1925 onwards. It is likely that Aalto and Sutinen were jointly behind the three Finnish
examples submitted to the Brussels exhibition. Sixteen sheets of Le Corbusier’s “La Ville
Radieuse” (The Radiant City) town plan were also featured at Brussels.
In spring 1931, Giedion and Aalto corresponded on the publication of an article
on Finnish architecture and Aalto’s projects in the German Bauwelt (The Building
Magazine), which served as CIAM’s publicity channel. Aalto’s article “Ein Brief von
Alvar Aalto” (A Letter from Alvar Aalto), the project description of the Turun Sanomat
Newspaper Building and an overview of Finnish architecture, written by Giedion, were
published in CIAM’s country file on Finland.^478 Aalto’s article had four key points:
Finland was an agricultural society; the country grew vast quantities of wood; the ques-
tions of urban development had yet to be thoroughly discussed; and, while Finland
had some urban development, in terms of organic building, construction and town
planning, it had only weak architectural content.^479 The illustrations of the country file
on Finland were dominated by nine high-quality photographs and drawings of the
Turun Sanomat Newspaper Building and two photographs of the Minimun Apartment
Exhibition. This marked Aalto’s arrival on the international stage as a designer.
In May, Giedion sent Aalto the agenda of the Berlin special conference in advance. The
conference would prepare the way for the 1932 CIAM conference to be held in Moscow,
with “Functional City” as its theme. Giedion hoped that Nordic participants could attend
the Berlin conference.^480 Aalto participated in the 1931 conference, which took place
simultaneously with the Deutsche Bauaustellung (The German Building Exhibition), as
did his Swedish colleagues Sven Markelius, Uno Åhrén and Eskil Sundahl.^481
478 Giedion 1931a and 1931b.
479 Aalto 1931a, pp. 35–39; Schildt 1997a, pp. 85–86, and Schildt 1997b, pp. 85–86.
480 Giedion’s letter to Aalto, May 11, 1931. Signum 10827, correspondence. AAM.
481 Mumford 2002, pp. 61–62.Fig. 2.7d The workers' apartment building finished in 1932. Photo No.
50-003-432. AAM.