Alvar Aalto research - Alvar Aalto Foundation

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ALVAR AALTO RESEARCHERS NETWORK SEMINAR 2026

See more information at the seminar page.

Alvar Aalto Bibliography now online

Selected bibliography of research related to Alvar Aalto.

Photo: Aalto University. Maija Holma © Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Collections, publications and resources

ENQUIRIES: research@alvaraalto.fi

Collections and research

The Alvar Aalto Museum’s collections of drawings and photographs and the Artek drawings and documents are located in Jyväskylä. The archives are open to researchers. Visits to the archives must always be agreed in advance.

ALVAR AALTO BIBLIOGRAPHY

Selected bibliography of research related to Alvar Aalto. All additions and comments are welcome, contact us at research@alvaraalto.fi.

Alvar Aalto Researchers' Network

The Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network is an international collaboration initiated by the Alvar Aalto Foundation, which serves as a channel for discussion and cooperation between Alvar Aalto researchers. The goal is to strengthen the community of International Alvar Aalto Researchers and share information about ongoing research projects.

Join the Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network group in Facebook

Published presentations of Alvar Aalto Researchers' Network seminar

Published presentations below are in order of the seminar programmes. See bibliography for alphabetical list of Alvar Aalto researchers and publications.

2021

See Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network Seminar 2021 event for more information.

2017

Alvar Aalto Researchers Network Seminar – Why Aalto? Jyväskylä 9-10 June 2017

SESSION 1
Chiu Chen-Yu: Aalto through young Utzon’s eyes: The role of Alvar Aalto in developing the maturity of Jørn Utzon’s work
Ari Hynynen: From Alvar Aalto to Network City – Reflections from the 1940s Kokemäenjoki regional plan

HERITAGE – SESSION 2
Mihoko Ando: Aalto’s Reprise and Continuity: A study of the design process for three churches in the 1950s
Laura Berger: ARTEK – Furnishing a nation
Roula El Khoury Fayad: [Aalto in Beirut] Contribution, Collaboration and Continuity: The Case of Sabbag Center
Gareth Griffiths: Alvar Aalto and the design for the Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv, Israel – A footnote in Aalto scholarship
Fransesca Piccolo: Identification and conservation in Alvar Aalto’s industrial sites: The case of Toppila Pulp Mill

PROSPECTS – SESSION 3
Sofia Singler and Nicholas Ray: Why Aalto? The sceptic builds for religion
Eva Eylers: Alvar Aalto and the problem of architectural research
Jonathan Boelkins: Designation – Lessons in Digital Construction from Villa Mairea
Holger Hoffmann: Alvar Aalto’s associative geometries
Gianni Talamini: Against Aalto: How the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale had to change into a black box for contemporary video art and how it became a symbol for artists to defeat

ATMOSPHERE – SESSION 4
Eymen Homsi: The textured surfaces of Muuratsalo
Szymon Ruszczewski: Mediterranean piazza – Public space in Aalto’s designs
Kristopher Steele: The Power of Light In Darkness
John Roberts: Aalto Landscape Ruins Chora

2015

Aalto Beyond Finland – Architecture and Design. Rovaniemi 16–18 February 2015
Publication: Aalto Beyond Finland. Architecture and Design, published in 2015 and launched at the seminar. Partner publication Aalto Beyond Finland vol.2 (available at shop.alvaraalto.fi) was published in 2018.

2012

Alvar Aalto Researchers’ Network Seminar, 12–14 March 2012, Seinäjoki and Jyväskylä. Papers were originally published in separate e-journal.

Aino Niskanen: Aalto and History
John Gamble: Aalto’s Inclusive Formal Structures: The Villa Mairea
Patricia Miguel: Scandinavian time, the voyage of Raúl Hestnes Ferreira to Finland and the inference of Alvar Aalto’s work in Portuguese architecture during the Post-War period
Harry Charrington: An Agency of Endless Play: Alvar Aalto & Frederick Kiesler

Anni Vartola: The Aalto Card in the Conflict between Postmodernism and the Modernist Tradition in Finland
Antony Radford: Responsive Cohesion in the Form Language of the Aalto Ateliers
Pekka Passinmäki: The Trout, the Stream, and the Letting-Be. Alvar Aalto’s Contribution to the Poetic Tradition of Architecture
Virginia Cartwright: Themes of Light. Aalto’s Libraries from Viipuri to Mt. Angel

Pirjo Mikkonen: Kainula – hiljainen Aalto
Catarina Gomes Sampaio: Alvar Aalto and Álvaro Siza: theory and project methodology
Mihoko Ando: The Idea of the Primary Stage in Alvar Aalto’s Drawings. Through the Analysis of the Design Process of “Vuoksenniska Church (1955-1958)”
Jaime J. Ferrer Forés: Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël

Ursula Koren: Artefact vs. Nature: A Study of Aalto’s proposal for the Palace of Nations’ in Geneve
Peter MacKeith: Pedagogical Paradigms: Aalto’s University of Technology at Otaniemi and Mies Van Der Rohe’s Illinois Institute of Technology
Laura Berger: The Case of Aalto Library, Vyborg, Russia
Rainier Hodde: Aalto, his row houses and their inhabitants

Cecilia Ruiloba Quecedo: The Functionalist awakening of Alvar Aalto in the Kinkomaa Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Each thing in its place and a distinctive aesthetic for each one
Marianna Heikinheimo: The reinforced concrete frame of the Paimio Sanatorium
Gevork Hartoonian / Utomo Nugroho: Topology in the Architecture of Alvar Aalto
Seija Linnanmäki: Aalto’s ideas on air-conditioning – how Finland became a “Fanland”?

Tuomo Hirvonen: Complexity and Contradictions in the Architecture of the Main Building of the College of Education at Jyväskylä
Miguel Araújo: The work of Alvar Aalto’s collaborator Eric Adlercreutz
Ana da Costa e Silva: Wood and Domestic architecture in Aalto’s work: Some influences on Portuguese Architecture
Kristo Vesikansa: Aalto’s Finnish followers and the natural form
Ulrike Passe: Alvar Aalto’s open plan architecture as an environmental technology device