Alvar Aalto and Urban Design

This book provides a fresh look at Alvar Aalto’s regional and community planning work, particularly the ways in which he incorporated sustainability, resiliency, energy, and health, and examines how contemporary architects and planners can learn from this approach for the betterment of 21st-century urban design and our future cities.

The Alvar Aalto Atelier planned and promoted regional development that combined ecological features, considered density, and offered a framework for informality, including flexible, adaptable infrastructures, with physical plans integrating communities with nature. These plans were largely suburban and contained vital lessons on how to deal with sprawl, traffic, landscape, energy, labor, and industry. This book analyzes letters, writings, and drawings not seen outside the Alvar Aalto Foundation, to review alternative ways to examine suburban landscapes and urban typologies, through sustainability, ecology, and use of digital technologies.

This is an essential read for all those interested in the urban design work of Alvar Aalto. Written in an accessible way for those new to the work of Aalto, Architecture and Urban Design students of all levels will also find this a helpful guide on ecologically and socially responsible design.

Robert Cody is a registered architect in New York, LEED accredited, and a member of the AIA and NCARB. He is a founding partner of Amoia Cody Architecture, established with his partner Angela Amoia. Since 2005, he has taught at the New York Institute of Technology, where he has served as Professor of Practice since 2019, focusing on comprehensive and community design studios as well as building technology courses. He is currently the Director of the Master of Architecture program at NYIT. Robert has taught and coordinated design studios across all levels, building construction, architectural theory, and led study abroad programs in Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia from 2014 to 2019. His leadership roles at NYIT include Chair (2011-2017), Associate Dean (2017), and Director of Undergraduate Programs (2018).

Angela Amoia is a partner at Amoia Cody Architecture and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at NYIT’s School of Architecture and Design. She has balanced practice and teaching since earning her Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, where she began her research on Alvar Aalto. Amoia has taught history, theory, and architectural design studios, including comprehensive studios, and has participated in study abroad programs in Italy with a focus on architectural history. In practice, she has served as project manager on a wide range of work, including skyscrapers, large-scale academic facilities, residential buildings, and adaptive reuse projects, in both internationally and locally recognized New York City firms.