All language subtitles for Aalto.en

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My dear Aino,

I am comforted by the thought

that this period
of travel is ending,

and a new period of work begins.

I drew a lot

this is reminiscent of how you
and I competed, and other drawings.

The best moments of life.

We will strive for this again.

No more routine work.

Let's work together
without being too exhausted;

You and I, together, are at home.

Alwar.

AALTO

Alvar Aalto - Finnish architect,

one of the greatest masters of modernist
architecture of the twentieth century.

He is unique in his ability to achieve optimal

accommodation of his
projects from a social,

psychological and
environmental point of view.

He knew how to anticipate the
needs of the customer and provide the

person with a sense of comfort and
well-being in the spaces he created.

Of course, Alvar Aalto
was a complex person.

He was clearly very

attractive, generous, very

intelligent - exceptional qualities.

He must have had a strong charm.

Aino Marcio-Aalto was

essentially a very modern woman.

Mother, architect, designer.

She performed
in all these guises.

I think Aalto was attractive to
people regardless of gender.

I'm sure Aino does too.

And, you see, as a couple,

together they attracted
other colleagues.

Among the modernists there

were few married couples.

That's why they
were unique pioneers.

Aino Marcio and Alvar Aalto studied

architecture at the Helsinki

Polytechnic University
at about the same time.

Back then, architecture
schools were dominated by men.

There is a myth that Alvar Aalto

was bad at mathematics, and he

made up for this deficiency

through his ability
to draw and sketch.

and thanks to his bright personality.

After graduating, Aalto was looking
for employees for his company.

ARCHITECTURAL AND MONUMENTAL

ART She ??heard about the vacancy.

Later, in October
1924 They merried.

Right after the wedding, on the
honeymoon, they are going to the continent.

He was very interested in the
complex structure of the city.

He knew that Italy -
cradle of urban culture.

"Why don't we Finns learn
from this ancient culture?"

"Why don't we
improve our cities?

modeled after this
ancient culture, where the

architecture blends so
masterfully into the landscape?�

CHURCH IN MUURAM, 1929

Already in his early 20s,
Aalto seems to be issuing

a manifesto in his work,
saying, "I see the point."

We are trying to
incorporate our own special

Scandinavian style into the
WORKERS' HOME IN JYV�SKYLA, 1925

In the tradition of classical architecture,
dating back thousands of years.

There is an innate
sense of intuition

here, not an
ideal linear rational

inquisitive mind saying:
�How to humanize this space?

How can I make it special?"

SANATORIUM IN PAIMIO, 1933

Aalto, although only for a few

years, was a relatively
pure modernist.

It was then, creating
a sanatorium in Paimio

and the Vyborg library,
that he found himself.

Having started work on
the sanatorium project,

he fell ill and spent
some time in the hospital.

There he realized that
the patient of the medical

institution looked at the world
differently, than a healthy person.

He wrote, that he
created a sanatorium in

Paimio for people in
a horizontal position.

Here even in the smallest details

I consider the sanatorium
the most inventive

building in the entire
history of modernism.

His goal was to create a

highly complete work of art.

The creation of such a sanatorium
forced him to take up furniture design.

PAIMIO CHAIR, 1932

The Aaltos were unique among
architects for many reasons.

One of them is how they
became part of the modernist

movement and the global
community of modernist architects.

MARSEILLES.

In the summer of 1933, the "CONGRESS OF

ARCHITECTS", LASZLO
MOHOLY-NAGY, 1933

Alvar Aalto went to the
international congress

of modern architecture, held on the ship

Patrice, which sailed from
Marseille to Athens and back.

He easily entered the group of

the most famous European

architects and met the right people.

LE CORBUSIER (PARIS)

The decision to hold
the congress on the

ship was symbolic - it
was in international waters.

In many ways this was the SECRETARY

GENERAL SIEGFRID GIEDION (ZURICH)

The swan song of modern
idealism on the eve of the war.

Siegfried Giedion,
one of the most influential architects,

became the General Secretary of the Congress.

She and Aalto became friends.

My little Aino,

I'm still with Gidion,

it was difficult to
write a letter calmly.

Don't worry about Marcel.

This is one of the most terrible
and distorted cities I have ever seen.

But I did not return to the port alone.

I had a life jacket
one young lady from the congress,

so I was too tough for Marcel.

Of course it turned
into a love affair

however, it is not at all dangerous
to either the body or the soul.

In Marseille I sat alone with
Le Corbusier every morning.

He was extremely kind to me.

I wanted to leave today but we
still need to make a presentation.

They organized an
exclusive reception

in the house of some
South American millionaire.

I'll leave the next morning
The plane ticket has already been purchased.

Because I love so much

I love my Aino madly,

who kisses me in
sensitive places.

Why are you writing that you
will be home in a couple of days?

I've been waiting for you all the time
starting Friday.

And then you say
that you will only be in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Very original,

but that's typical for you.

Of course it's my own fault
because I know you.

I'm very upset.

Moreover, we were all sick here.

I didn't tell you because I wanted
to so that you go home with joy.

Can not wait, when will it end.

By the time you return,
I will try to calm down.

Aino.

CITY LIBRARY IN VYBORG, 1935

They had close relationships with

key figures of the architectural
and artistic avant-garde.

A man without an architectural background, one of the

people they met through the
Congress was Moholy-Nagy.

Photographer, cinematographer,
artist and graphic artist.

Whatever sparked the
friendship, they had it.

And so Moholy-Nagy comes to
Alvar and Aino for a whole month.

And in the library in Vyborg this
�lattice� of round lamps appears.

Look at Moholy's
films and photographs.

He very often has such
a metal structure with

slotted round holes,
through which light streams.

"PLAY OF LIGHT: BLACK-WHITE-GRAY",
LASZLO MOHOLY-NAGY, 1930

And in a sense, the Aaltos are taking

Moholy's work with
artificial light and

doing the same
thing with natural light.

The Aaltos began designing classical-style
furniture already in the 1920s.

CHAIR 60, 1933

No matter how talented
you are Alvar and Aino Aalto,

they would never have made
these wooden reliefs themselves.

The trick was that they
hired a professional carpenter.

At one point, almost all of Aalto's
furniture was sent to London.

If you look at the
production of Otto

Korhonen's firm between 1933 and 1939, about 75

percent of all their furniture
from Turku went to London.

And the main customers
in England were architects.

They specifically stipulated
this in their projects.

The modest design served a

broad social democratic model

of society; it was for everyone.

Walking into the Artek store
today you won't believe this

that furniture was incredibly cheap.

Finmar was opened

to sell and promote
Aalto furniture in the UK.

One of the main problems
at that moment was

lack of a system in
working with orders.

No one spoke English
at the Turku plant.

There were quality problems

since the furniture
was experimental,

especially the glue.

In every attempt to obtain
guaranteed supply and quality

instead of a clear answer awaiting them

something vague.

In 1940, the Finmar
office in Great Britain

was destroyed during
the German Blitz bombing.

There are no
documents left at all.

Aalto's furniture was popular
among educated people.

The most famous example is
that she appears in the film by

Alexander Korda based on the novel
by H. Wells "The Shape of the Future."

Everytown's set was
designed by Moholy-Nagy.

According to Moholy-Nagy,
such a chair is fully

consistent with the utopia of
2036, and this is Paimio's chair.

Aalto himself had furniture from
Marcel Breuer in his living room.

This is amazing because Aalto
was a great designer himself.

But he had great respect for
the work of other designers.

Aalto had a difficult
relationship with the Bauhaus.

SCHOOL OF PROFESSOR
GROPIUS, BAUHAUS

He always said that I
had never been there.

The apartments in the Paimio sanatorium

could well have been
designed by Gropius.

Aalto claimed to
be familiar with Le

Corbusier's work only through
newspaper publications.

But this is not true.

VILLA STEIN, LE CORBUSIER, 1928

The building of the newspaper
"Turun Sanomat" is in its

purest form a product of the
ideological influence of Le Corbusier.

JEAN ARP, WOODEN
RELIEF, 1930s Alvar

does not borrow an idea from anyone,

he develops this idea in communication.

He was an opportunist in
the best sense of the word.

He was ambitious, and if an

opportunity presented
itself, he grabbed it.

In October 1935

4 people organized a

company called "Artek".

From the merger of the
words "art" and "technology".

Apstr�m is a family
of wealthy timber

merchants, this industry
was very important in Finland.

She married Harry
Gulliksen, thus

uniting these two
rich dynasties.

Niels-Gustav Hahl, writer,
intellectual and journalist.

And the Aalto couple.

The appearance of
"Artek" created a structure.

The opportunity to
distribute furniture arose.

A brand has appeared.

Aino left home for work.

She was an art director.

Alvar stayed at
home sat in his office.

In the late 1930s, Alvar Aalto
worked in a tiny workshop.

When the work was delayed,
or there

were few clients, Artek and the furniture

trade provided them with additional income.

Talking about the opening of Artek, Niels-Gustav Hall said

that this allowed Alvar Aalto
to maintain his bohemian spirit.

Dear daddy and kids,

I'm incredibly tired.

Last night I left Turku and immediately

fell asleep in the cabin.

And then, when I undressed, I
couldn't sleep a wink all night.

You'll have to take sleeping
pills. I desperately want to work.

I'll tell you the name of the hotel in Oslo, so that you can

telegraph whether you will come or not. I hope you will come.

I thought about everything
from all points of view.

And I concluded: we have each other,

We have our jobs and healthy children.

You couldn't wish for more.

I will write to you from Oslo.

I'm tired to death. Aino.

My dear Aino, you are a liar.

In Oslo, probably I
made myself at home.

A letter arrived from Norway.

The company wants
to sell the rights.

While you're there, do it.

Say that you are
one of the furniture

designers and make an agreement with them.

I'll look after the
children We'll be fine.

So that we can get even,
you will have to sin a lot.

Sometimes I even picked
on someone on the street.

And you only have small
adventures among pious

families, so I�m not sure
that we will ever be equal.

I love the person in you
and not some highly moral creature.

And forget these
stupid coffee meetings.

Dear daddy,

It's good that I went alone.

Not a single erotic encounter.

It would be terrible
if you picked up someone here.

You already have such a head start,
that I will soon leave the race.

Just don't get carried away
but I like you the most.

I think their relationship is married

were very special
although not without problems.

I think,
existed between them

amazing devotion to family.

This gave them some faith in

their own home, which helped

them be successful together.

VILLA FLORA, 1926

Aino Aalto was a
necessary balancing

element in Alvar's
bohemian, promiscuous life.

I remember he always had
an infinite amount of time.

JOHANNA ALANEN, AALTO'S

DAUGHTER He always worked at home.

Arranged coffee breaks,
hummed something

under his breath, then went back to the

office,
drew one or two lines and returned again.

Alvar believed that Aino's case was first of all, take

care of him, then came the children, and then her work.

I think that's exactly
what happened.

The Aaltos understood well what it

meant to be protected
or open to nature.

Definitely an Aalto feeling

and nourishment with
nature, at the same time, his

horror of her was partly
explained by the fact that he

lost his mother as a child,
with whom he was very close.

This is a serious
injury for any person.

But Aalto did not overcome
this with the help of a psychiatrist.

Growing up, he overcame
this through his art.

In 1937 At the World
Exhibition in Paris, the

Finnish pavilion attracted
close attention from

the most famous critics
and architectural magazines.

It had nothing to do with it

with terrible neoclassical fascist
architecture that scared people.

Furniture made from
bentwood gave off a fresh feel

as opposed to products
made from steel structures,

Bauhaus products.

Modern or not modern -
this is not a question of material,

but how it is used.

The approach may be modern.

EXHIBITION BY AYNO AND ALVAR AALTO

I saw Morton Shand's article,

HARMON GOLDSTONE,
ARCHITECT

either about Paimio, or
about the library in Vyborg.

And I was shocked.

John McAndrew was
curator of architecture

at the Museum of Modern Art.

And he said, "Talk to him.

Maybe, he'll want to
put on an exhibition.

" And I went to Helsinki
and just came to him.

His office was
small and he says:

"I'll show you my new
home, it's not finished yet."

AALTO HOUSE, 1936

And I took a photo
of him in the doorway.

Took a few photos of the house.

I kept trying to say, �Would you like to

have an exhibition at the
Museum of Modern Art?�

And so I returned to New York.

Lawrence Rockefeller
was an old friend of mine.

And so he says: "You know,
I'm building myself a house."

I told him: �I recently saw

the best modern furniture.

I just don�t know if it�s easy to come
to an agreement with these people.

If you send them an order, what will they answer?" When the furniture arrived
I worked for Wallace Harrison, one of the architects Rockefeller Center.

They worked there

then Harrison and Fuyu.

We opened the boxes.

.. It exceeded all expectations.

The first buyer of Aalto furniture in the
United States was Lawrence Rockefeller.

First distributor
in the States -

short-lived,
but a very

influential company called "New

Furniture", whose founder
was Lawrence Rockefeller.

The popularity of Aalto
furniture transcended boundaries.

Alvar Aalto was awarded
a personal exhibition

at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.

at the Museum of Modern
Art they are trying to find

definition of modernism,

and find it in the work
of the Aalto couple.

Otto Korhonen died in 1935.

the same carpenter.

You could say

The experimental quality of
Aalto's furniture is finished.

Everything that appears in Artek
after Korhonen's death -

beautiful furniture,

but there are no longer those innovations
technical experiment,

which in 1930-35 distinguished

the work of Aalto with Korhonen.

These are difficult times in Europe,

especially for
avant-garde figures.

I wanted to run away
from the dark continent.

But for the Aaltos and their company

the situation was
completely different.

Finland was still defending itself.

They were still working
in Sunil when many other

architects had already
emigrated to the United States.

PPM COMPLEX IN
SUNILE, 1938, 1954

Between the founding of "Artek" in

1935, the "SAVOY"
RESTAURANT, 1937

And with a commission for the

World's Fair in 1939, they worked

in Finland, introducing modernism

into practice,
more than all their

colleagues on the continent,

because change is in
the air, they are coming.

AALTO VASE, 1936

Aalto found their
biggest buyers.

VILLA MYRA, 1939

The Gulliksen family.

Aalto was a great storyteller.

One room has one atmosphere, the next

one has a completely different atmosphere.

It's like in books - chapters,
and in plays - actions.

We, the northern peoples, Finns in

particular tend to dream about the forest.

And Aalto breathed these
forest dreams into his architecture.

I had the honor of becoming one
of the first residents of this house.

My father Harry Gulliksen,
and mother - Maire Gulliksen.

It was very exciting for a

7-year-old boy to live here.

The whole house was an
adventure territory for me.

When I went to school
other children stared at me.

I was not an ordinary boy.

I was a stranger living

in this strange house.

Everyone in Noormarkku was surprised, looking

at such an ugly house built on Havulinna Hill.

It didn't even have a roof!

People thought he was ugly.

They thought that
there really was no roof.

But she was and still is.

Aino brought the final touch
of humanity to everything.

Selection of fabrics, lighting
and landscape features.

These were Aino's touches,

completing the essence of the
entire work of the Aalto couple.

It doesn�t matter whose signature
is on the drawings and drawings,

they worked like a real team.

She was an architect
practicing architect.

An exceptionally difficult task

especially for a woman of her generation.

COMPRESSED GLASS GLASSES,
AYNO AALTO

We'll never know
where was the border between the two.

We can only guess.

Aino was definitely an
experienced carpenter.

But Alvar is not.

Aino was not a housewife.
She didn't want to be tied up.

She was always at work.

The house was occupied
by a cook and a nanny.

They created a completely
new style of furniture.

Aino was responsible for the design
of hundreds of Aalto pieces for Artek.

Many said

that she only created
something similar to Alvar's work.

But this is not true, she contributed to Artek
your own contribution.

Her vision, her ideas, in a sense,
created the very essence of Artek.

TICKET
NEW YORK - CHICAGO

The Aalto name has become a brand.

Aalto furniture was
the most popular brand

modern furniture in the
USA until the late 1940s.

WORLD'S EXPO IN NEW YORK,
1939

The MoMA project made Aalto's
works popular in the United States.

But it was the New
York World's Fair

changed and strengthened the
very concept of this popularity,

making it unprecedented.

He gave lectures at Yale and at the

Museum of Modern
Art in San Francisco.

at the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art.

They were mainly devoted to
the humanization of architecture.

For the American press Aino
Marcio-Aalto became an icon.

It wasn't just popularity Alvar
Aalto, there was also Aino.

In California he met William
Wurster and many others.

Aalto was very sociable.

He easily made contacts
with important people.

Aalto was completely changed
by his meeting with Frank Lloyd

Wright, who was always distinguished
by the impeccability of his costume.

Alvar had a great
sense of humor.

KAROLA GIDION-WELKER,
CLOSE FRIEND

When Aino and I were
in America, Alvar kept

flirting, and then
says: �I�ll hire a gigolo

for Aino, let him dance
with her all evening.

Aino deserves
anything and anyone."

I don't know if poor Aino danced
with the gigolo that evening.

But that wasn't her style.

Alvar had an erotic
approach to both life and work.

There was a warmth about him that
perhaps... born from sexuality, eroticism.

When at the end of
November 1939 War

broke out between Finland and the USSR,

Alvar, a reserve officer, was
called up and assigned to Kuopio.

Alvar himself told such a story.

He was ordered to sort the footcloths.

Then he wrote to his friend
Lawrence Rockefeller in New York

and asked for help,
send airplanes.

Rockefeller sent a check for a
million dollars to the Foreign Ministry

and said hello to Aalto.

Certainly,
Alvar often exaggerated.

ROCKEFELLER GIVES THE FINNS 100,000:
"HAPPY TO HELP SUCH A FEARLESS PEOPLE"

But soon he is transferred

to the State Information
Bureau in Helsinki.

He had already fought
during the Civil War in 1918.

Then he was on the side of
the whites and ended the war in

Tampere, where he participated
in the Battle of Lankipohje.

He never recovered from

what he saw in Tampere.

Aalto was very interested in the
problem of post-war development.

He hoped to do a
demonstration project where he

would implement his principles
of standardized development.

During the war, Finnish
architects worked hard.

They developed plans for
the development of destroyed

cities, projects for standardized
housing construction, etc.

Then he appeared Building
Standards Committee.

STANDARDIZED HOUSE
CONSTRUCTION 1937-1941.

Speer's ministry even
invited Aalto to Germany,

to see their work on
architectural standardization.

Alvar didn�t really want to go, but in the

end he agreed,
when the German Foreign

Ministry sent a military plane to pick him up.

At the farewell banquet,
he decided to give a speech.

He started like this: �We Finns
- not Nazis and not Bolsheviks.

We are forest monkeys
from the land of the Eskimos.

" He also said that he doesn�t
know much about the architecture

of the Third Reich, since he
visited America more often for work.

But one day at the Harvard Club he
was waiting for Lawrence Rockefeller.

And I noticed a book with
a red cover on his table.

He took it and saw it
that the author -

not the most famous writer,
Adolf Gitler.

Aalto opened the book at random.

And a phrase caught his eye:

"Architecture -
mistress of the arts,

and music is their queen."

He didn't need to read further.

He closed the
book and put it back.

This story received
thunderous applause.

BAKER HOUSE, MIT CAMPUS,
1949, USA

Baker House and Aalto's
relationship with MIT begins

immediately after moving to
Harvard Walter Gropius, in 1937.

Gropius brought European
modernism to Harvard and America.

MIT, for its part, sought
to understand this

in its own way, and in Alvar Aalto they saw

precisely the humanocentric
approach to modernism that

they themselves advocated.

When Wurster was
appointed dean of MIT in

1945, the first person he thought of was was Aalto.

He himself said that he was
the first to call Alvar Aalto.

If you look at the
plan for Baker House

and the plan for the riverfront, you will

see that they are
very similar to the

plan for the New York
World's Fair pavilion.

Aalto continued this
theme in his work.

He wanted every student to see the

river from his room
thanks to this wavy line.

That is, from all the windows you can
see the river up or downstream, but none of

them looks directly
onto the river.

For the Baker House,
he used a special

brick that is made
only in New England.

It is very hard and
uneven, Aalto adored him.

Called it the lousiest
brick in the world.

Precisely because that
he loved him so much.

After construction began, MIT wanted

to add another 50
rooms or spaces.

Aalto said: �I�ll put on a fresh shirt,� that is, I�ll

throw off the old one, and I'll start all over again.

But here is his partner,
the lava that pours out of the volcano,

Aino Aalto came to the rescue,
saying, "We'll work it out.

" When Aalto taught at MIT, he

bombarded his
students with stories.

The stories were endless Aalto could even

drink a little, but they always had a meaning.

That is, sometimes
they would sit in

a local bar and talk until late at night.

And the next day
Aalto came very late.

And everything
started all over again.

He was a real artist so they
listened to him with pleasure.

Having said only 2-3 words, he
was already captivating listeners.

Wallace Garrison
was the head of the

team of architects on the UN building project.

At the top of the
list was Aalto.

But then politics intervened.

Finland was seen as an
enemy country because the

Finns initially asked for
help from the Germans in

the fight against the
Soviets in World War II, and

they were a defeated or one
of the non-allied countries.

And Kaufman seemed to know
that Aalto

was not involved in the UN conference

rooms project, and on the contrary said:

EDGAR KAUFMAN
CONFERENCE HALL, 1964

"I'll give Aalto an order in New York." And
Kaufman ordered conference rooms for him.

I am continuing this letter in
New York. I just arrived here.

I'm sitting in the bar of the Plaza Hotel.

Two beers. (I am thirsty.)

And an omelette with
port wine. (No cocktails.)

And then to bed. (One.)

Jack Sweeney came yesterday.

I asked to make a project for a
poetry hall in the new Harvard Library.

We have agreed
to, that the work is

yours, you will have
to design every inch.

WOODBERRY POETRY HALL, 1949, USA

All furniture may be different.

Dear Daddy, Lately I

was a little capricious,

but I'm sure whatever

you do will turn out great.

You are the kindest and
smartest person in the

world, and you wouldn�t
wish anything bad on anyone.

You're too attractive
to leave for so long.

But I try not to lose
heart and hope that

there will be no new
tragedies. This is terrible.

I am the happiest in the
world because I have such a

home, you and I have wonderful
children and a common cause.

How can such happiness
fall to the lot of one person?

Despite all this, recently��
' ,� � I don�t feel very well. . '

I'll miss you terribly.

In the mornings in the upper hall,
and in the evenings next to you.

I won�t say: �None,� I will say:
"Not many cocktails these days."

I'm sure you understand.

But I would be glad if you did
not forget about this my only desire.

Take care of yourself, I wish
you all the best, dear daddy. Aino.

There is nothing more beautiful
in the world than our team.

This makes me very happy.

It�s only thanks to you that
everything is so natural and clear.

Just like the world's
greatest architecture.

You exude confidence and
peace, heavenly warmth.

It gives balance to everyone,
in which we live and work.

My dear Aino, I want to
know how you sleep now.

You are the most beautiful
person in the world.

I love you terribly and believe in

your ability to make
our lives flawless.

You are wise, noble,
amazing person.

For your sake, at all costs,
I must mature mentally.

It's sad that some little things
don't allow me to focus on.

.. what is more important than

myself, And distracts me from great

thoughts - something that
you have always done very well.

I hope you remember
what I wrote about cocktails.

I love you more than ever. Aino.

In 1947, Aino and
Alvar Aalto went to Italy.

For the first time since
my honeymoon there.

As it turned out, this was
Aino�s last trip abroad.

This picture is still
before my eyes.

LORENZ MOSER,
ARCHITECT It was such a

contrast between
the quiet and reserved

Aino and Alvar Aalto,
very lively and shining.

I don't think he fully understood how

serious the situation was, how sick Aino is.

He was an optimist, and, for
sure, I thought she would get better.

Aino died a month later at
the beginning of January.

He probably felt the death of

his wife most deeply in his life.

It was probably a
range of emotions,

including guilt, IN many respects.

What could Aalto do
at such a moment?

How do we cope with
the death of a spouse?

She died of cancer in 1949
still a very young woman.

Alvar Aalto was
left with two children.

And he did what
came naturally to him.

Drew.

After Aino's death Aalto
rarely traveled to the States.

At this moment there
was a lot of work in Finland.

And he was very
withdrawn into himself.

But I also think that the

States may reminded him of her.

Surprisingly, that same
spring he participated in a

design competition for the
university complex in Otaniemi.

His nickname says a lot: "Morituri te

salutant", the motto of Roman gladiators.

"Those who go to
their death greet you.

" Not only this led to dramatic

changes in Aalto's work.

One could say that Aino's death

became a catalyst
for these changes.

OTANIAMI UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY 1949 / 1964

But the reasons that led
to these changes were

always present or
accumulated little by little.

After Aino's death, he
won the competition with his

project Otaniemi, the Pension
Administration and S�yn�tsalo.

He may have already been influenced by
his relationship with Elissa at that time.

Around 1950, a young female

architect appeared
in the studio.

She worked on the
S�yn�tsalo town center project,

and at that time they
began a relationship.

Her name was Elsa M�kiniemi.

In a sense, Elissa herself was
a creation of Aalto�s workshop.

Was it her initiative or
Alvar�s, we'll never know.

It's like she was born again a
new woman with a new name.

MUNICIPAL CENTER
IN SAYUNATSALO, 1952

Municipal center in S�yn�tsalo
- not just a public building.

It's more like a small
town in Northern Italy.

Very strong community spirit.

He seemed to feel his duty

in front of classical,
historical Italian architecture.

In particular, he gravitated towards
Romanesque and other medieval architecture.

For him she was "according
to the height" of a person.

The size of such
a city was just right.

The scale is always
determined by the person.

FROM RADIO INTERVIEW ALVARA AALTO

People are part of nature, like pine or birch trees.

Hence the scale.

I cannot ignore this, turning
people into giants or dwarfs.

I must maintain truly
human dimensions.

When construction began
in S�yn�tsalo, Aalto bought a

plot a couple of kilometers
from the municipal center.

And developed a project for a summer
villa, which he called an experimental house.

His main motivation
was the ability to

deduct construction
costs from taxes.

But this house became one
of Aalto�s most beautiful works.

EXPERIMENTAL HOUSE, 1954

He wanted to try to build a
house without a foundation.

Rock and stone in the soil
were used as the foundation.

Alvar Aalto's priority in life
has always been creative work.

FROM RADIO INTERVIEW
ELISSA AALTO The happiest

circumstance was that
I was also an architect

and could participate
in this area of ??his life.

Otherwise I would
feel like an outsider.

But the first and main requirement
was, that I accept his priorities.

One could say
that the villa in Muuratsalo

and the relationship
with Elissa, in a sense,

saved him from melancholy after Aino�s death.

How to build something modern,

combining and continuity,
and a close connection with a

lifestyle that has changed,
which is constantly changing.

Historical continuity
gives meaning to life.

For him, every building
is this is obvious.

Obviousness acquired
during the game.

UNIVERSITY OF
JYVASKYLA, 1951 / 1956

If you bring a child
into a room, whatever is

in that room, the
child will play with it.

In a sense, this
was Aalto's method.

You take what you have
what is possible, and

from this you create
art. And this is a game.

Aalto's genius is that
whatever the circumstances,

whatever the limitations, he
makes a project based on them.

And seeks creativity
in the situation itself.

The typical aspiration of modernism
is smoothness and transparency.

But the university in
Jyv�skyl� - very closed building.

He looks like this
as if it was built in

the Middle Ages, and stood for millennia.

The plot faces Tiilim�ki.

Here they built a new studio.

AALTO STUDIO, 1955

Beautiful garden, almost
like a small theater.

Aalto seems to be
exploring how the ruins of the

amphitheater flow into
the landscape, into nature.

Aalto was convinced
from the very

beginning that only
architects could be hired.

That you only hire equals or
potentially equals to yourself.

The creative studio
is based on trust.

You let people do what they
want, and they do it within

the framework of a clear
understanding of the main ideas.

Absolute freedom, but, in
a sense, absolute control.

FINNISH PAVILION, 1956, ITALY

Aalto's studio was like a
Renaissance workshop.

FEDERICO MARCONI, ARCHITECT The master

made sketches, a students finalized the details.

The atmosphere was like in a Renaissance

workshop or even in a monastery.

He was an
attractive personality.

I remember he told me: "When you present a project to a

client, you must be like a boxer, hitting you right in the gut.

So that the client cannot say
a word,� that�s what he said.

One morning two
English professors

appeared, CARL FLEIG, ARCHITECT

without prior agreement.

Aalto said: �I see. And their
suits are probably brand new."

And asked Sisko
to say, to wait that

Aalto himself was still in the bedroom.

He went up and
came down a little later.

Hair tousled, wearing a robe.

HOUSE OF CULTURE, 1958

In the 60s, if Aalto gave
a sketch plan for a project,

surprisingly, this plan was always
absolutely accurate in terms of dimensions.

Aalto had an intuitive
sense of scale,

no matter how rough
the sketch, even 6B.

The most important plans
Alvar Aalto always drew himself.

LORENZ MOSER, ARCHITECT If any of

the employees worked, he was always there.

It doesn't matter, morning,
afternoon, in the evening or at night.

Sometimes he moaned,
coughed, cleared his throat.

Or even sang. And when he did this,

the employees always giggled, laughed.

Later they told me that his

songs were mostly
not very decent.

He did not work
purely intellectually

or functionally, like other architects.

KARL FLEIG, ARCHITECT

I must say, he had excellent
relationships with his subordinates.

He always said, G�RAN

SCHILDT, WRITER, AALTO'S

FRIEND how important
workers and builders are.

And he always spoke with
praise about those two artisans,

about Korhonen, who made furniture,
and Hirvonen, who made lamps.

I always emphasized that
these people were much more

important than all the
businessmen at Artek. and wherever.

He really felt sympathy
for the working class.

No one in Aalto's workshop
tried to reinvent the wheel.

Collected an archive -
collected understanding,

knowing what you can and
can't use from earlier projects.

SEINJOKI CITY CENTER, 1962

Elissa Aalto Came to

the studio in 1950.

In '52 they got married.

Construction industry
around the world - very sexist.

Anyone can easily say: �You became Alvar

Aalto�s partner only
because you are his wife.�

Even though he himself
emphasized, that she

and Elissa were partners,
not everyone liked it.

I remember at the very
beginning Elissa always had curls.

Alvar made her wash her hair
and comb her hair smoothly.

MARYA PAATELA-POYRI, ARCHITECT

And I had a friend - a dressmaker.

I took Elissa with me and
she ordered a brown suit.

No one has ever seen this
suit. Alvar loved black and white.

To a great extent he seems
�cast� his ideal woman from Elissa.

I would say the best compliment
what

I received from my husband, FROM RADIO

INTERVIEW
ELISSA AALTO said "my girl".

For my part, I can say that I

never had to doubt his loyalty.

I think Elissa is even
somewhat similar to Aino.

Yes, it's true, it's similar.

PENSION SECURITY
BOARD, 1949 / 1956

The Pension
Administration building has

acquired an undeservedly
bad reputation.

I think, it's too pretentious.

It shouldn't be like this.

Too luxurious.

This is the pension
administration.

For its employees, it's

like a five-star hotel.

It shouldn't be so luxurious.

An ordinary brick
building would be enough.

A more modest structure
would have cost less.

Many people in the
Aalto studio believe

that the Pension
Administration is in some

sense the pinnacle of
Aalto's self-expression.

Hierarchy is vital
in architecture.

It is wrong to assume
that all projects are equal.

Architecture is a branch
of human activity that

creates a basic
hierarchy and categories

between the secular and the religious,
For example.

Sometimes architecture
perpetuates and ennobles.

CHURCH OF THREE CROSSES, 1958

If there is nothing to improve,
then there is no architecture.

Church of Three Crosses
- it is a temple of doubt.

Aalto was not religious
in the traditional sense.

There is no division of
space into inside and outside.

There's space outside inside
and something in between.

I think this is a very literal

architectural interpretation
of the Trinity theme.

Perhaps this is also due
to the theology of doubt.

There is no need to
choose one or the other,

both options are
possible at the same time.

Aalto was also experienced in politics,
and

in a religious sense,
to remain a little on

everyone's side, but
really on no one's side.

You are not just inside or outside,

you are not just
religious or not religious.

You are both, or

neither, at the same time.

This is the intermediate
space of Aalto -

and in his personality, and in its architecture.

Therefore, at the most
inevitable political moment

of the reconstruction of
West Germany after the war

Aalto received an order for
construction Cultural center in Wolfsburg.

Industrial city for
the construction

of the "people's
car" Volkswagen.

�Your task is to build as a

counterbalance to
today�s monotonous life.�

CULTURAL CENTER IN
WOLFSBURG, 1962, GERMANY

FROM RADIO INTERVIEW
ALVARA AALTO 90 percent of

everything that exists
today is vulgar functionalism.

We must respect function.

We must start with an idea, which

must always be
related to a function.

We have to save lives

rather than just
creating different shapes.

LIBRARY IN ROVANIEMI,
1965

Much of today's architecture

marked by a certain
inhumane formalism.

I think I can quote

Professor Eric
Lundberg from Sweden.

One day he told me:

"Architecture, every
architectural creation

must contain certain qualities

giving him the ability to grow.

Its modulated form must
be capable of growing

and create society."

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
1962, GERMANY

Aalto understood the
need to write and debate

about his interpretation
of modern architecture.

He was always seen as
a creator of "interference"

very strong trends towards
rationalization of production.

Therefore, Aalto put forward
the idea of ??flexible standardization.

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING GANZAFIRTEL,
1957, GERMANY

For him, rationality existed at
the cellular or molecular level.

He initially adhered to this
philosophy, as if to say: we

understand that during
the construction of large

architectural complexes
RESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN BREMEN,

1958-1962, GERMANY a certain
degree of standardization is necessary.

But minor changes are
also needed that will bring

the structure closer to
the �genius of the place�

and fit it into this place
in a very special way.

RESIDENTIAL COMPLEXES
IN SUNIL, 1938, 1947, 1954.

You can create standard
elements, but these

elements must be
flexible around the edges.

In the 1950s, someone asked him
What are its dimensional tolerances?

He replied: "One millimeter."

So he was not a
rational designer.

Alvar talked about
this more than once.

VELI PAATELA, ARCHITECT

He had an idea to create
a small, cozy laboratory.

A couple of architects
physicist and doctor.

He even found a suitable island.

There he wanted to study the architectural

humanistic approach
to human existence.

How can we build a
humane human environment?

The unit of standardization is not 4

meters, and not 1, and not just there.

This is at the molecular level.

The building is quite modest.

This is in the suburbs of Paris, FROM RADIO

INTERVIEW
ALVARA AALTO Between Versailles

and Chartres Cathedral,
45 km from Notre Dame.

This is a private building.

Customer - Louis Carr�.

He is a famous art collector.

Naturally, a private house
should be quite modest,

although it contains
an art collection

exceptional level according to
European and world standards.

HOUSE OF LOUIS CARRE,
1959, FRANCE

Louis Carr� met Alvar Aalto

at the Venice
Biennale in June 1956

Louis Carr� gave Alvar
Aalto complete freedom.

Initially, Louis Carr� did not
want any stairs in the house.

He was physically limited.

But Aalto believed in getting
a beautiful descent into the

living room, since the house is on a hillside, a ladder is needed.

And they designed
special very low

steps, like in the Palace of Versailles.

They say that at that time
Louis Carr� lived in

Paris in a building designed
and built by Le Corbusier.

They lived next
door for 7 years.

Carre did not want to entrust
the villa project Le Corbusier.

He wanted the project to be

more personal, warmer, more cozy.

Carre's chain was getting cozy, a simple house

whose main purpose would
be to display a collection.

Therefore, Aalto was required
to design a house that would

look small from the outside, a would be very spacious inside.

And in the end, Carr� decided that

Aalto would also
design the entire

furnishings, and the house should

become a masterpiece that would

frame other masterpieces -

paintings by Braque, L�ger,

Picasso, Bazin, Gromer, Dufy, Bonnard and others.

Elissa always seemed to
remain in Aino's shadow,

because Aino is seen more as
an original partner, as an equal.

But I think what was great about

Elissa was that she took full

responsibility for the
artistic side of the workshop,

and carried it for at least 10
years until the death of Alvar Aalto.

I want to create a center

which...

for all residents

would be comfortable.

Because all important buildings

are nearby.

This is the principle
of all old Italian cities.

HELSINKI CENTER PLAN

His most ambitious
plan was, of course,

Helsinki city center project.

Design the center of the capital

Not every architect gets it.

But only part of this plan
came true - the Finlandia Palace.

Aalto was very worried about this.

PALACE "FINLAND", 1971

Naturally, I will
say a few words.

But the problem is that I can't

talk about my own building in a

way that explains everything about it.

Subjectivity always plays
the most important role.

I can't list either the
advantages or disadvantages.

Yes, this is not needed here.

Nice, but not very attractive.

Looks like a butcher's shop.

- What is the reason?
- Marble.

All the walls
all surfaces are white.

The benches in the lobby
also look uncomfortable.

It's better to just pass by.

I once tried to sit down,

but I was told that there
would be spots on the skin.

The whole ritual of arrival
you take off your coat

and it's like you're
breaking out of your shell.

Everyone takes off their
dark coats and heavy

hats, and remains in their
bright and magnificent outfits.

And then a
magnificent staircase.

And you find yourself in a foyer
covered in luxurious gray Axminster carpet.

Color spots are only
people, other citizens.

And you merge
with them, talking.

Then you enter the hall.

And this is such a huge space, imbued with the

greatness of culture. The space of music and all that.

The avalanche of change in the
1960s knocked us all off our feet.

Every young architect who

believed
that he was capable of

making a career, had
to fight against Aalto.

He was such a dominant that anyone who followed in the

same direction was considered dependent, follower of Aalto.

It was a difficult time for Aalto.

In the 1920s and 1930s he was

a radical, provoking others.

And in the late 1960s he was an

old architect, Quite underrated.

They looked at him as a
conservative like a dinosaur.

It seems to me that his feeling
of bitterness was psychologically

explained by that kind of cocoon,
which he created around himself.

In recent years, he simply locked himself
in the cramped world of his workshop.

OFFICE BUILDING STORA ENSO, 1962

The left probably thought Aalto

capitalist architect
and he really was.

He designed banks, factories,
main offices of companies.

Ironically, although
Aalto was heavily

criticized in his home country of Finland,

his reputation around the
world continued to grow.

Let's speak directly.

Aalto has not been
doing well in recent years.

He developed
problems with alcohol.

Building Boom, which lasted

around 1949, ended by the

mid-1960s, and there
were not many new projects.

Moreover, in Finland
one could already feel

a kind of protest against
the work of Alvar Aalto.

If you're a shark
in a goldfish bowl,

this will inevitably
cause protests.

Aalto received an order from Beirut

for the development of a project for a
banking and administrative complex.

ALFRED ROTH,
ARCHITECT

And from Finland he
went straight to Beirut.

Alone, without Elissa.

Apparently, Aalto was already
completely drunk on the plane.

As he exited the plane, he said:

"I don't want to meet anyone
Let's go straight to the hotel."

I knocked carefully on the
door. There was no answer.

I opened the door.

He was lying in
bed, fast asleep,

with empty bottles lying around.

It was a disaster.

In the autumn of 1975, Aalto
received a call from Bologna.

VECIO NAVA,
ARCHITECT

They wanted to
build a church in Riol.

Aalto was very happy.

He died the following spring
never seeing the completion of the project.

PARISH CHURCH IN RIOL,
1978, ITALY

Another person with strong
faith in this church was a priest.

He told,

that I once installed a roof

in the place where
they held mass.

He slipped
and when he fell,

then he prayed to the
Virgin Mary for his salvation,

because he still needs
to finish Riola's church.

And so it happened.

He broke his leg, but survived.

He died only in 1980, two years

after the opening of the church.

The priest believed that he had received
mercy twice. Firstly, he didn�t die,

and secondly, he was able to finish the church, in which I believed so much.

Alvar suffered a heart
attack on his way to work.

He was taken to the hospital.

Schildt said Aalto
complained about the

bad wine and was
only given berry juice.

Alvar said to Elissa:

CHRISTINE SCHILDT, CLOSE

FRIEND �Bring me a bottle of Campari.

The four of us will have
a drink, all together."

Elissa brought a bottle, but
it's... Of course it was just juice.

It seemed to Alvar
that the taste is great.

THERE IS NO PROPHET IN HIS FATHERLAND

When he died, the
nurse asked Elissa,

what type of occupation should be
indicated in the documents. Is he retired?

Elissa was furious.

In the end, the architect
died on his way to work.

My beloved Aino, I will

focus on �forest life� with you.

I'll build a whole institute and
we will do whatever we want there.

Aalto Institute
or Aino Institute.

All these big institutions
like

Rockefeller Center, MIT complex

or Harvard, it's too complicated.

Frank Lloyd Wright told me:

�My America is already gone.

England, Germany, Japan, that
I loved - they are no longer there.

Democracy is lost...

America is now much more
imperialistic than in modern times.

And a little more smug in the sense that our cultural

friends no longer matter
as much as they used to.

Flowers in the garden of
creation Aino and Alvar Aalto.

That's why this trip was needed.

This is where I
regained my confidence.

Harvard is nothing,
MIT is nothing.

Power over the world is nothing.

There is nothing but ourselves.

The most important thing is
the creative power in little Aino.

And in ourselves.

I kiss you a thousand times,

I love my babies a thousand times.

Yours Alvar.

IN THE WORLD - ABOUT 300 COMPLETED
AALTO CREATIONS.

MORE THAN 200 PROJECTS
THEY WERE NOT IMPLEMENTED.

AALTO

Narrators:

Special thanks to the AALTO FAMILY,
FOR THE ALVAR AALTO FOUNDATION

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
ALVARA AALTO

TO THE CHRISTINE AND JORN SCHILDT FOUNDATION,
MAYRE FOUNDATION

Director
VIRPI SUUTARI

Scriptwriters VIRPI SUUTARI,
JUSSI RAUTANIEMI

Operators
HEIKKI F�RM, JANI KUMPULAINEN

TUOMO HUTRY, MARITA HELLFORS,
YANI H�KLI

Installation
JUSSI RAUTANIEMI

OLLIE HUCHTANEN

SANNA SALMENKALLIO

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