The architectural masterpieces of renowned Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto have become part of a comprehensive cultural route through Finland, offering visitors an immersive journey through some of the 20th century's most influential designs. With over 60 projects across multiple countries included in the Council of Europe's Architecture and Design of the 20th Century route, launched in 2021, now is the perfect time to explore these Finnish highlights before they potentially become crowded tourist destinations.
The timing is particularly significant as 13 Aalto works have been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status, with the final decision expected this summer. Born in 1898, Aalto stands as one of the most celebrated architects, urban planners, and furniture designers of his generation, creating thoughtful buildings that radiate humanity rather than the soulless concrete blocks often associated with modernist architecture.
Helsinki serves as the creative foundation for any Aalto pilgrimage, centered around his opus magnum, the Finlandia Hall. After an extensive renovation, this cultural institution from the 1970s with its distinctive white marble façade reopened in January, marking the beginning of a new era. The building now operates as an open house independent of concerts and conferences, featuring a bistro overlooking Töölö Bay, a restaurant, design shop, and an experimental permanent exhibition about the Aalto family. Visitors can even stay overnight in a former staff apartment that has been converted into a mini-hotel, combining original Aalto furniture with stylish contemporary interior design.
Aalto's personal connection to Helsinki runs deep, as he lived with his family in the Munkkiniemi district from 1936. Both his still-modern-looking residence and his studio, located just a few streets away, are open for public tours. The studio particularly captivates visitors with natural light flowing into the curved atelier through broad window fronts, overlooking a green courtyard designed like an amphitheater. This workspace reflects Aalto's early fascination with classical Italian and Greek architecture, inspired by his 1924 honeymoon trip to Italy with his wife Aino, who was also an accomplished architect and designer. The couple later explored many European locations and met contemporaries including Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.
Aalto's international breakthrough came with the Paimio Sanatorium, completed in 1933 and located about an hour and a half drive from Helsinki. This comprehensive masterpiece demonstrates his holistic approach to design, as he not only created buildings for tuberculosis patients and adjacent residential houses for doctors and nurses, but also designed forest paths and contributed most of the interior furnishings. His innovations included deeper, noise-reducing washbasins and a wave-shaped bent wooden chair that made breathing easier for lung patients. The Armchair 41 became an iconic design object distributed through Artek, the company co-founded by Alvar and Aino Aalto, which also produces classic stackable three-legged stools, tea trolleys, and pendant lights.
What was once a place few would willingly visit has transformed into a trendy destination for coffee, dinner, or comprehensive tours through the expansive building. Visitors learn about Aalto's vision that the functionalist building itself should contribute to healing tuberculosis patients. During that era, good hygiene, rest, and fresh air were considered the most important treatments. The south-facing double rooms feature large windows, and the roof includes a massive sun deck. Each ward functioned like its own society, with patients electing a president, foreign minister, and even dating minister, despite the fact that patients weren't supposed to get too close to each other. For those wanting to fully immerse themselves in the historical experience, seven renovated patient rooms with original beds are available for overnight stays, along with apartments in the adjacent nurses' house.
Jyväskylä, in central Finland, reveals where Aalto's journey began. He grew up in this city and returned after studying architecture in Helsinki, establishing his first studio in 1923 in just 20 square meters at the city hotel. The ambitious name reflected his grand aspirations: "Office for Architecture and Monumental Art by Alvar Aalto." Today, visitors can discover 29 of his projects throughout Jyväskylä, guided by energetic tour guide Asta Häkkinen through this student city.
Aalto's experience teaching architecture at MIT in Cambridge from the 1940s influenced his work on Jyväskylä's new campus around the sports field. The façades of red and individual dark bricks create a subtle pattern. According to Häkkinen, the designer reportedly said that bricks are like society, and the black sheep belong too, creating a living wall. Near the campus stands the Aalto2 Museum, housed in a building he also designed. The light-flooded space presents his six decades of creative phases along with personal passports and letters. The collection includes his boat, displayed in a glass box at the harbor, bearing the name "Nemo propheta in patria" – "No one is a prophet in his own land." After Aino's death, Alvar met architect Elissa, who became his second wife in 1952. Together they often sailed to a nearby island where they built an experimental house that opens to visitors during summer.
In Oulu, an industrially influenced city on Finland's west coast with rough charm, stands one of Aalto's most unusual buildings. The Aalto Silo, reminiscent of a concrete cathedral, served from 1931 as storage for wood chips from a pulp factory. While little remains of the former industrial site, with other factory buildings now housing a kindergarten and climbing hall, the Toppila district silo seems frozen in time. Valentino Tignanelli, a young architect working for Spain's Factum Foundation specializing in digital technology for cultural heritage preservation, describes it as reminiscent of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."
The 28-meter-high interior space has been cleared, with volunteers and architecture students currently laying floors and installing new windows. Tignanelli explains their vision to transform the silo into a research center promoting architectural preservation and reuse, noting that demolition would be environmentally harmful and contradicts Oulu's "Cultural Climate Change" motto as it prepares to serve as European Capital of Culture in 2026.
Back in Helsinki, the dining scene celebrates Aalto's legacy in unique ways. At Restaurant Toppa, housed in a building that some debate resembles a sugar cube and replaced a demolished Neo-Renaissance structure, chef Tommi Tuominen opened his establishment on the sixth floor's generous terrace eighteen months ago. The space offers an unparalleled panoramic view over the city, previously reserved only for office complex employees. Embracing Aalto's democratic design philosophy, Tuominen chose to serve elevated street food rather than Michelin-starred menus.
Just a few minutes' walk away, the historic Savoy restaurant displays the wave-shaped glass vases that Aalto designed in 1936, which became world-famous as the Aalto Vase. These vessels not only grace Savoy's tables but have found their way into countless Nordic households, embodying the democratic design principle that everyone can afford and use to beautify their homes. This accessibility reflects Aalto's broader philosophy of creating functional beauty for all people, a legacy that continues to influence architecture and design worldwide.
