The Housing Problem

The architect Alvar Aalto’s wide-ranging, multifaceted output also included designs for apartments.

The exhibition brings to light early classical wooden villas of the 1920s, streamlined functionalist dwellings of the 1930s, along with standardized houses of the post-war period of reconstruction, and also the unique artist’s homes of later decades. In addition to homes built for his own family, friends and relatives, Aalto designed residential districts for various parts of Finland, typified by row houses, semi-detached dwellings and low-rise blocks of flats adapted to the local landscape and conditions.

Also on display will be advanced solutions for modern-living, furniture and interiors by the architect couple Aino and Alvar Aalto, which attracted considerable attention in Finnish and international exhibitions and publications in the 1930s and 40s.

The exhibition is linked to the theme of the International Alvar Aalto Symposium: “New Housing Solutions for Cities in Change“ to be held in Jyväskylä, Finland, August 30 – 31, 2018.