villa mairea

by
ROP NAHASHON KIBIWOTT
B02/35019/2013
What is it?
–
v  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.
Cont.
–
™  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
Introduction–
villa.
™ 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.
v The lawn and the swimming pool are
situated in the angle of the L, with a
variety of rooms overlooking them.
v  The interiors of the Villa Mairea are
richly articulated in wood, stone and
A model of the
brick. The spaces vary in size from the
villa
grand to the cabin-like
Initial concepts.
–
v  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.
Cont.
–
™ 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.
Terrace door detail.
Cont.
–
™ 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.
View of second floor
window from the entrance
Cont.
–
™ 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
Fire place-interior view of the
villa
Front door
detail
Garden kitchen
View from the main
entrance
Side entrance of
villa
Significance.
–
™ 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’.
Biography.
–
™ 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 1921.
Cont.
–
™  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 1928.
™  Aino Aalto died o f cancer in 1949 and
in 1952 Aalto married architect Elissa Alvar and Elissa Aalto in the
Makiniemi (died 1994) who worked
1950s
as an assistant in his office.
™  Alvar Aalto died on 11th may 1976 in
Helsinki.
Cont.
–
™ 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.
Style.
–
™ Nordic Classicism was a style of architecture that briefly
blossomed in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark,
Norway and Finland) between 1910 and 1930.
Parliament
building Finland
Cont.
–
™ The International Style is a major architectural
style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s the
formative decades of modern architecture.
Tower c, Ottawa
Projects.
–
–  The Viipuri municipal library in Vyborg, Russia. Built from 1927
to1935.
Interior
1930s
2011
Auditorium, 2011
Cont.
–
™ Baker House, located at 362 Memorial Drive, is a coed dormitory at MIT. It was designed in 1947 to 1948
and built in 1949.
Cont.
–
™ KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg in
Aalborg, Denmark, was built between 1968-72 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 1962.
Cont.
–
™ The Aalto Theatre (in German officially AaltoMusiktheater Essen) is an opera house and major
performing arts venue in Essen, Germany began in
1983.
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
FINLANDIA
HALL
Cont.
–
™ The Enso Gutzeit administrative headquarters, Finland.
Close up
Other works.
–
Ø  Aalto also designed furniture and glassware.
Aalto vase
(Savoy)
cont.
–
™ Aalto also painted as part of his process of
architectural design.
Autumn
Maison Carrie
References.
–
™ en.wikipedia.org
™ www.greatbuildings.com