by ROP NAHASHON KIBIWOTT B02/35019/2013

  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 in Noormarkku, Finland. What is it?

  The Gullichsens were a wealthy couple and members of the Ahlstrom family.  They believed in the possibility of a social utopia based on technological progress and found in Alvar Aalto a designer who shared their ideas and could give them convincing architectural expression.  They told Aalto that he should regard it as 'an experimental house'. Aalto seems to have treated the house as an opportunity to bring together all the themes that had been preoccupying him in his work to that point but had not been able to include them in actual buildings Cont.

  The plan of the Villa Mairea is a modified L-shape of the kind Aalto had used before. It is a layout which automatically created a semi-private enclosure to one side, and a more exclusive, formal edge to confront the public world on the other. Introduction- villa.  The lawn and the swimming pool are situated in the angle of the L, with a variety of rooms overlooking them.  The interiors of the Villa Mairea are richly articulated in wood, stone and brick. The spaces vary in size from the grand to the cabin-like A model of the villa

  Aalto began work on the Villa towards the end of 1937, and was given an almost free hand by his clients. His first proposal was a rustic hut modeled on vernacular farmhouses. Early in 1938, however, inspiration came from a radically different source, the residence named ‘ Fallingwater ’ designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  The similarities in the initial sketches of the villa with the Fallingwater are that the villa had cantilevered balconies and undulating basements. Initial concepts.

  Later Aalto had new ideas and did radical redesigns which only the plan footprint and servants’ wing remained more or less intact. Otherwise the whole plan was regulated by a series of squares.  The open living room is planned around a rectilinear structural grid whose dimensions are adjusted to suit the disposition of rooms above. This is in contrast to the conventional Modernist practice exemplified by the work of Le Corbusier by comparison with the sophisticated spatial composition of the ground floor. Cont.

  The flat roof of the dining room is extended to form a covered terrace, which connects with the irregular roof of the small timber sauna. Cont. Terrace door detail.

  The upper floor by comparison with the sophisticated spatial composition of the ground floor, the upper or first floor is a relatively straightforward assemblage of private rooms. Cont. View of second floor window from the entrance

  The dining room itself is a double-square in plan, and the triple-square of the service block is centered on it; the formality is entirely appropriate to the activity of dining and entertaining Cont. Fire place-interior view of the villa

Front door detail View from the main entrance Garden kitchen Side entrance of villa

  The villa serves as a summer house, a form of retreat to nature –a tradition in Finland.  It expresses the aspirations of the new generation and of the Gullichsens’ vision of ‘ the good life’. Significance.

  Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born in Kuortone, Finland. His father (Johan Henrik Aalto)was a Finnish speaking land surveyor and his mother (selly Matilda was a Swedish- speaking post mistress.  Aalto studied at the Ivyaskyla lyceum school, completing his basic education in1916.  In 1916 he enrolled to study architecture at the Helsinki university of technology. His studies were interrupted by the Finnish war of liberation which he fought in. afterwards he continued with his education graduating in Biography.

  Alvar toured Europe after graduating and in 1923 he returned to Ivyaskyla where he opened his first architectural office.  He marred architect Aino Marsio and had 2 children, a daughter (Johanna Alanen ) born in 1925 and a son, ( Hamilkar Aalto ) born in  Aino Aalto died o f cancer in 1949 and in 1952 Aalto married architect Elissa Makiniemi (died 1994) who worked as an assistant in his office.  Alvar Aalto died on 11 th may 1976 in Helsinki. Cont. Alvar and Elissa Aalto in the 1950s

  Following Aalto's death in 1976 his office continued to operate under the direction of his widow, Elissa, completing works already to some extent designed. These works include the Jyvaskyla City Theatre and Essen opera house. Cont.

  Nordic Classicism was a style of architecture that briefly blossomed in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) between 1910 and Style. Parliament building Finland

  The International Style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s the formative decades of modern architecture. Cont. Tower c, Ottawa

  The Viipuri municipal library in Vyborg, Russia. Built from 1927 to1935. Projects. Auditorium, 2011 Interior s

  Baker House, located at 362 Memorial Drive, is a co- ed dormitory at MIT. It was designed in 1947 to 1948 and built in Cont.

  KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg in Aalborg, Denmark, was built between after designs by Elisa, Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruel. Cont.

  Aalto-Hochhaus is a 22-floor high-rise apartment building in Bremen, Germany. Its approximately 60 meters tall and was completed in Cont.

  The Aalto Theatre (in German officially Aalto- Musiktheater Essen) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Essen, Germany began in Cont.

  Finlandia Hall is a concert hall with a congress wing in Helsinki, Finland, by Töölönlahti bay. The building was designed by Alvar Aalto. The work began in 1967 and was completed in 1971 Cont. FINLANDIA HALL

  The Enso Gutzeit administrative headquarters, Finland. Cont. Close up

  Aalto also designed furniture and glassware. Other works. Aalto vase (Savoy)

  Aalto also painted as part of his process of architectural design. cont. Maison CarrieAutumn

  en.wikipedia.org  References.