Alvar Aalto in the Finnish Context

This book, first published in Finnish in 1985 under the title Aalto, is a critical introduction to Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), written by one of Aalto’s Finnish architectural contemporaries, Kirmo Mikkola (1934-1986). The book is divided into six sections dealing with different aspects of Aalto’s architecture, from his classical beginnings to urban planning, as well as his various professional and intellectual associates.

Mikkola debunks the common opinion of a reticent Aalto to determine the roots of his thinking, seeing him as a mediator of influences from a wide variety of sources. The book was originally targeted at a Finnish audience, and so its translation requires ’interpreters’, two architect-scholars who knew Mikkola well, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Aino Niskanen. The book also sheds light on a young generation of Finnish architects that distanced itself from Aalto as a role model, pinpointed here by the inclusion of the essay ’Snowballs’ (1948) by Aulis Blomstedt.

Often quoted by Finnish architectural scholars, the publication finally of an English translation of Mikkola’s book will appeal to those international scholars and students who have been aware of the lack of critical perspectives from Aalto’s Finnish architect contemporaries.

Kirmo Mikkola (1934-1986) was a Finnish architect, historian, artist, university lecturer, and editor-in-chief of the Finnish Architectural Review. He was known as one of the leading figures among the generation of architects that during the 1960s rebelled against the Finnish architectural establishment. Mikkola’s own architecture was seen as part of a so-called Constructivist movement, whose mentor was the architect and professor Aulis Blomstedt (1906-1979), an architecture characterized by rationality and argued on the basis of theory.

Juhani Pallasmaa is an architect, professor emeritus and writer. He ran Juhani Pallasmaa Architects in 1978-2012, was rector of the Institute of Design in 1970-72, Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture in 1978-83, Professor and Dean of Architecture at Aalto University in 1991-97, and has been a visiting professor at several universities in the USA since 1983. He has lectured widely around the world and has been a member of several juries, including The Pritzker Prize jury in 2008-14. Pallasmaa has written or edited 85 books, and published nearly 1000 essays on art and architecture. Among his books are The Eyes of the Skin (1996); The Architecture of Image (2001); Encounters: Architectural Essays, 1 and 2 (2006 and 2012); The Thinking Hand (2009); The Embodied Image (2011); Rootedness (2024).

Aino Niskanen graduated as an architect from Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in 1978 and received her doctorate in 2005. She was Professor of the History of Architecture at HUT/Aalto University in 2007-2018. Niskanen has written about public interior spaces in late 19th century Munich, co-operative society architecture in Finland, Alvar Aalto, Reima Pietilä, and Finnish architecture of the 1960s. She has been variously involved in international academic teaching projects and conferences. She has been a member of the board of the Finnish National Council of Architecture and Design, the Alvar Aalto Foundation, and the Association Alvar Aalto en France.

Aulis Blomstedt (1906-1979) was one of the leading Finnish architects of his generation. He had a wide influence through his lectures and writings as well as his professorship at the Helsinki University of Technology (1958-1966). Among his most significant contributions are his pioneering studies in proportional harmony and modular systems. Blomstedt was a founding member of Le Carré Bleu, a journal established in 1958 for discussions of architecture theory.

Gareth Griffiths is a Helsinki-based architect, urban planner, and freelance editor and translator. He has taught urban planning theory at Tampere University and architecture theory at Aalto University. He was editor of Datutop, Tampere University School of Architecture’s publication series on architecture theory from 2002 to 2024, and from 2016 its series editor. Among his writings is the book The Polemical Aalto (1997).