Architecture by Alvar Aalto 12: House of culture, Helsinki

The booklets in this series present buildings designed by Alvar Aalto, with introductory texts based either on Alvar Aalto’s own writings or on articles written by architectural experts. The contents are enlivened by photographs and architectural drawings of the buildings then and now. The series has been published since 1976.

The House of Culture (or Hall of Culture as it often referred to nowadays) was completed in 1958 and is of particular importance both in Aalto’s work and in Finnish cultural history as a whole. The building is one of the key works of Aalto’s red-brick period along with Säynätsalo Town hall, the National Pensions Institute, the Muuratsalo Experimental House and the University of Jyväskylä (formerly the Jyväskylä Pedagogical Institute). The building was erected mainly by volunteer labour and was at one and the same time a much-loved multipurpose centre, built as a base for the organisation, and a display of political power.

48 pages, soft bound, texts in English and Finnish
ISBN 978-952-5371-44-4
Publisher Alvar Aalto Museum (2015)