Alvar Aalto Foundation Launches Collaboration with Google

The Alvar Aalto Foundation has begun a collaborative project with Google to make Aalto buildings even more accessible to the public. Using Google’s Street View navigation tool, along with its virtual Cultural Institute, the project offers a look inside some of Aalto’s most iconic works of architecture.

Inside view. Studio Aalto Helsinki, Helsinki (1954–56). Photography © Pepechibiryu

"Sharing information about Aalto and comprehensively responding to the needs of our various audiences are fundamental to our work. This collaboration is a major step by the Alvar Aalto Foundation towards better accessibility and visibility. We want to be accessible to everyone who does not have a chance to visit our sites in person,” says Director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation Tommi Lindh.

Google’s Street View takes users on a virtual journey into the interiors of Aalto’s buildings. Nine sites, designed by Aalto, will be featured on this new platform, including Finlandia Hall, Studio Aalto, and even some lesser-known sites such as Tehtaanmäki Primary School.

The collaboration has also begun on two online exhibitions. Google’s Cultural Institute is showing an online exhibition based on the popular Alvar Aalto Museum-produced exhibition A Stool Makes History. This takes a close look at Aalto’s three-legged design classic and its history. Another online exhibition adopts a restoration viewpoint to explore the Alvar Aalto Library in Vyborg, now returned to its former glory.

Explore these exciting online resources and learn more about Aalto’s Work with the links below:

- Alvar Aalto’s Architecture, collection of imagery.
- A Stool Makes History, online exhibition.
- The Restoration of Alvar Aalto Library in Vyborg, online exhibition.

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Studio Aalto Helsinki. Photography © Rauno Träskelin. Courtesy of Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Finlandia Hall, 1971. Alvar Aalto. Photography © by Thermos.

Aalto's Church of the Three Crosses (Kolmen Ristin Kirkko), 1958. Alvar Aalto.

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ALVAR AALTO

Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) qualified as an architect from Helsinki Institute of Technology (later Helsinki University of Technology and now part of the Aalto University) in 1921. He set up his first architectural practice in Jyväskylä. His early works followed the tenets of Nordic Classicism, the predominant style at that time. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he made a number of journeys to Europe on which he and his wife Aino Marsio, also an architect, became familiar with the latest trends in Modernism, the International Style.

The pure Functionalist phase in Aalto’s work lasted for several years. It enabled him to make an international breakthrough, largely because of Paimio Sanatorium (1929-1933), an important Functionalist milestone. Aalto had adopted the principals of user-friendly, functional design in his architecture. From the late 1930s onwards, the architectural expression of Aalto’s buildings became enriched by the use of organic forms, natural materials and increasing freedom in the handling of space.

From the 1950s onwards, Aalto’s architectural practice was employed principally on the design of public buildings, such as Säynätsalo Town Hall (1948-1952), the Jyväskylä Institute of Pedagogics, now the University of Jyväskylä (1951-1957), and the House of Culture in Helsinki (1952-1956). His urban design master plans represent larger projects than the buildings mentioned above, the most notable schemes that were built being Seinäjoki city centre (1956-1965/87), Rovaniemi city centre (1963-1976/88) and the partly built Jyväskylä administrative and cultural centre (1970-1982).

From the early 1950s onwards, Alvar Aalto’s work focused more and more on countries outside Finland, so that a number of buildings both private and public were built to his designs abroad. Some of his best-known works include Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland (1937–1939), the Finnish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Baker House, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (1947–1948), Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland (1949–1966), The Experimental House, Muuratsalo, Finland (1953) or Essen opera house, Essen, Germany (1959–1988).