STUDIO AALTO

  • Alvar Aalto
  • Tiilimäki 20, FI-00330 Helsinki

Alvar Aalto designed Studio Aalto as his own office in 1955. The studio is located in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki, a short walk from his home, Villa Aalto, where the office had previously been located.

Because of a number of large commissions, the office needed more space to work in. The studio has an L shape and an amphitheater in the garden, which was an open space where associates could sit and listen to lectures, watch slide shows projected on the wall, or simply take a pause and have a talk.

The studio is filled with natural light and decorated with Aalto furniture. Aalto said that "an architect's studio should provide both peace and quiet for the individual and the possibility of group work. This is the key to the general character of the building."

Alvar Aalto ran the office until his death in 1976, and after that, the office continued under the leadership of Elissa Aalto until 1994. The building came into the custodianship of the Alvar Aalto Foundation in 1984 and today it houses the Alvar Aalto Foundation, the Alvar Aalto Academy and the Alvar Aalto Museum Architectural Heritage.

Both Studio Aalto and Villa Aalto are part of the Alvar Aalto Museum, and are open to the public. Reservations are required and the gift shop is great :)