DESIGN APPARATUS ARC4031-A-S1-2020/

WEEBLY BLOG
VILLA
MAIREA

POPESCU EDUARD-DUMITRU 20166821

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1 Introduction

2 Aalvar Alto

3 Timeline

4 Construction

5 Ground and first floor

6 Sections and elevations

7 Axo and Site Plan

8 The Process

9 Models

10 Summary and Conclusion

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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“God created paper for the pur-

pose of drawing architecture on it.
Everything else is at least for me an
abuse of paper.“ ABOUT
Alvar Aalto
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ICONIC BUILDING
EXT E R I O R
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B R I N G I N G

G R E A T

F I N N I S H

D E S I G N
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About Alvar Aalto

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (3 February 1898

– 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect
and designer. His work includes archi-
tecture, furniture, textiles and glassware,
as well as sculptures and paintings. He
never regarded himself as an artist, see-
ing painting and sculpture as “branch-
es of the tree whose trunk is architec-
ture.” Aalto’s early career ran in parallel
with the rapid economic growth and
industrialization of Finland during the
first half of the 20th century. Many of
his clients were industrialists, among
them the Ahlström-Gullichsen family.
Born in a lovely family, he lost his moth-
er when he was just 9, thing that made
an impact over him, for the last of his
life. Since young, he loved organic ma-
terials such as wood, bricks, clay. In his
study years, he experimented with both
Finnish and Mediterranean architecture.
Using his small details in a house,
he believed that simple things, such
stairs, make the human respond to
different challenges of the nature.
 History
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Aalto said ,,the function of a public

building must be discovered when
exploring it, not from outside “. Every
building must be built with the every-
day human in mind. The lighting is a
key element in expressing what you
want the person in the building to
feel about your work.
During his holidays in Italy, Greece,
Spain, he saw how the exterior walls
must have a texture, bringing more
emotion to a building and not being
smooth, as in Le Corbusier’s build-
ings.

Early work and ideeas

The span of his career, from the 1920s

to the 1970s, is reflected in the styles
of his work, ranging from Nordic Clas-
sicism of the early work, to a rational
International Style Modernism during
the 1930s to a more organic modern-
ist style from the 1940s onwards. Typ-
ical for his entire career is a concern
for design as a Gesamtkunstwerk,
a total work of art, in which he – to-
gether with his first wife Aino Aalto
– would design the building, and give
special treatment to the interior sur-
faces, furniture, lamps and glassware.
His furniture designs are considered
Scandinavian Modern, in the sense
of a concern for materials, especial-
ly wood, and simplification but also
technical experimentation, which led
him to receiving patents for various
manufacturing processes, such as
bent wood.
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1920S 1930S

After all, nature is a sym-

bol of freedom. Sometimes
nature actually gives rise
to and maintains the idea
of freedom. If we base our
TIMELINE

technical plans primarily on

nature we have a chance to
ensure that the course of
development is once again
in a direction in which our
everyday work and all it’s
forms will increase freedom
rather than decrease it.
– Alvar Aalto
First ideeas
During the 1920s Alvar spent
some time experimenting with
laminated wood, sculpture
and abstract relief, character-
ized by irregular curved forms.
Experience
Aalto’s work with wood, was
influenced by early Scandi-
navian architects. His exper-
iments and departure from
the norm brought atten-
tion to his ability to make
wood do things not previ-
ously done. His techniques
in the way he cut the beech
tree, for example, and also
his ability to use plywood
as structural and aesthetic.

1939
Villa Mairea
Aalto’s early experiments with wood
and his move away from a purist mod-
ernism would be tested in built form
with the commission to design Vil-
la Mairea (1939) in Noormarkku, the
luxury home of young industrialist
couple Harry and Maire Gullichsen.
It was Maire Gullichsen who acted
as the main client, and she worked
closely not only with Alvar but also
Aino Aalto on the design, inspiring
them to be more daring in their work.
1950S
Awards
Aalto’s awards included the
Prince Eugen Medal in 1954,
the Royal Gold Medal for Archi-
tecture from the Royal Institute
of British Architects in 1957 and
the Gold Medal from the Ameri-
can Institute of Architects in 1963
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The Commissionersdeas vs reality.
Villa Mairea was commissioned by
Harry and Maire Gullichsen. Maire
Gullichsen and Alvar Aalto created
a furniture company called Artek,
END OF TIMELINE
building chairs and glassware that
Aalto designed, you can still buy
these today! So the connection
is now clear as to why Aalto was
picked to design this house.
“We told him that he
should regard it as an experimen-
tal house; if it didn’t work out we
wouldn’t blame him.”
Alvar Aalto made changes to the
house as it was in construction
despite the fact that the clients
had agreed on the plans put for-
ward. Luckily, in my opinion the
house turned out pretty great.
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FINDING YOU
IN EVERY DETAIL
Villa Mairea technical information
Architects : Alvar Aalto
Typology : Residential / Houses
Location: Noormarkku, Finland
Project Completiont Year: 1941
Photographs : © ÅKE E:SON LINDMAN
Designing
The Villa Mairea was designed for Har-
ry and Maire Gullichsen, to whom Aalto
was introduced in 1935, by Nils-Gustav
Hahl.
Construction
The foundation work had already begun
at the site on the basis of a design dated
early 1938 when Aalto, dissatisfied with the
design, suddenly and hurriedly produced
a new project which he persuaded his
clients to accept regardless of the embar-
rassingly late phase.
Delivery to clients
Aalto seems to have treated the house as an
opportunity to bring together all the themes
that had been preoccupying him in his work
to that point but had not been able to in-
clude them in actual buildings.
Today, Villa Mairea is considered one of the
most important buildings Aalto designed in
his career.
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TRANSFORMING SPACES
C R E AT I N G T H E A RT O F STYL I S H L IVI N G
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CIRCULATION PATHS
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AERIAL VIEW
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IT’S THE
IDEEA THAT
CO U N T S
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DISTINCTIVE
DESIGN
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VILLA MAIREA
SECTIONAL MODEL

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST

1:500 SCALE
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V I L L A

M A I R E A

C O N C E P T U A L

M O D E L
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LIVING ROOM MODEL

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STRUCTURE WITH PILLARS

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From the beginning

of this project Aalto
has put a lot of pas-
sion and work, being
confident that over
the years, all these ide-
as will last and will in-
spire other architects.

It was one of his soul

projects, representing
an indisputable mas-
terpiece even today

“Beauty is the
harmony of the
porpose and form.”
Alvar Aalto
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REFFERENCE

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sics-villa-mairea-alvar-aalto> [Accessed 25 October 2020]. a z i n e /m u s t - k n o w - m o d e r n - h o m e s - v i l l a - m a i r e a - s t -
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PHOTOS

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midcenturyhome.com%2Falvar-aalto-villa-mairea%2F&tb-
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h t t p s : / / b o o k s . g o o g l e . r o / b o o k s /a b o u t / I n s i d e _ t h e _ V i l - soM&w=630&h=412&q=villa%20mairea%20PHOTOS&ved=2a- h tt p s : //w w w. a rc h i n f o r m . n e t /p ro j e k te / 2 9 9. h t m
l a _ M a i rea . h t m l ? i d = Kt G 8Yg E ACA A J & re d i r_e s c = y hUKEwiuqoS_i5DtAhUSLOwKHTxNCZQQMygfegUIARDFAQ
h t t p s : //w w w. a r c h d a i l y. c o m / 8 5 3 9 0 /a d - c l a s s i c s - v i l -
h t t p s : //e n . w i k i a r q u i t e c t u r a . c o m / b u i l d i n g / v i l l a - m a i r e a / https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F- l a - m a i rea - a l va r- a a l to / 5 0 37e7 70 2 8 b a 0 d 5 9 9 b 0 0 0 3 9 f -
becomingf innishsite.f iles.wordpress.com%2F2018%2F0 ad-classics-villa-mairea-alvar-aalto-photo
https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g1936548 6%2F20180608_140018-copy.jpg%3Fw%3D1400&imgre-
-d6977180-i107088132-Villa_Mairea-Noormarkku_Satakunta.html furl=https%3A%2F%2Fbecomingf innishsite.wordpress.
com%2F2018%2F06%2F09%2Fvilla-mairea-and-histor-
https: //www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F- ical-noormarkku%2F&tbnid=Ujr1RobKl963aM&vet=12a-
biblus.accasoftware.com%2Fen%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F- hUKEwiuqoS_i5DtAhUSLOwKHTxNCZQQMygregUIARD-
sites%2F2%2F2018%2F09%2FVilla-Mairea_Alvar-Aalto-giardino-ren- dAQ..i&docid=-fDrZymYj7K1vM&w=1400&h=788&q=villa%20
der-software-BIM-Edificius.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbiblus. mairea%20PHOTOS&ved=2ahUKEwiuqoS_i5D-
accasoftware.com%2Fen%2Fvilla-mairea-one-of-the-masterpiec- tAhUSLOwKHTxNCZQQMygregUIARDdAQ
es-of-20th-century-architecture-project-cad-resources-and-3d-
bim-model-to-download%2F&tbnid=ekCLr5skm4HwSM&vet=12a- h tt p s : //d i v i s a re .co m /p ro j e c t s / 3 1 1 0 0 0 - a l -
hUKEwiuqoS_i5DtAhUSLOwKHTxNCZQQMygJegUIARCYAQ..i&- var-aalto-ake-e-son-lindman-villa-mairea
docid=iALMLeihKU6EwM&w=700&h=394&q=villa%20mairea%20
PHOTOS&ved=2ahUKEwiuqoS_i5DtAhUSLOwKHTxNCZQQMygJegUIARCYAQ http: //alvaraaltosarchitecture.blog-
spot .com/2016 /07/villa-mairea.html