U.S. Aalto Summer Trip

Hi there!

finally the time has come for more news on this blog, I am happy to announce that I have made travel arrangements for July and August in order to visit the three Alvar Aalto sites here in the United States, as already promised last year. After a successful but also demanding research visit at UCLA it is finally time to hit the road again. Before heading back to the continent with the most Alvar Aalto sites, I still wanna use the opportunity to see those three sites located outside of Europe. At the same time of course I also want to see more of this country that has been home for me for the past 10 months. I therefore planned a route that not only connects some of the most exciting cities and landscapes in the United States but contains also all three Alvar Aalto sites. In order to see the most of the country I decided to travel by train, the form of transportation I personally prefer the most. Starting from Los Angeles, I will make my way to Chicago passing by San Francisco and Denver. After that I will head south to New Orleans, further to Atlanta and then Miami. From there I will again head north passing through Orlando, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia to New York. There finally I will visit the first Alvar Aalto site, the Edgar J. Kaufmann Conference Facility at the Institute for International Education (IIE) headquarter. Arranging a visit to the facility wasn't difficult for me as I happen to be a IIE grantee which really is an interesting coincidence. From New York I will head north again to the next Alvar Aalto site, the Baker House at MIT in Boston. After Boston I head back to the west coast passing again through Chicago going all the way to Seattle. From Seattle I will head south again to Portland and then to Salem from where I will reach the third Alvar Aalto site in the U.S. the Mount Angel Abbey Library. Also that visit has been arranged and I will stay one night at the abbey before heading back the next day down to Los Angeles where my journey began 45 days earlier.

I am already excited to go and visit these three Aalto sites and telling more about these visits on this very blog so please stay tuned and enjoy the summer!