Alvar Aalto Master Works

One of the masters of modern architecture, Finland's Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) was a prolific and influential architect and a gifted designer. His unique contribution to modernism embraced context and the natural environment. Drawing on sources as diverse as the Finnish landscape, the Bauhaus, and Classicism, Aalto forged an organic design vocabulary that juxtaposed concrete and wood, copper and brick, volume and form in an original synthesis. His respect for function and use contributes to the lasting popularity of his buildings and furniture. Featured in this book are thirty-three of Aalto's most important pieces, including the Villa Mairea, the Town Hall at Säynätsalo, Baker Dormitory at MIT, and the Aalto vase, selected and analyzed in detail by Aalto scholar Göran Schildt, with an introduction by Professor Michael Trencher of Pratt Institute. Profusely illustrated with full-color photographs, as well as drawings and plans, this book surveys Aalto's career, from his Neoclassical works of the 1920s to his more organic designs of the 1940s and 1950s, from furniture and glass design to buildings completed posthumously. Works from Scandinavia, Europe, and the United States are represented. A chronological list of Aalto's major works and an index of their locations complete the volume.