Alvar Aalto and Contemporary Architecture: Comparative Critical Analyses of Built Works

3 units

A graduate seminar employing comparative critical analyses to explore ten works of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) and works by ten contemporary architects that share disciplinary ordering principles with the works of Aalto, selected from a list including Alvaro Siza, Steven Holl, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, John and Patricia Patkau, Juha Leiviska, Sverre Fehn, Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, Jorn Utzon, Eduardo Souto da Moura and Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano. Aalto was one of the most influential of the second generation of Modern architects, and this course will explore the architectural ordering principles structuring his work, how these were often derived both from Aalto's response to the Nordic environment and from Aalto's insights into the works of his predecessors, and the manner in which these ordering principles have been employed by contemporary architects. Analytical methods employed in the course will cover the full range of contextual, cultural, material, constructive, and experiential attributes of buildings, with particular emphasis on Aalto's focus on the manner in which the spaces of a building are ordered by the patterns of occupation and the poetics of use, as well as the poetics A graduate seminar employing comparative critical analyses to explore ten works of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) and works by ten contemporary architects that share disciplinary ordering principles with the works of Aalto, selected from a list including Alvaro Siza, Steven Holl, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, John and Patricia Patkau, Juha Leiviska, Sverre Fehn, Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, Jorn Utzon, Rafael Moneo, and Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano. Aalto was one of the most influential of the second generation of Modern architects, and this course will explore the architectural ordering principles structuring his work, how these were often derived both from Aalto's response to the Nordic environment and from Aalto's insights into the works of his predecessors, and the manner in which these ordering principles have been employed by contemporary architects. Analytical methods employed in the course will cover the full range of contextual, cultural, material, constructive, and experiential attributes of buildings, with particular emphasis on Aalto's focus on the manner in which the spaces of a building are ordered by the patterns of occupation and the poetics of use, as well as the poetics of construction, or the way in which a building is built, and of what materials it is made, and how all these combine to construct the experience of those who inhabit it. Following introductory lectures by the faculty, each of the subsequent ten class meetings will consist of a presentation of a selected pairing of buildings, one by Aalto and one to three by a contemporary architect, to be presented by teams of two students. Students will be evaluated on both the quality of their individual presentations, and on the quality of their participation in the class discussions. Documentation of presentations are due at the end of the semester.