I was extremely lucky to be an only guest at Aalto House when I visited. It was a warm sunny afternoon and a perfect moment to soak myself into a nice place of one of the greatest modernist architects in 20th century. I think it's wise to truly describe the experience through not my sentiment, but the simple words of a man who guided the house.
"This is a place used to work, to meet clients and friends, and to live with his family. Aalto liked the place because he loved the natural scenery around the house. When he worked he sat on the corner desk and saw his staffs and puplis working nearby."
"See, his desk has quite a nice view of the white birch woods, because he was the boss."
"There is a sliding door dividing the workplace and the reception room, furnished with tables and sofas, vases and bookshelf ... all designed by his wife. The room welcomed clients and many artists and architects of the era. The picture was drawn and sent as a gift from Le Corbusier."
"That is a mezzanine floor and you see it is now a small library. It was originally planned to be his workroom but finally it turned out that the window didn't shed enough light into the place. Even so it remains a nice cozy place."
"The dining room was almost totally created by his wife. She also was working as a designer so I guess she hadn't much time to do houseworks, but here, she set a fantastic drawer ... it could be used convertibly, means, you can open the drawer both from the dining room and from the kitchen."
"The second floor is solely for his family's private life. Oh, here's a good sunshine now. This is a family's living room and around here, there are four rooms, and bathroom. The guest room is above the stairs and so, the bed is unusually high because it has to be to cover the space for the ceiling of stairs. Maybe some guests were fallen from the bed in their sleep? Oh yes it might happen. In the bathroom and the corridor you see there has a round window in the ceiling to let the sunshine into the room. Top light."
"At the terrace Aalto enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the fields and the sea. The trees has grown so much and you coudn't see the seashore anymore. The house was built more than 60 years ago and the view was different. It was the surburbs of Helsinki and there was nothing special. Now this is an exclusive residential distirct. Well yes, you could say that Aalto had a good judge."
"When he was annoyed by the noise of workplace he used to escape and sit by the window of his private room to continue thinking and designing."
"Back in few decades a family had lived on the second floor and changed the rooms a bit. Later the city of Helsinki obtained the house to restore the furnitures and banned any little changes from the original including the color and materials. It's like giving intellectual property right to the interior design of the private house. It's so unusual."
"Visitors here are usually a professional architects and students. They asked about like structures and materials ... professional questions. In the summertime this place is crowded with 20 people in one roundtrip. You were so lucky to see everything you want and take photographs as many as you can."
Yes, I was totally lucky and happy to spend nice and quiet time there. It was such a serendipity.
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