Must-Know Modern Homes: Villa Mairea
Experimenting led to rich rewards in this Finnish architectural masterpiece by modernist Alvar Aalto
John Hill
March 12, 2013
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor... More
Along with Frank Lloyd Wright, Finnish architect Alvar Aalto stands out for being a modern architect with a highly personal style that blends the historical and the contemporary. But unlike Wright, who was born less than a decade after the end of the Civil War and did his early work in the same century, Aalto (1898–1976) started his career as modernism spread across Europe. The architect's first buildings followed Nordic classicism, but he quickly moved on to functionalism, Scandinavia's version of European modernism. As quickly as that shift occurred, Aalto ditched the rigor of functionalism and developed his own idiosyncratic version of modern architecture that found inspiration in history and the Finnish landscape.
While Villa Mairea is not the first project Aalto designed in this vein, it is the first such residence for a client (his own house came in 1936), and it has become one of the masterpieces of 20th-century residential architecture. Its qualities are not immediately apparent, since the design does not have a clear order, like other modern houses, nor the stylistic cues of traditional buildings. But Aalto's emphasis on experience, mood and metaphor results in a house whose rich rewards should become apparent upon closer inspection.
Both the architect and the client saw the house as an experiment in realizing ideas that could be applied to mass housing, a preoccupation with many architects in the decades between the World Wars. Aalto felt that mass housing lacked the individual touches that make a house enriching rather than sterile and impersonal. In this vein the house is even more modern than other houses with that label, given that he strove for function (the basis for early modernist buildings) over style and ideology.
Villa Mairea at a Glance
Year built: 1939
Architect: Alvar Aalto
Location: Noormarkku, Finland
Visiting info: Must inquire about tours in advance
More: 10 Must-Know Modern Homes
While Villa Mairea is not the first project Aalto designed in this vein, it is the first such residence for a client (his own house came in 1936), and it has become one of the masterpieces of 20th-century residential architecture. Its qualities are not immediately apparent, since the design does not have a clear order, like other modern houses, nor the stylistic cues of traditional buildings. But Aalto's emphasis on experience, mood and metaphor results in a house whose rich rewards should become apparent upon closer inspection.
Both the architect and the client saw the house as an experiment in realizing ideas that could be applied to mass housing, a preoccupation with many architects in the decades between the World Wars. Aalto felt that mass housing lacked the individual touches that make a house enriching rather than sterile and impersonal. In this vein the house is even more modern than other houses with that label, given that he strove for function (the basis for early modernist buildings) over style and ideology.
Villa Mairea at a Glance
Year built: 1939
Architect: Alvar Aalto
Location: Noormarkku, Finland
Visiting info: Must inquire about tours in advance
More: 10 Must-Know Modern Homes
Aalto met Maire Gullichsen, wife of industrialist Harry Gullichsen, through his associate, Nils-Gustav Hahl, in 1935. Maire and Harry would become Aalto's clients for the villa in Noormarkku, but not before Aalto and his wife, Aino, started the furniture company Artek with Hahl and Maire; to this day the company produces the chairs and glassware designed by Aalto. Their friendship, which also included a shared view of art and society, resulted in some fairly lax guidance to Aalto from the clients: "We told him that he should regard it as an experimental house; if it didn’t work out we wouldn’t blame him."
One of Aalto's early responses was a scheme with cantilevers echoing Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater—Aalto saw it in project form in journals in 1937, when he started work on Villa Mairea.
One of Aalto's early responses was a scheme with cantilevers echoing Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater—Aalto saw it in project form in journals in 1937, when he started work on Villa Mairea.
Before Aalto's Fallingwater-esque design, he had proposed a variation on a vernacular farmhouse. Instead of ignoring this initial impulse, Aalto expanded his historical reach to incorporate L-shaped Scandinavian plans typically used for aristocrats (appropriate, given the Gullichsens' wealth). The L-shaped plans loosely define the private outdoor space, and in the case of Villa Mairea that area is filled by a pool and a sauna building connected to the house by a sod-covered walkway.
This plan shape was developed and agreed upon by the client, but even as construction on the house began in its forest clearing, Aalto made changes. This is testament to how his blending of the old and new — into what has been called a painterly collage — can accept changes, given the organic nature of his modernism.
This plan shape was developed and agreed upon by the client, but even as construction on the house began in its forest clearing, Aalto made changes. This is testament to how his blending of the old and new — into what has been called a painterly collage — can accept changes, given the organic nature of his modernism.
The first glimpses of the house are of a white box in the forest, but the layering of various pieces seen from a closer look violates any simple reading. First is the wood box projecting from the white walls (housing Harry's library and the living room); then there are the canted windows on the second floor; finally there is the asymmetrical and elongated entrance canopy sticking out from the white wall behind it.
Compare the front of Villa Mairea with the front of the Gropius House; both have canopies and spiral stairs, but Aalto's technique is relaxed where Gropius is rigorous. I'm always amazed at how successful Aalto's exteriors are given the great number of things going on.
Compare the front of Villa Mairea with the front of the Gropius House; both have canopies and spiral stairs, but Aalto's technique is relaxed where Gropius is rigorous. I'm always amazed at how successful Aalto's exteriors are given the great number of things going on.
Turning one corner ever so slightly reveals even more things going on, yet all of them working together. The wood volume of the living room actually has a dark stone base, while at the top is a trellis for the terrace serving the master bedroom. A dark, curving wood wall on the upper floor houses Maire's studio, a volume that is also expressed specially on the rear facade.
A couple exterior details on the front before moving to the back: The living room volume (left photo) has large windows with wood frames and cladding above the stone base; steel rods accept shutters that protect the glass. The white corner (right photo) that turns toward the kitchen-service leg of the L-plan has wood sticks layered over the walls; the angled bay windows serve the children's bedrooms. The latter's wood decoration is part of Aalto's forest metaphor, for which the verticals of trees are also echoed in columns and other surfaces, inside and outside.
The design of the rear side of the house is even more relaxed than the front, with a lot less going on. The predominantly white and solid surfaces are offset by large glass expanses serving the living and dining rooms and the dark wood studio for Maire that we saw from the front.
Underneath Maire's studio is a winter garden that is accessed from outside. The piano curve of the studio is expressed in the wood guardrail and underside of the outdoor space above. Even though the structural supports are rendered in white modernist pilotis, they allude to trees and are therefore more metaphorical than logical.
In the photo on the left, the sauna can be seen in the distance.
In the photo on the left, the sauna can be seen in the distance.
Inside, the forest metaphor is more pronounced, especially with the columns and nonstructural posts that not only resemble trees but cluster to help define spaces and affect one's perception when moving through the otherwise open spaces. Therefore space is a weaving of lines and surfaces rather than a construction of regular columns and planes, as in other modern designs. This results from Aalto's metaphorical weaving of old and new, and his informal manipulation of columns and other architectural elements.
Here we are looking toward the entrance (right), the stairs and the opening to the dining room in between. As with the exterior, there is a lot going on (wood posts, curved white wall at entry, changes in level), but everything works together to create an atmosphere that is greater than the individual parts.
Here we are looking toward the entrance (right), the stairs and the opening to the dining room in between. As with the exterior, there is a lot going on (wood posts, curved white wall at entry, changes in level), but everything works together to create an atmosphere that is greater than the individual parts.
Turning 180 degrees from the previous photo, we see the living room with its corner hearth. The white brick wall is the inside face of the winter garden, though it is treated as if it were an exterior wall. In the foreground is one of the house's most famous details: two rattan-wrapped columns, giving the centrally located members a tripartite division; elsewhere round columns are actually bundled with rattan.
A good way of describing the house is as a series of "episodes." Although many of the spaces (especially the ground floor) are continuous, one encounters particular materials, textures, constructions, openings and other details that are not repeated but that fit together at a deep level. Embedding the vernacular (something that can be attributed to Aalto's working on two Finnish pavilions for world's fairs around the time of the house) within the modern house is one means of strengthening the cohesion of a multitude of details and references.
A good way of describing the house is as a series of "episodes." Although many of the spaces (especially the ground floor) are continuous, one encounters particular materials, textures, constructions, openings and other details that are not repeated but that fit together at a deep level. Embedding the vernacular (something that can be attributed to Aalto's working on two Finnish pavilions for world's fairs around the time of the house) within the modern house is one means of strengthening the cohesion of a multitude of details and references.
A couple more obscure details are the handle and glass portholes in the front door (left) and what his draftsmen called "Aalto's ears," a carved opening at the living room's fireplace. These two details illustrate the influence of art but also Aalto's ability to assemble a variety of surfaces and details (many as stand-alone occurrences) into a cohesive design that still points the way for architecture to be modern without being ideologically prescribed.
Villa Mairea is maintained by the Alvar Aalto Museum and can be toured with advance booking. Those interested in the house's architecture are encouraged to visit the museum's exhibition website, which features detailed information on the house and lots of drawings and photographs of it.
Villa Mairea is maintained by the Alvar Aalto Museum and can be toured with advance booking. Those interested in the house's architecture are encouraged to visit the museum's exhibition website, which features detailed information on the house and lots of drawings and photographs of it.
References
- Curtis, William J.R. Modern Architecture Since 1900. Prentice-Hall, third edition, 1996 (first published in 1982).
- Giedion, Sigfried. Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. Harvard University Press, fourth edition, 1963 (first published in 1941).
- Pallasmaa, Juhani. Encounters 1: Architectural Essays. Rakennustieto, 2012 (second edition).
- St. John Wilson, Colin. The Other Tradition of Modern Architecture: The Uncompleted Project. Black Dog Publishing, 2007 (first published in 1995).
- Villa Mairea (Alvar Aalto Museum exhibition, 2008–2009).
- Weston, Richard. Alvar Aalto. Phaidon, 1995.
- Weston, Richard. Villa Mairea: Alvar Aalto. Phaidon, 1992.
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