| Title |
A Study on the Geometric System of Alvar Aalto's Villa Mairea |
| Keywords |
Alvar Aalto ; Villa Mairea ; architecture ; geometry ; proportion |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the geometric system of Alvar Aalto's Villa Mairea (1937-39), which has been analysed by Klaus Herdeg (1983), Juhani Pallasmaa (1998) and Kari Jormakka et al (1999) respectively. And ultimately this paper intended to go on to question the researchers' belief in an ordering rule hidden in the house's plan. As a result, it was confirmed that the basic unit of the Villa Mairea plan is the living room's square module, but this paper regards too much detailed regularisation of all parts in the plan as a posteriori interpretation depending on the individual researchers' subjectivity. They are, for example, Herdeg's view regarding the entrance vestibule unit as the basic module; Jormakka et al's proportion system based on the length of the sauna wall; and Pallasmaa's attempt to rationalise every single oblique line in it. These arguments could be supported by the house's design process, which had come through various early versions with countless sketches. In conclusion, this paper deserves to be considered meaningful since it uncovered the master architect's mythified romantic face, on the one hand. Also, on the other, the meaning lies in this paper's suggestion, through reviewing the former researchers' findings of regularities in the plan, that the mind is to ceaselessly impose a rule on (seemingly) unknowable objects. |