Museum Shows Finnish Architect

The exhibition, entitled ?Alvar Aalto Houses ? Timeless Expressions?, highlights four single-family homes -- The Aalto House, Villa Mairea, Muuratsalo Experimental House and Maison Luis Carré ? that demonstrate the human scale and a strong connection to nature, elements typical of the work of Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), who is considered to be the most influential Finnish architect outside of this own country.

 

The homes present in a nutshell ? both exterior and interior ? Aalto?s work from the 1930s until the 60s. In them, he attempts to create a kind of Eden.

?There is a hidden motive, too, in architecture, which is always peeping out from around the corner, the idea of creating a paradise. It is the only purpose of our buildings. If we do not carry this idea with us the whole time, all our buildings would be simpler, more trivial and life would become - well, would life amount to anything at all? Every building, every work of architecture, is a symbol which has the aspiration to show that we want to build a paradise on earth for ordinary mortals," said Aalto in 1958.

 

In addition to the Museum of Ethnography, the exhibition is organised by Finnagora, the Alvar Aalto Museum, the Kölcsey Convention Centre in Debrecen, and the Cities of Debrecen and Jyväskylä. The exhibition design and layout is by Severi Blomstedt.

 

Author: Éva Kelemen / Photo: Dániel Kováts