Alvar Aalto : architecture, modernity, and geopolitics
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Alvar Aalto : architecture, modernity, and geopolitics
Yale University Press, 2009
- : cloth : alk. paper
Available at 12 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
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  Yamagata
  Fukushima
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  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
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  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
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  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
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  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
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  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
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  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-220) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
An intellectual biography that reconsiders the influence of Aalto's Finnish origins and explores geography as a dominant theme in the history of modern architecture
Perhaps no other great modern architect has been linked to a native country as closely as Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). Critics have argued that the essence of Finland flows, as if naturally, into his quasi-organic forms, ranging from such buildings as the Baker House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to iconic 20th-century designs, including his Savoy vase and bent-plywood stacking stools.
What did Aalto himself say about the importance of nationalism and geography in his work and in architecture generally? With an unprecedented focus on the architect's own writings, library, and critical reception, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen proposes a dramatically different interpretation of Aalto's oeuvre, revealing it as a deeply thoughtful response to his intellectual and cultural milieu-especially to Finland's dynamic political circumstances following independence from Russia in 1917.
Pelkonen also considers the geographic and geopolitical narratives found in his writings. These include ideas about national style and national cultural revival, and about how architecture can foster cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and regionalism. Expanding the canonical reading of Aalto, this work promises to influence future inquiries on Aalto for generations to come.
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