12 Quotes & Sayings By Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto was a famous architect from Finland. He was born in Alajarvi, Finland in 1888. He graduated from Helsinki University of Technology in 1909. He started his career as a draftsman and was a teacher of architecture at the Helsinki School of Arts from 1913-15 Read more

In 1915, he opened his own architectural office, Aalto & Söderlind. He became professor at the Helsinki School of Architecture in 1932 and later taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design as well as art history at the University of Oslo. In 1951, he designed a house for his cousin which became known as the Aalto house. It has been called "the most beautiful house in America" by "Life" magazine.

In 1952, he designed a furniture factory for his son Jorma Aalto who used to make his furniture with wood from a forest on the island of Kauppiainen. It was one of the first factories to use light weight, high strength plywood for furniture construction, which revolutionized furniture manufacturing. His furniture is known worldwide and his works are included in many important museums around the world.

Today, many factories make furniture using Aalto's techniques. Aalto died on September 23, 1976 in Helsinki, Finland.

1
We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street. Alvar Aalto
2
The ultimate goal of the architect...is to create a paradise. Every house, every product of architecture... should be a fruit of our endeavour to build an earthly paradise for people. Alvar Aalto
3
Architecture belongs to culture, not to civilization. Alvar Aalto
4
Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need time for everything that develops and crystallizes in the world of ideas. Architecture demands more of this time than other creative work. Alvar Aalto
5
The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture. Alvar Aalto
6
Nothing is as dangerous in architecture as dealing with separated problems. If we split life into separated problems we split the possibilities to make good building art. Alvar Aalto
7
Architecture is not merely national but clearly has local ties in that it is rooted in the earth. Alvar Aalto
8
Building art is a synthesis of life in materialised form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together. Alvar Aalto
9
We should concentrate our work not only to a separated housing problem but housing involved in our daily work and all the other functions of the city. Alvar Aalto
10
God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is, at least for me, an abuse of paper. Alvar Aalto
11
Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we design new staircase steps every day in connection with all our houses, but a standardized step depends on the height of the buildings and on all kinds of things. Alvar Aalto