Alvar Aalto in Tampere

Site No. 52: Housing for Ex-service Men in Tampere (1940-41)

Today I visited again a new Alvar Aalto site, the second one in Tampere. A sunny (early) spring day brought me to Tampere, which is only a 90 minutes ride on the train from Jyväskylä. The side I visited today is a housing area consisting of 14 houses designed by Alvar Aalto in the early 1940s. The houses were build for men who had served in WWII. The housing area is located in the district of Nekala, about 4 kilometers from the city centre of Tampere. To get there use Bus 15 from the Central Bus Station (Keskustori) towards Kaukajärvi. The ride takes about 10-15 minutes and you should get off at a stop called Jokipohjantie 18. Follow the street in the same direction as the bus came for another 100 meter and turn then left to a street called Asevelitie. The site can easily be distinguished because a large stone was errected as a memorial for the war heros:

The houses are kept quite simple. They are single floored, made of wood and they hardly stand out from the surrounding family homes. However there are a few elements that help to differentiate them from other family homes. Especially to mention is the roof form and the backing of the roof elements. Here are now some pictures of the houses:

Due to the fact that this are private homes I was not able to have a closer look at the houses. In case you planning to visit this site please keep this in mind.

Alvar Aalto No. 50

Site No. 50: Tampella Co. Pekola Housing Area in Tampere (1941-1952)

Train to Tampere

Hi there! After 3 years of existence of this blog I have the pleasure to present you today the 50. Alvar Aalto site I have ever visited! To make this visit even more special, I visited the Tampella Housing Area in Tampere on my birthday a couple of days ago. A day trip to Tampere, as a tribute to my birthday, brought me to this neigbouring city of Jyväskylä which is about 150 kilometers from here or 90 minutes by train. The Tampella Housing Area is located in the district of Tammella and perfectly embedded into this area of appartment houses mostly errected after the WWII. Here are first some pictures of the housing area:

The precise address of the Tampella Housing Area is Ilmarinkatu 27-35. The housing area consists altogether of 5 appartment houses which were build during the 1940s. The houses belong to Aalto's early red brick periode. Today the houses are owned by TOAS the Tampere Student Housing Foundation so mainly students of the University of Tampere life there.

Even so the housing area is hardly distinguishing itself from the surrounding appartment houses some of the Aalto typical elements can be seen, especially when it comes to the windows and doors. However some of the windows and doors have been changed during time and don't look anymore original Aalto which is quite a pity.

 The house number 35 was just under renovation during my visit as can be seen at the picture above. 

To round up my visit to Tampere I went to the Art Museum where they had a photography exhibition about Bauhaus architecture by Gordon Watkinson. It was interesting looking at the photographs taken from buildings desinged by the famous Bauhaus architects in the 1920s and 1930s. I certainly could see elements in common with Aalto's early works from the 1930s and 1940s. That was at a time while he still hadn't created his own style and were more doing architecture common for that periode. The Tampella Housing Area is a good example of that periode in Aalto's work and definitely worth a visit while being in Tampere.