Alvar Aalto in Iceland

Flag of Iceland

Finally I am back from a very exciting summer trip visiting three different countries in 20 days including also two new Alvar Aalto sites outside Finland, namely the Nordic House in Reykjavik / Iceland and the only art museum designed by Aalto in Aalborg / Denmark. The third country I visited was the U.S. but unfortunatelly I was not able to visit any of the two Aalto sites over there. But let me now first start with the Nordic House in Reykjavik.


Site No. 43: Nordic House, Library and Cultural Centre in Reykjavik / Iceland (1962-1968)

My flight to Iceland

Visiting Iceland has been a dream of mine for many years as Iceland is the country of volcanos, lava fields, glaciers, geysirs and many other natural phenomena. Getting there from Finland took about 3,5 hours by airplane and 3 hours of time change. While the rest of the country is very sparsely populated Reykjavik with its 200.000 inhabitants can be considered as the only bigger city in Iceland. Below are first some impressions of Iceland and Reykjavik in particular.

Esja mountains close to Reykjavik

Reykjavik from top

Typical inland view

Street in Reykjavik

The Blue Lagoon

Great architecture in the centre of Reykjavik

The Nordic House is a cultual institution with the goal to support the cultural connections between Iceland and the other Nordic Countries. The Nordic House hosts a library focusing on Nordic literature (I could find also a lot of Finnish books there), a restaurant that serves New Nordic food, a shop for Nordic design and exhibition spaces and auditoriums. The Nordic House organizes concerts, art exhibitions, seminars and theatres on a daily base. The building is located not far from the inner city centre of Reykjavik close to the University of Reykjavik. The address is Sturlugötu 5, it is open daily. More information and the event calender can be found also here: http://www.nordichouse.is/

Here are now first some views from outside. The marine blue roof with its wave form easily identifies the building as one of those one's desinged by Alvar Aalto and reminded me also a bit of the town hall of Seinäjoki which I visited last summer.

The Foyer of the Nordic House:

Pictures from the library which uses most of the space of the building. I like especially how smart the limited space was used to add more book shelfs into the library and how Aalto created those small private work spaces between the book shelfs.

The restaurant which offeres a nice view towards the city centre of Reykjavik and the small lake infront of the building as you can see on the third picture:

And finally I took a short look into the auditorium:

Alvar Aalto in Estonia

Finally I visited my first Aalto site abroad, I travelled to Tartu, the second biggest city in Estonia. To get there I had first to use the bus to Helsinki and then the Night-Ferry to Tallin. The next day I took the morning train from Tallin to Tartu. There my good friend Janar who lifes in Tartu picked me up from the station and after we have had a nice sightseeing tour through the old city of Tartu, which is by the way really worth a visit, we headed towards Villa Tammekann. At this point I would like to thank Janar for hosting me and Dani for two nights in his home and for the hostability of his family. This post and its picturs are dedicated to Janar.

Townhall of Tartu

Train to Tartu

Site No. 42: Villa Tammekann in Tartu / Estonia (1932)

Street sign to Villa Tammekann

Villa Tammekann is located not far from the city centre of Tartu in Kreutzwalditee 6 at a nice alley surrounded by other villas. The Villa was designed by Alvar Aalto and built in 1932 for Professor August Tammekann and his family as a residence. Today the Villa is owned by the Finnish University of Turku and houses the so called Granö Centre a joint venture of the University of Turku and the University of Tartu. The Granö Centre was opened in 2000 after the building had been renovated and brought back into its original style. The Villa nowadays mostly hosts members of the University and is used as a temporary accomodation. Villa Tammekann can be visited by arrangement, the caretaker will open the doors for you after you have made an appointment and guide you through the house, the entrance fee is 3 euros.


Here are now first some views from outside of the building:

And pictures from the first floor where the living room, working room, dining room and kitchen are located. Also the furnitures were designed by Alvar Aalto.

In the second floor there are three bed-rooms.

In the basement there is a large meeting room and a sauna as well as a further bed-room.

Estonian flag on the ferry back to Helsinki

Altogether was the visit to Villa Tammekann a really great experience. It was nice to visit a building whose entire interior was equipped with furniture also designed by Alvar Aalto. Worth to mention here is also the layout of the building and how efficient the space was used. It gives you the feeling that the building is much larger as it actually really is. At this point I would also like to thank the caretaker for showing us around in the house and the University of Turku for arranging this visit.

Aalto Summer 2012

Hi there,

I have good news to share, finally this summer I will go and start to visit Alvar Aalto sites also outside Finland. My summer is packed with various trips either for work or leisure. Hereby I just realized that during most of my trips I will also have the chance to visit new Alvar Aalto sites.

My Aalto Summer 2012 starts next week by visiting "Villa Tammekann" in Tartu / Estonia. After that I will continue in June by visiting the "Nordic House" in Reykjavik / Island and finally in July I am planning to visit the "North Jutland Art Museum" in Aalborg / Denmark. Three new countries and three new sites.

Enjoy the summer and stay tuned!