Chapter 2 | Alvar Aalto's Professional Networkscaptions were short, and typically listed the materials used. Reinforced concrete was
the dominant material in the featured buildings.^318 The images in the book included
photographs of completed projects as well as models and drawings. The photographs
usually showed a general view, the front façade of the building, the building from an
angle, a street view or even an aerial view.^319 Some images highlighted the concrete
structure.^320 Gropius’ Master’s Houses and Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret’s Pessac
housing development were photographed from a completely new, low angle that drew
attention to the experience of an individual.^321 In addition to photographs, the images
included axonometric, elevation and perspective drawings. Some of the projects illus-
trated had not been completed.^322
Gropius’ choice of images showed that he placed great importance on unfinished
projects as being indicative of the direction of development. By juxtaposing photographs
and drawings, unrealised projects began to seem more real in the mind of the reader.
Internationale Architektur was forward-looking and did not merely settle on reporting
past development. The typology of the featured buildings also revealed what type of
functions Gropius considered topical. Housing was the most important theme, and
the selection of works highly international. The dominant building material, reinforced
concrete, was at the core of the book’s message.
In the architectural view held by Bauhaus, rationality was linked with the material side
of architecture, its structuralism and pursuit of economical solutions. Gropius maintained,
however, that the task of architecture was also to give aesthetic pleasure to the human soul.
For him, the new method of building allowed for a new kind of spatial thinking. While
construction was a question of method and materials, architecture was spatial art.^323
Aalto’s reportage “Uusimmista virtauksista rakennustaiteen alalla” (On the Latest
Trends in the Field of Architecture)^324 was published on New Year’s Day 1928 in the
most widely distributed newspaper of Southwest Finland, Uusi Aura (The New Dawn),
which was an organ of the National Coalition Party. Aalto’s aim with the article was
to demonstrate to people of influence in Turku his stature, level of knowledge and
international contacts. In 1928, the economic outlook was still positive and there was
optimism and expectation in the air. The article was built on clever, emotionally charged
318 The steel structure is mentioned for 17 and glass for 13 images. Brick was used in load-bearing structures in at
least 13 projects, while only one had a timber frame. At least two projects had a hybrid frame combining several
materials. Gropius 1981 [1925].
319 The books show aerial photographs the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, Fiat factory in Turin, wooden market stalls
designed for Moscow by K.S. Melnikov and Manhattan Island. Gropius 1981 [1925].
320 These included, among others, images of Freysinnet’s airship hangar and E. Norwert’s power plant in Moscow.
Large interior spaces and their arches were also featured in the photographs, including P. Berlage’s Amsterdam
Stock Exchange, Brothers Perret’s H. Esders atelier in Paris, and Bruno Taut’s carrle auction hall in Magdeburg.
Gropius 1981 [1925].
321 Gropius 1981 [1925], p. 63 and p. 84.
322 Gropius 1981 [1925].
323 The New Architecture and the Bauhaus by Gropius sheds light on the reasons for establishing Bauhaus and the
fundaments of its approach to teaching. It was published in English originally as early as in 1935. Gropius 1998
[1935], p. 24.
324 Aalto 1928a, p. 11.