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The Säynätsalo Town Hall plan utilizes a two-part parti: a U-shaped administrative component, and a free-standing library block which closes the U while allowing access on either side. This arrangement represents a metaphorical community; council chambers, administrative offices, library, spaces for small business, and residential apartments. The symbolism extends to the vertical organization of these parts with the business spaces on the bottom, at street level, the administrative offices on the second level, and the council chambers occupying the highest level. The partially enclosed courtyard is elevated one-story above street level, partly in response to the building’s sloping site, and partly to acknowledge the increased status of the public realm (civic government), over the private sector (commercial business). The bi-level library massing works to tie the two domains together.

Aalto’s promenade architecturale takes the citizen visitor upwards into the figurative temple of democracy. The elevated courtyard floats within the surrounding primeval forest, a ceremonial container on a pedestal imparting a solemn respect for both nature and the collective good of the community. This admiration for nature is reinforced by the presence of a water fountain symbolizing life, rebirth, and Finland’s generous endowment of freshwater, a natural grass surface underfoot recalling the soft rebound of the forest floor, and direct views of the vertical forest structure beyond. Visitors may elect to approach the elevated courtyard by a granite stair, a formal procession sequence that leads directly to the administrative offices and council chambers, or by way of a series of grassy terraces, a clear reference to the building’s sloping site and enduring connection to nature. These opposing stair features face southeast and southwest respectively, admitting the low northern sun into the compound throughout the day.

Perhaps the most striking visual aspect of Säynätsalo is the seemingly abstract massing of its individual forms. The staggers and inclines appear to communicate with the irregular profile of the surrounding tree tops, and give the whole composition a more three-dimensional depth. Aalto may be referencing his fascination with Karelian vernacular form, as recalled in his essay, Architecture in Karelia, “This remarkable ability to grow and adapt is best reflected in the Karelian building’s main architectural principle, the fact that the roof angle isn’t constant.” (Aalto)

Aalto’s palette consists of raw, unadorned, materials including red brick, copper, glass and wood. The slightly rusticated brick is stacked in a Flemish bond pattern, accentuating the organic quality of the material, and wraps from the exterior to the interior. The use of brick breaks the abstracted forms down to a fine textured, more humanized scale, and recalls the brick of local vernacular industrial structures. The varied window fenestration patterns reinforce the repetitious patterning of the surrounding forest.

Aalto’s ascending journey to the council chambers is characterized by a series of 90° turns: at the bottom of the granite stair, at the top of the stair to enter the building, inside the reception lobby to face the interior stair, at the mid-flight landing, and finally a turn left into the council chambers where the visitor encounters a large window broken down into patterns of light which shift with your location in the room. The interior of the winding stair is clad entirely with red brick, made more sensuous by the reflected clerestory daylighting. Functionalist planning includes a sliding wood door to close off the council chambers, while allowing late arrivals to enter through the back of the room.

The lofty vaulted chamber space imparts a ceremonial monumentality. A pair of spider-like trusses appear more inclined to inspire awe, than support the roof. Unfortunately, the chamber space is unnaturally dark, more like a forbidding courtroom, than a cradle of democracy and transparency.

The genius and success of Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsalo Town Hall resides in its understated monumentality, scaled to the common man. Infused with regionalist cues, the entire composition is forthrightly Finnish, while exhibiting a modernist eloquence connecting the work to the wider world. Alvar Aalto may have inadvertently succeeded where other Finnish architects failed; in creating a national architectural style through the practice of critical regionalism. Aalto’s great contribution to architecture is recognized in his advancement of a flexible and adaptable approach to design, which empowers any individual, community, or organization, to express its inherent individuality, while embracing the modernist paradigm.

Works Cited

Aalto, Alvar. 1941. Architecture in Karelia.

Lahti, Louna. 2004. Alvar Aalto 1898-1976, Paradise for the man in the street. Taschen.

Lefaivre, Liane and Tzonis, Alexander. 2003. Critical Regionalism, Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World. Munich: Prestel.

Mäkelä, Taisto. “Architecture and Modern Identity in Finland”. In Finnish Modern Design: Utopian Ideals and Everyday Realities 1930-1997, ed. Marianne Aav and Nina Stritzler-Levine, 52-81.

Mumford, Lewis. 1941. The South in Architecture. New York. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Works Referenced

Frampton, Kenneth. 1992. modern architecture, a critical history. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Ching, Francis D.K., Jarzombek, Mark M. and Prakash, Vikramaditya. 2007. A global History of Architecture. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

David A. Gross / 970-901-9688 / 1631 Emerson Street 309, Denver CO 80218

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