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Alvar Aalto’s great design

   Aalto's output was huge during the middle of the last century and  he had a couple of churches designed by the time of the commission to at Imatra, an industrial center in Finland that badly needed services as  well as a master plan, which Aalto also provided. The community was solidly working class, and as with all Lutheran churches, there was a need to provide space for other community activities. Support of the church is  extremely high in Finland, where ninety per cent elect to be members of the church and pay taxes towards it running and new church building. At Imatra, Aalto sought to provide separate spaces for the parish, with the ability to unify them in to one homogenous form when the need arose. He developed more completely a form that had generated from a previous competition, a church for Lahti, creating in plan a tripartite fan. The conservative nature of the church meant that requirements such as the central aisle to the altar, the placing of the organ to the right of the altar, and the pulpit to the left, had to be followed strictly. With this arrangement though Aalto sought to create a space that flowed towards the altar, even past it, into infinity, using light and form to direct the individual. The interior was almost completely white, with huge fins traversing the space, and undulating walls, with separate inner and outer skins to allow the moveable partitions to be hidden into. When the space was unified, 800 people could congregate. With the ubdivisions, thirty ton, sixteen inch thick concrete walls on oil unners, in place, the chapel number was reduced to 290. Two other completely separate rooms were made with these partitions, each one having its own entrance and lighting and most importantly they were completely sound proofed from the other spaces. The giant ribs, as well as guiding the moveable walls, filtered and pre-heated the air, like a fish's gills in nature.

   Decorative elements in the building were kept to a minimum, and are found for the majority around the altar. Aalto disliked church art intensely feeling it diminished the experience completely. Here, Aalto introduced Carrara marble as well as the only piece of stained glass of the crown of thorns, which he designed out of 102 completely different windows. As a form, the wall curves out in a bulge above the pulpit. Reminiscent of traditional baldacchinos though completely abstract, it provides an acoustic function for projecting the sermons. At the altar end of the church the lighting is particularly well thought out, creating illusions of disappearing walls and an ever-moving space that goes beyond the altar itself. Throughout the day, and different times of the year, the light is changing to create new mood ands atmospheres. Very early morning sees the altar lit from two hidden windows behind the organ. By the time of mid morning services the sacred pace is flooded with light from above, through a light gun in the roof. At this time the three white crosses on the altar are saturated with light, leaving only their soft shadows on the wall behind distinguishable to the viewer. By evening, the single blood red stained glass together with a rank of other windows bathes the space. Light in the rest of the building is provided in equally innovative ways. Where two skins exist, the inner windows are divided with thin batons that modulate the light, and create movement as the viewer walks past them. Artificial lighting is provided, typically, by one of Aalto's own designs. Four brass cylinders are attached, with the outer quadrant in each louvered. The materials internal reflection is coupled with this controlled emission to create an effect similar to candlelight, but also reminiscent of the way light passes through the tall thin trees of northern forests, bringing nature once more into his design.

   Internally, the other most interesting feature is the way its shape, undulating walls and ceiling, were dictated by the need for excellent acoustics, which were Aalto's starting point for the design. Lutheran services rely heavily on music and chanted responses hence the prominence of the organ, and Aalto spent a considerable amount of time empirically working out the effect of different shapes on sound. This gave him the functionalist angle, justifying his forays into fancy. As sound waves may be treated similar to light rays, he had full-scale mock-ups with mirrors reflecting light rays around a room. In section the ceiling's free form incredibly naturalistic, even though it was designed rigidly. While there is debate over weather any of his forms actually work, the visual effect is wonderful in the energy it adds to the space.

   On approaching the church, there is a very different atmosphere to that on the inside. Aside from a dramatic bell tower, whose shape reminds one of a down turned arrow head, there is very little that one would describe as familiar looking about the exterior. It responds well to its industrial setting, although its southern side is well planted with trees. The tower competes with the many chimneys in the area, and the copper roof is appropriate although clearly more exciting than most, with its many openings and directional changes. Considering the variety of ceiling shapes inside, the exterior looks more unified and somber. This is a very common device in Baroque architecture, where the inside and outside address each other but create individual profiles. Overall one finds that the northern facade, which addresses the town, is quite reserved and dignified. In contrast, the southern facade is a riot of different forms, filled with windows, and expressing the three separate spaces inside. This is typical of Aalto to create these contrasts, between town and nature, rigid and free form. The three swellings curve individually with great variety, showing truly how as an architect Alvar Aalto had come less to rely on a need for rational order, but more so on the energy and vitality of a sketch, which he sees at this stage translated straight into the finished building form.

   Externally the entrances are placed so as to allow smooth passage, both when the entire building is used as one space on Festival days or weddings, and separately when it is three spaces, without causing any disturbance to each other. The east facade contains the funeral entrance, with the west end containing the traditional entrance, used when the church is fully open to allow passage down the central aisle. This type of consideration in design was Aalto's signature. He thought about the way materials feel, the manner in which people congregate, the effect of light on a person while lying down, nothing was beyond his design capabilities.

   In the design of the Church of the Three Crosses at Imatra, Alvar Aalto had an opportunity to experiment with form more freely than with any other commission. Rather than producing a fanciful form orientated design, he took the brief and the social function of the building as his starting point. The necessity of separate space, good light andgood  acoustics were all the encouragement he needed to produce a building that responds completely to its environment, and in turn its environment responds to it with the movement of people through it. Using his simple materials of brick, concrete, copper and wood, he produces energy in three dimensions. Light constantly changes with space and time, changing one's perception of what feel like a giant sculpture. Sound is embraced and enhanced, or separated and muted depending on what is needed.

Bibliography:

Alvar Aalto in seven buildings; Interpretations of an architects work
Museum of Finnish Architecture 1998

Modern Architecture since 1900 William J.R.Curtis Phaidon 1996

Alvar Aalto Richard Weston Phaidon 2001

Alvar Aalto Toward a Human Modernism Winifred Nerdinger Prestal 1999

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