Aalto Housing in Helsinki

Dear reader,

today I would like to present two new Aalto sites located in Finland's capital region. Both are large scale housing areas and therefore I thought it makes sense to present them in a joint post. The first housing area I am going to present is the Harjuviita Apartement Houses located in Espoo.

Site No. 80: Harjuviita Apartment Houses in Espoo (1962-64)

Keilaniemi metro station

The Harjuviita Apartment housing area consists of seven more or less identical apartment houses that were erected during the 1960s in the area of Tapiola, which belongs to the municipality of Espoo. The seven six-story houses are divided into two groups and dominate the housing area which otherwise mainly consists of one to three story houses. The housing area can easily be reached by the newly extended Helsinki metro. Take any west-bound train and get off at Keilaniemi station. Leave through exit A and follow then the signs towards Harjuviita, crossing the pedestrian bridge. The six-story houses can already be seen from the metro station.

The housing area was part of the 1950s prototype of a garden city in the district of Tapiola. The idea of the Tapiola Garden City was to bring housing and nature closer together. Various architects were invited to present solutions, one of them was Alvar Aalto. Although Aalto didn't like the idea of building high-rise apartment buildings he also understood the need of them in areas where building land is limited. Nevertheless, Aalto put a lot of effort to integrate the buildings as good as possible into the natural surroundings. He also tried to offer the residents spacious dwellings and an ideal orientation of the buildings to allow for more natural light in the apartments.

The Harjuviita Apartment Houses share many common elements with Aalto's other high-rise buildings such as the Hansaviertel Residential Buildings in Berlin or the Schönbühl Apartment House in Lucerne. Especially the fan-shapes and the deep atrium-like balconies show certainly familiar elements.

As this is a residential area, the buildings are only viewable from outside. However, as they are only one metro stop from the Aalto University away, they are certainly worth a visit if you are already in the area and have some time to spare.

Site No. 81: Housing for the National Pension Institute in Helsinki (1952-54)

About a decade before the erection of the Tapiola Garden City, Aalto was commissioned to design another housing area in the capital region of Finland. This housing area was meant for the workers of the national pension institute (KELA) whose headquarters Aalto designed in downtown Helsinki at about the same time. The housing area, located in the district of Munkkiniemi, is only a stone throw away from the Aalto House, which was Aalto's home in Helsinki for many decades.

While the Harjuviita Apartment Houses were already kept in white brick, signs of Aalto's transition to his white period, the National Pension Institute's housing area is still part of Aalto's earlier red brick phase.

The housing area consists of four volumes, each five stories high. Buildings were places following the layout of the street but with an intension of keeping a green space in the middle, like an Italian piazza. The apartments are rather kept small and ordinary, featuring, however, own balconies each.

As in the case of the Tapiola Garden City, this housing area is a residential area and can only be viewed from outside. Due to its close proximity to the Aalto House and the Studio Aalto a joint visit is recommendable. All three sites can easily be reached from downtown Helsinki by taking tram no. 4 towards Munkkiniemi. The closest stop is located at Munkkiniemi Puistotie.

Hidden Aalto in Kainuu

Hello there,

it is once again time to take a closer look at on one of the less known and rather hidden Aalto spots that can be found all over Finland. Today I would like to share the story of my visit to the Kainula Adult Education Institute located in the town of Kajaani, in the Kainuu region.


Site No. 79: Kainula Adult Education Institute in Kajaani (1956-57)

Kajaani is about 4 hours by train or bus from Jyväskylä, however, due to the quite completed timetables conducting this visit in just one day was almost impossible. It took me quite a while to figure out a connection that works. I had to catch the 5.40 am bus to Kuopio from where I could connect to a train bound for Kajaani. Due to the bus reaching Kuopio at rush hour, I arrived late in Kuopio and just made it on the train to Kajaani at the very last second. I almost missed the chance to visit an incredible Aalto site! Anyways, I made it safe and sound to Kajaani.

Getting off the train I walked for about 15 minutes to reach the actual site, passing through the city of Kajaani. Although quite a small town with only 37 000 inhabitants, still it has many interesting things to offer. So while there I recommend to see the ruins of the old castle, the beautiful old wooden town hall, the main church and of course Aalto's piece of work.

Leaving from the railway station, which by the way is worth a closer look, I just follow the main street (Pohjolankatu) all the way down until it ends at a travel circle (about 1 km), then turn left and follow the street for another 150 meters and ended up right at the Aalto site to my left, the exact address is Sissikuja 3.

The original purpose of the building was to house the region's Adult Education Institute as well as to provide temporary housing for forest workers. Still today this building is used by the local Adult Education Institute. The building was erected in the mid/late 1950s and I just recently read in a research report that it had not undergone any renovations since.

The front appears less spectacular and blends well into its surrounding. Only the arrangement of the different sized windows and the wooden panels give a hint of the building's architect. The back, hidden in the yard area, however, contains some interesting elements. Although in use, the building doesn't appear to be in a good shape. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit the inside of the building as I wasn't able to arrange a viewing for the interior by the time.

Although a very simple building, that doesn't look spectacular at first, it certainly has some interesting aspects to it that are typical for Aalto and make it worth a visit such as the city of Kajaani itself.

Train departing Kajaani

Aalto in Rovaniemi - Update

Hi there,

after a seven year's break I made again my way to visit Finnish Lapland. Passing through the capital of Lapland, Rovaniemi, I had the chance to visit once again the Administrative and Cultural Center designed by Alvar Aalto. In addition, I had also the possibility to visit the two missing Aalto sights in Rovaniemi which are less well known and to which I hadn't pay much attention during my last major visit in the summer of 2011. But before presenting the two new sights, I first want to share a few current pictures taken from the Administrative and Cultural Center in Rovaniemi, containing the Lappia Hall, the Rovaniemi Library and the Town Hall of Rovaniemi.

The Administrative and Cultural Center in Rovaniemi is a must visit for anybody interested in Alvar Aalto's work as these are certainly among the finest buildings Aalto has designed.

Site No. 77: Maison Aho in Rovaniemi (1964-65)

Between 1958 and 1963 Aalto designed three commercial and residential buildings for the local business man Aarne Aho which I presented in an earlier post on Aalto sites in Rovaniemi. These buildings can be found right in the city centre of Rovaniemi, located in Koskikatu. A bit further down the same street Aalto also designed a private house for the Aho family which is less well known and I was not aware of this building during my previous visit in Rovaniemi. The exact address is Pohjolankatu 32.

The building dates from Aalto's late red brick phase as it was erected in the mid 1960s. It stands in a spacious garden-like surrounding, however, as like many other private houses designed by Alvar Aalto, only the main entrance and a window can be seen from the street. Most of what the outside visitor can see from the building are red brick walls. The house is private property and unfortunately not open to the public. It can only be viewed from the street.

Unless Villa Mairea and Maison Carre, Maison Aro shares in common with these brilliant Aalto works the fact that all three private buildings house art collections. According to local sources the floor plan of the building is slightly fan-shaped, opening out into a living room with a large corner window. A curving gallery wall, lit by a skylight provides indirect natural light to the artworks.

Although the house can only be viewed from the outside, as it is only a few meters from the actual city centre of Rovaniemi away a brief visit to see the exterior is recommended as long as one respects the fact that this is a private house.


Site No. 78: Korkalorinne Housing Area in Rovaniemi (1956-60)

Another Aalto site I was not aware of during my last Rovaniemi visit is the Korkalorinne Housing Area located in the Korkalorinne district. Korkalorinne is about two kilometers from the city centre of Rovaniemi away but can easily be reached by foot. Just follow local signs towards Korkalorinne, it is a nice walk through a quiet residential area with beautiful wooden houses build after the war.

Korkealorinne Housing Area was designed by Alvar Aalto in the mid-late 1950s in an effort to respond to the post-war housing shortage. The majority of Rovaniemi got destroyed during the second world war and the lack of housing was a huge problem at that time. The entire housing area consists of two four-story apartment blocks and three two-storey terraced houses.

Departing from Rovaniemi

Although my visit to Rovaniemi was rather brief this time, I am glad that I had the chance to catch up on the still missing Aalto sites and take a look at some of his less well known works.

Alvar Aalto Week in Jyväskylä

Hi there!

During the last week of August (27.8-2.9.2018) the Aalto Foundation in collaboration with the City of Jyväskylä and other partners in the Central Finland region organized the very first Alvar Aalto Week in and around the Aalto City Jyväskylä. It was a fantastic week with a rich program and many great opportunities to have a look behind the scenes and get access to places that are normally not open to the public. I was lucky enough to find time to participate in many of the events and this post is dedicated to the first Alvar Aalto Week in Jyväskylä.

The week started off for me on Tuesday with the rare opportunity to visit the Aalto Foundation's archive that is located in Jyväskylä not far from one of Aalto's first realized projects, the Nuora House, which I reported about earlier this year. Although the Aalto Foundation's chairmen had invited me already last year to visit the archive, I was glad that I had the chance to participate in one of the guided tours that were offered during this theme week. Indeed, I was lucky as I was the only participant in one of the hourly organized guided tours and received therefore a more customized tour based on my own needs and interests. It was impressive to see how many documents the archive has on file, we are talking here about tens of thousands of documents. These were not only all the original drawings and pictures taken of all the Alvar Aalto buildings but many more documents such as business letters as well as personal letters of Alvar Aalto, almost all publications ever produced about Alvar Aalto and even invoices his office had issued for their architectural services. This archive is certainly a gold mine for any researcher or historian who wants to understand better who Alvar Aalto was and how this translated into his work. I had a very inspiring conversation with the staff of the archive that helped me a lot in increasing my understanding of Aalto's work from a totally new perspective compared to the classic site visits and books that I have read about him and his work so far.


On Wednesday I visited the Alvar Aalto Museum and participated in the free guided tour on the temporary exhibition: The Housing Problem - Alvar Aalto's Housing Architecture. The exhibition gave an interesting in-sight into Alvar Aalto's approach on housing, discussing both private houses and mansions as well as the housing of factory workers and the latter design of high-rise buildings. Although, I had visited almost all the buildings that had been presented in the exhibition, the guided tour gave me still some new understanding on certain aspects of this buildings and answered some of my questions that had remained open during the visits. What certainly stood out in the exhibition were the many original photos from the time when the buildings were completed as well as several scale models and original furnitures that were on display.

On Thursday I briefly visited the so-called Aalto Lounge that was compiled as a temporary exhibition in the Jyväskylä Art Museum consisting of furniture and other decorative elements designed by Alvar Aalto.








On Friday I participated in one of the guided bus tours which the City of Jyväskylä offered for free. Starting point of the three hours tour called Aalto Bravo was at the City Theater that was, as well, designed by Alvar Aalto. Although there were still plenty of tickets left the day before when I got mine, the bus was quite full when it left.

After viewing a few important Aalto buildings from the bus, such as the Administrative Center of Jyväskylä or the University Main Building, the bus made its way out of town to its first real destination, Säynätsalo. The town on the island is famous for its Town Hall which is regarded as one of Aalto's most important works. I had plans to re-visit this site this summer because the purpose of the building had changed a bit since the city council and administration had moved out of the building. After the building had been standing partially empty for some time an entrepreneur had started to open the building again for the public with a new concept of turning the building into a tourist destination with exhibitions, a bakery-shop and rooms for rent. I was curious to see the changes and happy that the tour stopped for quite a while at the town hall. The guide even showed us around before there was time left to explore the building further on our own. It was nice to be able to access more of the rooms that were formally restricted to the employees in the building only. The Town Hall of Säynätsalo is certainly a masterpiece and it is nice to see that it is now better accessible to the public as well.

After leaving Säynätsalo the tour went on to another site that I had planned to re-visit as well, the Muuramme Church. Since my last visit in 2011, the church had undergone major renovations and the ceiling and the benches had been repainted in the original colors, giving the church a totally different look.

You can still find pictures on my 2011 post in case you want to compare the changes as such. The guide provided us with some interesting in-sights on the church and the renovation it had undergone. The main aim of the renovations was to bring the church as close as possible back to its original state as it was designed by Alvar Aalto. After the visit to Muuramme Church the bus returned directly to Jyväskylä where the tour ended.

One of the highlights of the week was certainly the last day. On Sunday visitors were able to view several apartments in four different Alvar Aalto buildings in Jyväskylä and Säynätsalo. This was certainly an event many local people had been looking forward for long and so did I. The cues at each building were long as everybody wanted to get a climbs of what it must be like to life in an Alvar Aalto building. The first building I visited was the Viitatorni high-rise building.

For years I had dreamed of getting access to this building and one of its apartments. The chairperson of the Alvar Aalto Foundation was kind enough to let visitor to see his own studio apartment that is located in this building. The view from the 11th floor was quite impressive.

The second building open to the public that day was the Aira Apartment House that was originally designed for railroad workers. Here the cue was even longer and some had to wait up to one hour to enter the building. In this building a three room apartment was on display and I was also approached by a journalist who asked me about my opinions on the building. Although my name was not mentioned, my comments were printed the next day in the local newspaper.

Finally, the third building that provided visitors with access was the Alvar Aalto Museum itself. However, this meant not only the regular exhibition space but also the small apartment in the back of the building that was originally designed to accommodate the janitor of the building.

Today, the two room apartment is occupied by the Aalto Foundation and mainly used as office space. The second room, however, is kept as a guest room for visitors of the foundation and shows still many elements of Alvar Aalto's original design.

All in all the Alvar Aalto Week was quite exciting as it provided many interesting in-sights and access to some spaces that I had hoped for quite some years to finally be able to see. I really hope that the organizers will consider to put up similar events also in the future. One could certainly see the large interest among the general public and important role Aalto and his work still plays in this city even decades after his career ended.