What style is Villa Mairea?
Organic architecture
Villa Mairea/Architectural styles
A collage of materials amongst the trunks of countless birch trees in the Finnish landscape, the Villa Mairea built by Alvar Aalto in 1939 is a significant dwelling that marks a transition from traditional to modern architecture.
Why was Villa Mairea built?
Villa Mairea was built in 1939 as a modern residence for Maire and Harry Gullichsen, who were ardent lovers and promoters of art.
Why is Villa Mairea important?
Villa Mairea was built in 1939 as a modern residence, which has attained world-wide recognition as one of the greatest masterpieces of 20th-century architecture. In his design for the Villa, Aalto is celebrated for his shift between Functionalism into an organic modernist style of architecture.
Where is the Villa Mairea?
Noormarkku
Villa Mairea is a villa, guest-house, and rural retreat designed and built by the Finnish modernist architect Alvar Aalto for Harry and Maire Gullichsen in Noormarkku, Finland.
What is the plan of the Villa Mairea?
The plan of the Villa Mairea is a modified L-shape of the kind Aalto had used before. A semi-private enclosure to one side nestles a private garden and swimming pool, while a formal edge with a rigid facade, decked with all the hallmarks of the International Style is a canopy styled like a garden pergola,…
What is Mairea Aalto’s villa like?
Aalto treated the house as an opportunity to bring together all the themes that he had been working on until that point but had not included in actual buildings. The plan of the villa takes Mairea L-shaped fond but slightly modified. It is a plan that automatically creates a semi-private area on the side and more public space on the other.
What is the Mairea Foundation?
In 1980, Maire Gullichsen, now a professor, founded the Mairea Foundation to support and preserve the cultural values embodied by Villa Mairea. Both the art collections and the architecture are open for public viewing because of the Foundation.
Is Villa Mairea inspired by Fallingwater?
The iconic Villa Mairea was initially proposed as a rustic hut inspired by Nordic vernacular homes. However, the final design is heavily inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, so much so that he tried to convince the client to move their residence to accommodate a river.