it is once again time to make plans for the summer vacation. For this summer I have decided to tour Europe by train and to visit some of Aalto's finest works in Sweden, Germany, France and Italy. I will start off from Finland on July 18 and cross the baltic sea by boat. From Stockholm I will reach Avesta and Uppsala which feature two of Aalto's late 1950s and early 1960s works. Then I will head down to Denmark and Germany where I will visit Alvar Aalto sites in Bremen, Essen and Wolfsburg. Next the journey will take me to France where I will visit the world famous Maision Louis Carre. Finally I will take the night-train from Paris to Milan in order to reach Riola di Vegato where the famous Church of Santa Maria Assunta is located. From Riola it is not a long way anymore to Venice where I will visit the Finnish Pavilion designed by Alvar Aalto in 1956. Below is a detailed (preliminary) schedule of my European Aalto Summer Tour:July 19 Sundh Centre Commercial Residential Building / Aaltohuset in Avesta/Sweden
July 19 Västmanlands-Dala Student Union Building in Uppsala/Sweden
July 21 Wolfsburg Cultural Centre in Wolfsburg/Germany
July 21 Wolfsburg Church and Parish Centre in Wolfsburg/Germany
July 21 Detmerode Church and Stephanus Parish Centre in Wolfsburg/Germany
July 23 Neue Vahr High-Rise Apartment Building in Bremen/Germany
July 23 Essen Opera House/Aalto Theater in Essen/Germany
July 29 Maision Louis Carre in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne/France
July 30 Church and Parish Centre Santa Maria Assunta in Riola de Vergato/Italy
July 30 Finnish Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 1956 in Venice/Italy
This journey will certainly bring me closer to my ambitious goal, set in 2010, of visiting all 80 Alvar Aalto sites around the world. After visiting these buildings the only missing Aalto building not located in Finland will be the Aalto Library in Vyborg/Russia, however, there are some plans already in the make to also visit this masterpiece during the upcoming summer. So stay tuned for many more exciting new pictures and stories of Alvar Aalto's architecture!
