CAFÉ VERANDAH
• GALLERIE VERANDAH

45. MAIN AUDITORIUM
• THE MAIN AUDITORIUM HAS BEEN
A POPULAR VENUE FOR MEETING,
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 PARAQUET AND
THE BLUE SECTIONS OF THE WALL
ARE FINNISH BIRCH.
• THE STAGE IS 14 METRES WIDE. IT
CONSIST OF SEVERAL MODULAR
FLATFORMS. IN THE MIDDLE, THERE
IS AN ELEVATOR TO THE STORAGE
ROOMS LOCATED ON TWO FLOORS
UNDERNEATH THE STAGE.

46. PIAZZA
• PIAZZA IS A LARGE FOYER
THAT IS FULL OF NATURAL
LIGHT.
• THE COLORS ARE SUBDUED
AND QUIET.
• THE FLOOR OF THE FOYER IS
COVEED WITH HIGH
QUALITY ENGLISH WOOL
CARPETING.

47. THE CONGRESS WING
• IT WAS COMPLETED IN 1975.
• THE SPECIAL FEATURE OF
THECONGRESS WING IS THE “WAVES”
OF THE FAÇADE 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.

48. THE FINLANDIA RESTAURANT
• THE FINLANDIA RESTAURANT
CONSIST OF 3 DRAWING ROOMS
SEPERATED BY MOVABLE WALLS.
• AS A SINGLE SPACE, THE
RESTAURANT SEATS 380 PEOPLE
AND ACCOMODATES A
COCKTAIL PARTY FOR 650
PEOPLE.

49. PLANS OF FINLANDIA HALL

51. PARTS OF THE FINLANDIA HALL
1/22/2021
CAFETERIA OF
FINLANDIA HALL
HELSINKI HALL
CONGRESS WING
RESTAURANT

52. THANK YOU
1/22/2021