(b Kuortane, 3 Feb 1898; d Helsinki, 11 May 1976). Finnish architect and designer. His success as an architect lay in the individual nature of his buildings, which were always designed with their surrounding environment in mind and with great attention to their practical demands. He never used forms that were merely aesthetic or conditioned by technical factors but looked to the more permanent models of nature and natural forms. He was not anti-technology but believed that technology could be humanized to become the servant of human beings and the promoter of cultural values. One of his important maxims was that architects have an absolutely clear mission: to humanize mechanical forms.

• Aalto, (Hugo) Alvar (Henrik)
  • Finland, §II, 3: Architecture, after 1809
  • Finland, §VI, 2: Furniture, 1774 and after
  • France, §II, 5(ii): Developments in Modernist architecture and the great exhibitions, after c 1914
  • Turku, §1: History and urban development
  • architecture
    • Brick, §II, 3(ii)(d): Western world: 20th century
    • Helsinki, §1: History and urban development
    • civic centres
      • Town hall, §4: Municipal building in the 20th century
    • exhibition architecture
      • Exhibition architecture, §3(i): Exhibitions of 1925–40: Paris, Barcelona and London
      • Finland, §I: Introduction
      • Germany, §II, 7(ii): Architecture, after World War II
    • libraries
      • Acoustics, §2(iv): Rooms for speech
      • Library, §II, 3(i): 1900–39
      • Vyborg
    • museums
      • Museum, §II, 2: Architecture, 1850–1940
    • sanatoria
      • Hospital, §1(iii): Architecture, after 1700
      • International Style
    • sports centres
      • Sports centre
    • theatres
      • Theatre, §III, 4(ii)(a): Western world: 20th-century architecture
    • university buildings
      • Boston, §I, 4: History and urban development, after 1918
      • Uppsala, §1: History and urban development
      • Wurster, William Wilson
    • villas
      • Villa, §IV: After c 1800
  • collaboration
    • Lindegren, Yrjö
    • Niemeyer, Oscar, §2: Pampulha to Caracas, 1940–55
  • furniture
    • Chair, §3: After c 1450
    • Design, §2: 20th century
    • Finland, §IV, 3: Sculpture, after c 1880
    • Metz and Co.
    • Wood (i), §III, 2: Construction
  • glass
    • Finland, §VIII: Glass
  • groups and movements
    • Functionalism
    • Modern Movement, §4: Towards an international style, 1926–32
    • Organic architecture
  • patrons and collectors
    • Shand, Philip Morton
  • pupils
    • Gullichsen, Kristian
  • staff
    • Ervi, Aarne
    • Hodgkinson, Patrick
    • Koppel
    • Revell, Viljo
    • Utzon, Jørn
  • teachers
    • Lindgren, Armas