When words like iconic and experiment come together we know the revelation would be a structure admired as a historical landmark by the world. Today we speak in detail about the enigmatic Villa Mairea by Aino Aalto and Alvar Aalto, a structure that brings with it an ode to inspiring design, cultural heritage, and social and political importance in its era.
Villa Mairea was built in 1939 in Noormarkku, Finland by architect Alvar Aalto and his first wife and partner Aino Aalto as a modern residence for Maire and Harry Gullichsen, ardent enthusiasts and connoisseurs of art. The Aaltos were the first in Finland to look at the design of a structure through the eyes of an artist and give it more credit than its constructive capacity. They viewed the project as a work of art with architecture as its foundation.
The owners were well-known industrialist patrons who accorded Aino Aalto the freedom to experiment with the design, its thought process, conceptualization, and context. The site for this historical residence resembles a blank canvas on which Aino and Alvar Aalto explored a free range of design.
The choreography of this significant dwelling is distinguished by tempo and the gradual unfolding of a relaxed domestic atmosphere. With a collage of materials settled amidst the Finnish landscape, Villa Mairea stands firm as an architectural encounter that marks a transition from traditional to modern architecture.
The Conception of An Ideology | Villa Mairea
Aino Aalto, with partner Alvar Aalto, first proposed a rustic-themed dwelling inspired by Nordic vernacular architecture. As the design progressed, it resembles inspiration to Frank Llyod Wright‘s Fallingwater with the final structure being an amalgam of themes and ideas that transformed the space into a holistic and cohesive design.
This experiential house is not defined only by aesthetics but also by its contribution through innovation in the field of architecture itself. The Finnish architects with the design of this residence fused numerous influences in a remarkably coherent yet unexpected whole.
The Villa observes a shift between functionalism into an organic modernist style of architecture with a fusion of Finnish and Japanese cultures and architectural styles reflected through the different spaces and elements making the structure. The design has its origins from these architectural styles, both of which seek to connect nature to man-made structures in a way that approaches self-expression and the use of organic resources that connect the building to the environment around it.
The dwelling with an innate cultural significance is celebrated due to its connection to a specific place, its local economy, and its traditions while at the same time globally intertwining with its ideas, forms, and technical innovations.
Following the cultures that inspired the design, Aino Aalto put forth ideologies in construction that collaborated the independent structure with links to emotional connections and spatial interactions with nature, traits that remain dominant in both Finnish and Japanese styles of architecture.
The Details Make The Design
The plan of Villa Mairea is a modified L-shaped floor plan, common in Scandinavian architecture, and is infused in other designs created by Aino and Alvar Aalto. As an individual approaches the property, it leads them down a nature trail with spaces that symbolize human freedom, nestled within the depth of its coherent context, a structure that is an incarnation of everything that forms a contrast in the modern world.
The open living room is planned around a rectilinear structural grid with circular steel columns placed randomly to create spatial boundaries within the house. They are placed strategically in an order that gives the space a sense of transparency, subsequently mimicking the verticality of the trees seen in the background of the house through the windows.
A semi-private enclosure burrows a private garden and swimming pool, representing a canopy-styled garden that faces the public facade. The influence of Fallingwater is evident through the cantilevered balconies and a basement, redesigned with a serpentine wall sunk to appear as a substitution for the natural forms of stream and rocks.
Another unique characteristic of the structure is the use of richly articulated materials throughout the design. The interiors of the Villa are in accented wood, stone, and brick. The planning is an assemblage of private rooms and bedrooms that open onto a large play space with a flat roof over the dining area that extends to form a covered terrace.
A diagonal relationship was established between the private study and the ‘winter garden’ and the main staircase with the open sunlit part of the living room. These immediately draw attention when seen from behind the vertical poles which screen the stairs.
The Spirit Of Semblance | Villa Mairea
With the design of Villa Mairea, Aino Aalto and Alvar Aalto not only created an artistic dwelling for their clients but also a socially, politically, and culturally significant structure that brought about a movement in its respective era. The Villa evoked memories of association with Finnish farms, medieval churches, functionalist architecture, and the Japanese Edo period.
At the time, the atmosphere of Finland was a clash between the utopia of the last century and the old peasant tradition. The country was on a track to changing tides from an agricultural and craft society to a more modernized and urbanized industrial state. Modernism was adopted in Finland with a great level of ease and in this radical atmosphere of diversity, the construction of the Villa brought with it a convergence of regionalism and universalism.
With an approach much too oblique, coursing through a winding gravel drive at the edge of the forest, Villa Mairea reveals itself in glimpses standing strong over the years amongst tall pine trees. Today, amid the 21st century, the Villa by Aino and Alvar Aalto holds an enduring social presence throughout the world as a turning point on the path to modernism in Europe. It is a cultural hotspot for tourists that symbolizes great artistry through architecture, and locals see it as an awe-inspiring memorial dedicated to an evolutionary era.
The calming effect of the leisurely approach with the subtle awakening of the senses unveils the magnificent Villa Mairea, an inseparable presence in the forest since 1939.
References
Sveiven, M. (2010). AD Classics: Villa Mairea / Alvar Aalto. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/85390/ad-classics-villa-mairea-alvar-aalto.
Devanshi Shah (2018). Iconic House: Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland by Aino and Alvar Aalto. [online] Architectural Digest India. Available at: https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/iconic-house-villa-mairea-finland-aalto/.
ArchEyes. (2016). Villa Mairea in Finland by Alvar Aalto. [online] Available at: https://archeyes.com/villa-mairea-alvar-aalto/.
Anon, (n.d.). Villa Mairea – Villa Mairea. [online] Available at: https://villamairea.fi/en/villa-mairea/ [Accessed 21 Aug. 2021].
UKEssays.com. (n.d.). Villa Mairea: The Cultures Behind a Humanized Design. [online] Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/architecture/villa-mairea-the-cultures-behind-a-humanized-design.php.
Erudition Magazine. (n.d.). Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea: The Paradox of Universalism and Regionalism. [online] Available at: https://www.eruditionmag.com/home/alvar-aaltos-villa-mairea-the-paradox-of-universalism-and-regionalism [Accessed 21 Aug. 2021].
