2B
Alvar
Aalto was concerned about the social aspect in all building. This was
particularly evident in his residential architecture: and this already
early in his career involved creating innovative solutions. One such
innovation was a stair-less house type, closely set on ground level, and
where the advantages of both multistorey housing and the immediate
connection to nature are brought together. At the same time, he
developed in his apartment block and student dormitory designs a balance
between communal and private spaces, what one could call the "city and
the streets" inside the building.
Alvar Aalto Apartments opens views
into Aalto's ideals about dwelling. The internal organisation of an
apartment, the relationship of the home to the outside world, the
movement from one space to another and the "city on the hill" were all
issues of importance in Aalto's deliberations, as he tried to solve the
problematics of dwelling. The book presents ten apartment blocks and two
student dormitories by Aalto built in Finland, Sweden, Germany,
Switzerland and the United States, from the 1920s to the end of the
1960s.
