The Life of Alvar Henrik Aalto
Alvar Henrik Aalto (1898–1976) was a Finnish architect who was one of the most influential proponents of functional design. Aalto's early work was strictly functional, but in later designs he integrated his buildings with their environment through the use of natural materials and free-flowing volumes and spaces. Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born in Kuortane, Finland, on Feb. 3, 1898. He graduated from the Polytechnic School in Helsinki in 1921 and three years later married fellow student Aino Marsio (1894–1949), who collaborated in all his designs until her death. Their first office was in Jyväskylä. In 1927 they moved to Turku, and in 1933 they relocated to Helsinki. In 1952 he married Elissa Mäkiniemi, who became a partner in his office, and after 1955 they lived in or near Helsinki. Aalto died in Helsinki on May 11, 1976. Aalto's fame spread beyond Finland with early functional designs such as the block of buildings in Turku that includes the Finnish Theater (1927–1928); a tu...