From this page you can find the texts of the Aalto Design – Shapes of Wellbeing exhibition. You can browse them from your own device while exploring the exhibition or read them again with a new perspective after your visit.
Aalto Design – Shapes of Wellbeing
The buildings and objects designed by the most celebrated figures of Finnish architecture and design – Aino Aalto (1894–1949), Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), and Elissa Aalto (1922–1994) – are regarded as classics that helped renew the principles of European modernism. Rather than focusing solely on functional efficiency and visual clarity, the Aaltos placed holistic human wellbeing at the heart of their design approach. The Aaltos’ philosophy of good design emerged gradually, taking shape over time in both the practice of their office and in Alvar Aalto’s written work and public statements. Paimio Sanatorium (1929–33) – Aino and Alvar Aalto’s international breakthrough – marked a decisive turning point in their careers. From this point onward, they began to move away from strict rationalism and its emphasis on efficiency and clarity, instead prioritizing the “ordinary person” and the psychological dimensions of human experience.
For the Aaltos, design was inherently holistic. Materials, details, light, and site sensitivity were not secondary considerations but fundamental elements of the design process. The materials they selected, for example, were intended to support both psychological and physical wellbeing.
Nature was a vital source of inspiration and wellbeing in their work. A key tenet of their thinking was the pursuit of balance between nature, people, and the built environment. They understood architecture as a means of bridging the human-made and natural worlds, weaving this relationship into everyday life.
These ideas are reflected in their distinctive design language. As Alvar Aalto observed, “form is a mystery that resists definition, yet makes people feel good – producing a different kind of wellbeing than mere social welfare.”
This exhibition traces the Aaltos’ creative development from Paimio Sanatorium toward the more expansive conception of wellbeing that came to define their work in the 1950s. One of its earliest fully realized expressions is Villa Mairea (1938–39).
Visitors are invited to reflect on what the Aaltos’ insights might offer today as society seeks ways to foster wellbeing – both in everyday life and on a planetary scale.
Wellbeing Through Materials: Bentwood Furniture
The Aaltos favored wood in their furniture designs, appreciating its warmth, tactile appeal, and soothing visual and acoustic qualities – characteristics that stood in sharp contrast to the shiny steel tubing widely used by other designers of the time.
Because the angular form of raw timber did not naturally contour to the human body, Alvar Aalto collaborated with cabinetmaker Otto Korhonen to develop innovative methods for bending timber and plywood into unprecedented shapes using glue and hot steam. These experiments produced the now-iconic Paimio Chair and established an efficient, groundbreaking process for the mass production of bentwood furniture.
The chairs on display illustrate the Aaltos’ lifelong, evolving engagement with their materials. Their early designs from the 1930s forced the wood into bold, experimental forms, pushing the limits of timber and plywood. By the 1950s, their approach had become more organic: fan-shaped, or X-shaped, legs enabled more natural joinery, reflecting the growth patterns of trees and the interweaving of plant fibers.
Alvar Aalto’s bentwood relief panels further demonstrate this maturation process, grounded in long-term experimentation with the material’s properties.
Wellbeing Through Landscape: From Monumentality to Dialogue with Nature
One of the Aaltos’ key insights was that holistic engagement with the landscape fosters both aesthetic and psychological wellbeing. Their evolving dialogue with nature matured significantly between the 1930s and the 1950s.
Paimio Sanatorium (1929–33) reflects Alvar Aalto’s 1920s idea that human intervention can refine the landscape: the building and its immediate surroundings form a consciously shaped entity, distinct from natural formations. The sanatorium rises as a towering white monument amid the pine forests of Southwest Finland.
By contrast, Villa Mairea (1938–39) embodies an architecture more deeply integrated with the site’s natural topography, vegetation, and local context. Terraces and canopies create a gradual transition from interior spaces to the surrounding landscape. Here, nature is treated as a pre-existing, holistic entity that the architecture seeks to understand and harmonize with, rather than reshape.
Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949–52) marks a further evolution. The Aaltos not only adapted the architecture to the existing terrain but also introduced new landforms: the raised lawn in the courtyard is an artificial hill that accentuates the site’s natural elevation contrasts. Unlike Paimio Sanatorium, this radical intervention does not oppose nature; instead, it adds a new layer that extends and complements the topography.
Forgotten Ideals? The Helsinki City Centre Plan, 1959–73
In 1959, the Aalto practice was commissioned to design a new city center plan for Helsinki. Planning had been underway for decades, yet the only tangible outcome until then was the decision to abandon the filling of Töölönlahti Bay. Helsinki can be grateful for that choice: today, the bay’s waterside landscapes form an important recreational area that supports the wellbeing of its residents.
Surprisingly, Alvar Aalto described Töölönlahti as a “worthless copy of a Karelian forest pond.” He proposed transforming the eastern part of the bay into a highway and covering the southern section with a concrete deck. Hesperianpuisto Park, in his vision, would be lined with a “pearl string of cultural buildings,” their façades reflected in the water like Venetian palaces.
Aalto was famously a master of rhetoric, but would this plan have created an environment genuinely conducive to wellbeing? In advancing these bold ideas, he seems to have set aside the principles that shaped the office’s most celebrated works. Although the plan was further developed, it may ultimately have been fortunate that it was never realized, becoming “another cross in a graveyard of heroic urban plans,” as art historian Riitta Nikula later described Töölönlahti.
Wellbeing Through Site Sensitivity: Architecture in Harmony with Nature
The architectural drawings on display trace the evolution of the Aaltos’ work and their growing sensitivity to the site’s natural surroundings.
Paimio Sanatorium (1929–33) – an early milestone in their career – stands out distinctly from the natural terrain, reflecting a functionalist approach to landscaping. Here, the pine forest primarily serves to support patient recovery.
The Terraced House at the Kauttua Ironworks (1937–38) in Eura marks a shift toward organic integration. Its low-rise, tiered form follows the slope of the esker, while yards, terraces, and preserved mature pines create a gentle transition between the built environment and untamed nature.
Similarly, the workers’ housing at Sunila Pulp Mill (1936–38) harmonizes with the terrain’s natural contours, fusing architecture with local topography.
Villa Mairea (1938–39) represents the epitome of this dialogue between architecture and nature. Here, the landscape is brought inside, and the built and natural worlds are fused as one. Striking interior details, such as the wooden colonnade on the main staircase, echo the rhythms of the surrounding pine forest, seamlessly blending interior and exterior.
Site sensitivity remains a hallmark in later works, including those in urban contexts. In Finlandia Hall’s congress wing (1975), the building’s undulating façade preserves mature trees and nestles against the bedrock, engaging respectfully with the natural site without dominating it.
A Total Work of Art: Villa Mairea 1938–39
In Villa Mairea, the Aaltos’ architectural vision reaches its first fully mature expression. Designed for Maire and Harry Gullichsen, the project granted Aino and Alvar Aalto exceptional creative freedom, unconstrained by financial limitations or stylistic demands imposed by the client. The result is one of modern architecture’s most iconic total works of art.
The villa is more than a house: it is a carefully composed dialogue between the built and natural environment. Interior spaces flow seamlessly into the garden, which in turn merges with the surrounding pine forest. The rooms unfold with an organic rhythm, echoed in forest-like architectural elements such as the load-bearing columns and the irregularly grouped wooden poles framing the staircase. Materials and details are chosen to engage the senses, creating an intimate, welcoming atmosphere, subtly enriched by Japanese influences.
Nearly ninety years on, what can this luxury residence teach us today, as we navigate multiple crises that challenge our wellbeing?
Architecture that nurtures wellbeing does not depend on extravagant budgets; it begins with an understanding of what constitutes a good life. In this respect, the Aaltos were pioneers. Their work invites us to consider whether these same principles might still offer guidance in addressing contemporary challenges to wellbeing on a global scale.
7. First Steps in Architecture of Wellbeing: Paimio Sanatorium (1929–33)
The Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium is a landmark of modernist architecture, conceived specifically as an instrument for healing. When Alvar and Aino Aalto won the competition in 1929, they were deeply influenced by international functionalism, emphasizing simplicity of form and the building’s intended function. Yet Paimio Sanatorium marked a turning point in their approach, foreshadowing a shift from strict rational efficiency toward design attentive to human psychology and sensory experience.
The sanatorium became a “medical instrument,” designed not just to house nursing facilities but to actively support recovery. This intention is most evident in the patient wards, conceived from the horizontal perspective of someone lying down. To reduce glare, the ceilings were painted darker than the walls. Lighting was indirect and soothing, and washbasins were designed to dampen the sound of running water, whether sitting or standing. Every detail was carefully considered for its effect on the patient’s experience, promoting rest and recuperation.
Ilona Sagar: Other Actors
How does Aino and Alvar Aalto’s vision of healing architecture resonate today, now that Paimio Sanatorium is no longer a hospital?
Other Actors is a three-channel video installation by London-based artist Ilona Sagar. It explores the links between bodies and buildings, health and architecture, through the lens of Paimio Sanatorium.
At the time of filming, the sanatorium is at a significant moment in its transition from hospital to a new purpose. As restoration progresses, the film examines its status as a building in flux. Notions of care and maintenance are central to the film. As time moves and agendas change, so does what is being maintained, what survives and what is valued?
Other Actors asks us to consider what we do with the architectural legacies of modernism that linger in our cultural imaginary, and how we can platform those who would normally be hidden behind its visual façades.
Ilona Sagar created Other Actors in close collaboration with those who have lived and worked at the sanatorium, including the former maintenance staff, workers at the furniture manufacturer Artek, and surviving architects of the Aaltos’ design team. The film also features prominent theorists Beatriz Colomina, Heini Hakosalo, and Peter Stadius. Other Actors is informed by collaboration with the Aalto University School of Engineering, the Kalasatama Undocumented Migrants Clinic, as well as the Tuberculosis Research Group at Leicester University and Imperial College London, highlighting an urgent contemporary perspective on a disease often thought to be a relic of the past.
Wellbeing Through Form: The World’s Most Famous Vase?
Designed by Alvar Aalto, the Aalto Vase embodies his holistic approach to design. Its form exemplifies “organic modernism,” favoring asymmetry and freely undulating lines that depart radically from the strict geometrical functionalism of its time. Aalto harnessed the natural properties of glass – its translucency, reflectivity, and malleability – to create an object that appeals to both the eye and the sense of touch.
Beyond aesthetics, the vase’s form is intimately tied to its function and human sensory experience. For Aalto, design was inseparable from wellbeing: he believed objects should soften the harshness of modern environments, introducing the rhythms of nature and sensory pleasure into everyday life. The Aalto Vase thus represents a unique fusion of handcrafted serial production, organic form, and human-centered design.
Aalto established his reputation as a glass designer in the 1930s, a period when many architects were actively engaged in industrial design. His collaboration with Karhula-Iittala began with his victory in the company’s 1936 design competition, which led to the creation of what would become his most iconic glass object.
Wellbeing Through Brick: “Architecture is the Transformation of a Worthless Stone into a Nugget of Gold.”
Alongside his extensive use of wood, brick became an increasingly prominent material in the work of Alvar Aalto as his career progressed. In the 1930s, exposed brick was largely reserved for industrial buildings, but by the 1950s – often rightly described as Aalto’s “red-brick period”– it had assumed a focal architectural role. For Aalto, brick was “a basic building block in creating a socially appealing environment.”
The Baker House Dormitory (1946–49) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology marked the beginning of this phase. There, Aalto sourced bricks of deliberately “poor quality” from a Canadian factory, valuing their subtle variations in tone and texture for the rich, tactile surfaces they produced. Similarly, the bricks for Säynätsalo Town Hall (1949–52) were fired and laid according to his precise specifications, with variation in tone and texture deliberately preserved.
Aalto described form as a mystery capable of generating a sense of wellbeing. At Baker House, the undulating façade was realized through the expressive use of standard brick. Yet to fully explore the material’s potential, he developed an entirely new brick type that expanded its expressive range and heightened its sensory appeal. This exploration reached its culmination in Helsinki’s House of Culture (1955–58), where Aalto’s enduring engagement with brick found its most compelling architectural expression.
11. Wellbeing Through Light: Bilberries, Turnips, Beehives, and Hand Grenades
For Aino Aalto, Alvar Aalto, and Elissa Aalto, light was a fundamental element of architecture. Early in their careers, Aino and Alvar recognized the value of directing natural light obliquely into interior spaces. A compelling early example is the reading room of Viipuri Library (1935), where cylindrical skylights bathe the space in even daylight while eliminating glare. At the same time, they understood the importance of artificial lighting for everyday life and psychological wellbeing, particularly in the dark conditions of the Nordic climate.
In the 1950s, the Aaltos’ approach to light became increasingly refined, both technically and atmospherically. Their lighting designs – especially for public buildings – combined natural and artificial light with remarkable ingenuity, often introducing angled daylight through sculptural skylights. The near-monastic atmosphere of Säynätsalo Town Hall, for instance, emerges from the interplay of softly filtered natural light, restrained artificial illumination, and textured brick surfaces.
During this period, the Aaltos also developed a wide range of lighting fixtures that expanded their spatial vocabulary. Beyond their primary function, pendant lamps were positioned to articulate space, acting as subtle dividers and establishing a visual rhythm. A distinctive feature of Aalto lighting is its self-illuminating quality: the fixtures themselves glow, inviting the eye to linger, much as an Aalto door handle or handrail invites the touch.
Aalto Public Spaces: An Architect’s Task Is to Create Paradises on Earth.
Welcome to the Aalto Lounge. Here, visitors are invited to touch and directly experience designs by Alvar Aalto.
Aalto maintained that “the fundamental challenge of architecture is not that of achieving external, formal perfection, but rather of creating a pleasing environment through thoughtful simplicity that meets human biological needs.” For him, a well-designed public space was an essential source of collective wellbeing.
Elements such as light fixtures, door handles, railings, and other details were never secondary considerations for the Aaltos, but integral components in shaping an emotionally resonant environment. Every aspect – from the interplay of forms and materials to the use of natural light, framed views, and even vegetation – was carefully orchestrated to engage all the senses.
Concerned with the needs of the “ordinary person” in an increasingly mechanized modern world, Aalto saw it as the architect’s responsibility to “create paradises on Earth.” The Aalto Lounge celebrates the public spaces designed by the Aaltos – their furnishings, materials, and considered details – and, in doing so, affirms the enduring value of design in fostering wellbeing.
Library
Welcome to the Aalto Lounge. Here, visitors are invited to touch and directly experience designs by Alvar Aalto.
Choose a book, sit down, and read on a chair designed by Aalto. When you are finished, please return the book to the shelf.
Thank you and enjoy your visit!
Hands-on Exploration Space
“Whenever we stayed at the house, we always had the opportunity to engage in dialogue with brick.” – Alvar Aalto
The Muuratsalo Experimental House (1952–54), designed by Alvar and Elissa Aalto as their summer residence, functioned as a site for architectural experimentation. Inspired by the layout of ancient atrium houses, it provided a setting in which to explore the expressive and structural potential of brick and ceramic tiles under real-life conditions.
The walls and floor of the atrium courtyard – open to the surrounding landscape on one side – were divided into approximately fifty test patches, where a wide range of bricks and ceramic tiles were laid in varied arrangements. The Aaltos examined the properties of different brick types and tested the durability of various mortars, while also experimenting with unconventional structures and unexpected material combinations. This ongoing dialogue between architects and brick made the house a truly unique environment.
We invite you to take inspiration from the photographs and explore the materials used by the Aaltos – brick, ceramic tile, glass, and wood. This exhibition highlights the many inventive ways in which these materials were employed in their work.
Start your own experiment and play. Arrange the materials on the tabletop to create patterns or forms, or continue a composition begun by someone else. You may leave your creation for others to enjoy, dismantle it and return the materials, or photograph your work to share on social media.
Reflect as you explore:
- What did it feel like to experiment and play?
- What kinds of responses did different patterns or forms evoke?
- Do the materials seem to invite you into a dialogue?
- How do different materials and shapes affect your sense of wellbeing?
- You may adjust the brightness of the room’s lighting here.
- This booklet is available to accompany your exploration of the exhibition.