2.3 “My Latest Buildings Will Be Built Exclusively from Concrete”
T
he quotation in the heading is from Aalto’s interview for the Sisä-Suomi (Inner
Finland) newspaper, which the architect had edited himself.^325 Alvar Aalto
was successful in architectural competitions in the late 1920s and, as a result
Turku became the main geographical focus of his work and concrete one of the central
challenges in all his projects. As a break of the past years, the main material of his new
building designs at the time was reinforced concrete. Aalto’s career experienced a new
boost when he won the architectural competition for Southwest Finland Agricultural
Cooperative Building in spring 1927 and for Vyborg City Library at the end of the same
year.^326 Alongside his competition work, in November 1927Aalto was also commissioned
by factory owner Juho Tapani to design an apartment building in Turku.^327 In 1928 he
got a commission from a local newspaper owner Arvo Ketonen to design the Turun
Sanomat Newspaper Building. The Aaltos understood that they had an unprecedented
opportunity to apply their avant-gardist views in these projects. Adopting new expression
and an innovative method of execution took courage, which the architects Aino and Alvar
bolstered by familiarising themselves with topical buildings built on the Continent.
In early summer 1928, the Aaltos made a long study trip to Denmark, the Nether-
lands and France. On their trip, they met Poul Henningsen, Alfred Roth, Le Corbus-
ier^328 , André Lurçat and Johannes Duiker.^329 They studied topical buildings, such as
the Zonnestraal Sanatorium in Hilversum,^330 completed in the same year. In Paris the
couple was hosted by the French Modernist André Lurçat. Their visit was timed only
days before the CIAM founding meeting, which was attended by both Le Corbusier
and Lurçat.^331 They likely had the opportunity to visit La Villa Seurat artist community,
designed by Lurçat and consisting of Modernist, three-storey private homes built along
a cul-de-sac in Paris.^332 Since one of the houses was designed by Lurçat for his brother,
one may assume that he had a personal relationship with the customers in the community,
and the Aaltos would probably have been allowed to see the inside of some of the houses
as well. Amédée Ozenfant’s studio (1922–1924), designed by Le Corbusier, is located
close to the La Villa Seurat, and a visit there was probably part the day’s programme.
325 Aalto 1928c, p. 3.
326 Simo Paavilainen and Kristiina Nivari have described the different sketching stages of the Vyborg City Library in their
articles. The building of the library was delayed by several years, being eventually built on the basis of a master drawing
dated as late as 1933. The design of the Vyborg City Library took place, in other words, after the completion of Paimio
Sanatorium and is therefore excluded from the present discussion. Paavilainen 1990, pp. 9–18; Nivari 1990, pp. 19–34.
327 Aalto 1929d, pp. 96–97.
328 According to Renja Suominen-Kokkonen, the Aaltos may have met Le Corbusier in Paris in June 1928, unlike
Schildt had previously asserted. Suominen-Kokkonen 2007, pp. 70–71.
329 Heporauta 1999, p. 18.
330 Heinonen 1986, p. 239–240.
331 Schildt 1985, p. 55 and p. 58.
332 Maison Jean Lurçat (1924–1925), Maison Goerg et Gromaire (1925), Maison Pierre Bertrand (1925), Maison Ma-
dame Bertrand (1925), Maison Quillé (1925), Maison Townshend (1926), Maison Arnold Huggler (1926) are de-
signed André Lurçat. Cohen 1995, pp. 30–40 and 287.