Defining Modern Architecture Through the Residential Designs of Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, and Mies Van der Rohe

Key Modernist architects Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe have had their residential designs closely associated with the International Style that arose out of the 1920's and 1930's. Although Alvar Aalto did contribute some projects in the International Style, his residential designs were generally in a more contextual style reminiscent of the Nordic regionalism of his home, Finland. All three of these great architects have each designed houses that exemplify the shift towards the modern era of architecture, yet they each had their own unique approaches and ideas as to how a modern houses should be designed. In this discussion, we will take a look some projects which exemplify the modern ideal from the viewpoint of these respective architects.

Early in his career, Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto designed most of his projects in the style of Nordic Classicism. A great example of this style is reflected in the "Aalto House" in Helsinki. The house and studio that Aalto designed for himself is more modest in scale than his later villas, but has much of the orginality and elegance of form (www.galinsky.com). Although this project already begins to dwell into the functionalism that Alvar had yet to fully develop, this house is a cozy example of his traditional thinking, combining Finnish interior feeling with simple, uncompromising materials.

Aalto House in Helsinki, courtesy of Google Images.

Then, in the 1930's, Aalto's style shifted to a more epitomized example of functionalism. Although this was clearly evident in his public works, it could also be seen in one of the few residential projects that he designed during this transformation, the Villa Mairea. As Aalto began work on the Villa Maire towards the end of 1937, his initial concept for the house was a rustic hut, no doubt modeled after the vernacular farmhouses located in the surrounding country side of the Finnish site. Yet early in 1938, inspiration for the direction of the house came from a different source: Frank Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water" (www.alvaraalto.net). Thus, the Villa Marie is full of details where the Finnish vernacular tradition meets a more modern, functional vocabulary. The significance here is that he first envisioned a vernacular form, then shifted to a variant of the familiar, more modern "L" type plan.

The Villa Mairea, courtesy of Google Images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then, towards the mid 1940's and the arrival of the Second World War, Aalto's style yet again sees a shift, this time towards a period of experimentation. Alvar Aalto's experiments with laminated plywood furniture led him to move away from the purist movement of functionality and allowed him to dwell more deeply into his creative inhibitions. In 1952, we see this experimental idea exemplified in the so named "Experimental House". This house has some seriously creative features, one of which is the walls which can be divide up into 50 panels of various kinds of bricks and ceramic tile patterns. The experimental areas that Aalto wanted to explore within this house were experimenting with building without foundations, experimenting with free-form brick construction, experimenting with free-from columns, and experimenting with solar heating (www.designboom.com). 

Experimental House, courtesy of Google Images.

Swiss-born French architect and designer Le Corbusier started his career (1914) centered around one of the modern techniques that he had developed from working on his theoretical architectural studies while in Switzerland. Featuring the fresh approach, the "Domino House" proposed an open floor plan using concrete slabs supported by a minimal number of thin reinforced columns around the edges, with a stairway providing the access to each floor (www.wikipedia.com). This design model became the design for most of his architecture, until getting into painting, as well as adopting his well known pseudonym in 1920.

Domino House sketch, courtesy of Google Images.

After a period of painting and reflection from 1918 to 1922, Le Corbusier started his own studio with his cousin. His theoretical studies soon translated into several different single-family homes. Among these was the Maison "Citrohan". Here Le Corbusier proposed a three floor structure that took a lot of inspiration from the "automobile". The design features a rectangular plan with exterior stuccoed walls not filled with windows. The house utilizes the domino plan to enable the interior spaces to be flexible, allowing moveable furniture to be used.

Maison Citrohan, courtesy of Google Images.

Also in the 1920's Le Corbusier developed what he refers to as "The 5 Points of Architecture". Consisting of raising the structure off the ground and supporting it by a pilotis (reinforced concrete stilts), a free facade, an open floor plan, long ribbon windows, and a roof garden. The residential project that best exemplifies this new set of ideals to his approach on design is the "Villa Savoye". The project is an classic examplar of the International Style, as well as his 5 points. It features strip windows, a flat roof with a deck area, ramp, and a few contained curved walls (www.greatbuildings.com).

Villa Savoye, courtesy of Google Images.

German architect Mies Van der Rohe began his architectural career as an apprentice to Peter Behrens, where his talent was quickly recognizes and he was immediately assigned independent work. He dismissed the eclectic and cluttered styles that were so common of the turn of the 20th century, and sought to pursue a return of more pure Germanic domestic forms, using simple cubes for composition. After World War I, Mies began designing  traditional neoclassical homes, inspired by his other avant-garde peers. This led him to the development of the "Villa Tugendhatless is more" and an accent on functionality, creating this fine example of functionalism (www.wikipedia.org). This house features naturally patterned materials, rare tropical woods, and a partially translucent onyx wall. This project became the icon of modernism.

Villa Tugendhat, courtesy of Google Images.

Then after his style being rejected by then occupying "Nazi" party as not being "German" in character, Mies emigrated to the US. His architecture, with origins in the German Bauhaus and the new International Style, became an accepted mode of building for American culture. Between 1946 and 1951, Mies designed the Farnsworth House. The iconic Farnsworth House is considered to be among his greatest works. The house is the embodiment of Mies' mature vision of modern architecture for the new technological age. A single space with a skeletal framework makes for a very clear and understandable composition. It is this simplistic approach that allowed him to express his own creativity of materials and spatial character.

Farnsworth House, courtesy of Google Images.

Then in 1951, Mies designed the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments. These towers epitomized his love for modern materials, utilizing a facade of steel and glass, it was a radical departure from the brick apartment buildings of the time. The configurations he found created a feeling of light, freedom of movement, as well as openness. It became the expression of the American spirit and the open space of which the German culture so admired.

860 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, courtesy of Google Images.

In the interest of the topic of modern architecture, each of these men will always hold their rightful place as contributors. The differences in approach, ideas, and practices is what makes architecture a living, breathing thing. It is the spirit of innovation and the pursuit of the unknown that enables architecture to evolve.

http://www.archdaily.com/59487/ad-classics-860-880-lake-shore-drive-mies-van-der-rohe/

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Villa_Savoye.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier#Early_career:_the_villas.2C_1914.E2.80.931930

http://www.alvaraalto.fi/net/villa_mairea/en/1.htm

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/aaltohouse/index.html
http://www.designboom.com/history/aalto/house.html