Finnish - Architect | February 3, 1898 - May 11, 1976
Every one of my buildings begins with an Italian journey.
Alvar Aalto
JourneyBuildingsBeginsItalian
God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is, at least for me, an abuse of paper.
GodArchitecturePurposeMeDrawing
The tubular steel chair is surely rational from technical and constructive points of view. It is light, suitable for mass production, and so on. But steel and chromium surfaces are not satisfactory from the human point of view.
LightViewChairPoint Of ViewSteel
Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we design new staircase steps every day in connection with all our houses, but a standardized step depends on the height of the buildings and on all kinds of things.
DayStepStaircaseDesignBuildings
We have almost a city has probably two or three hundred committees. Every committee is dealing with just one problem and has nothing to do with the other problems.
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We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street.
WorkGoodSimpleManHarmonyStreet
The best standardisation committee in the world is nature herself, but in nature standardisation occurs mainly in connection with the smallest possible units: cells. The result is millions of flexible combinations in which one never encounters the stereotyped.
NatureBestWorldResultConnection
Architecture is not merely national but clearly has local ties in that it is rooted in the earth.
ArchitectureEarthClearlyRooted
Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need time for everything that develops and crystallizes in the world of ideas. Architecture demands more of this time than other creative work.
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The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture.
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