AlvAr AAlto – art and the modern form ateneum art museum, 11 may – 24 September 2017

tips for schools and group leaders

Welcome to the Ateneum!

This educational packet is for groups visiting the Alvar Aalto exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum. The questions and assignments are designed especially for school groups, but we hope they will inspire all our visitors to explore the experiential aspects of architecture and the links between forms in different types of artworks.

The Stories of Finnish Art collection display on the first and second floors of the museum will be open until 2020.

AlvAr AAlto – Art and the Modern Form

The Aalto exhibition is on show on the third floor of the museum. Thematically organised, it showcases the work of world-famous architect and designer Alvar Aalto and his first wife Aino Aalto. In addition to their work in architecture and furniture and product design, the exhibition also features a section of fine art linked with the Aaltos and the compelling network of figures connected to the Finnish design store, Artek.

The exhibition also includes an interactive space (Gallery 23), where you may touch the exhibits on display. We invite you to explore the world of forms and materials through hands-on activity. For example, how many ways are there to create a perspective drawing?

Background information

Alvar Aalto was the most important Finnish architect of his time. Sanatorium, the library in Viipuri (Vyborg) and Villa Mairea are architectural masterpieces that organically combine volumes, materials and light. Aalto created approximately 500 designs for buildings, one fifth of them for buildings abroad – in altogether 18 countries. Not all of them were built, of course.

Alvar Aalto designed cultural buildings, factories, offices and residential buildings. For many of them he also designed the lighting, furniture and other interior details. In the early years he often worked on these designs with his wife, Aino.

alvar aalto in front of his house in munkkiniemi, helsinki, 1960s. alvar aalto museum. Photo: @ eva and Pentti Ingervo.

aino aalto in Paimio armchair, 1930s, photomontage. Photo: @ alvar aalto museum / artek Collection.

Questions And AssignMents

tuberculosis sanatorium, Paimio, finland, alvar aalto 1928–1933. Photo: @ alvar aalto museum.

We easily forget that everything we see around us was designed by someone. Architecture is a team effort in which an enormous number of different factors all have to be taken into account. The questions below are intended to prime your group for the visit.

sense of space inside the building

Examine a public building (school, theatre, library, shopping centre, museum) from the inside and answer some of the following questions.

2. experience: When you enter the building, how does it make you feel and what does it make you think?

3. orientation: Does the architecture of the building want to steer you in a particular direction? What features of the building seem prominent or most interesting to you? What is your idea of the size of the building and its various floors. What it is like to move inside the building?

4. rooms: What are the various rooms intended for and how do they connect to other rooms?

A building and its setting as seen from the outside

1. Alvar Aalto designed many public buildings (churches, museums, concert halls, schools, hospitals). How do they differ from residential buildings? What are the things that the architect must consider when designing a public building?

Consider the setting of a building that you are familiar with (such as your school or the Ateneum) and ask yourself: Where is it situated? What things exist near the building? What is the best direction to view the building from? What is the setting like? Does the building stand out in some way? What is the message that the front (facade) of the building communicates? What materials is the building made of? Choose some detail from the building’s front and make a drawing of it on paper.

14. Your dream space.When Alvar Aalto designed buildings, he always took its users into account. He considered the functions of a building and the ways in which people would move about in it, what they would need and how he might make the building a nice place to be.

What kind of a space would you like to be? (Choose a, b or c):a) a dream space with friends, b) a dream home or your dream room, or c) a dream holiday place.Describe the place (you can use the questions above for help: shapes, sounds, lighting of the space, etc.): • How big is the space? • Where is it located (in the city/in nature)?• What does it look like? What objects and features exist there?• What is the light like?• How does it smell?• What can you do there? What do you need there? • Add more qualities...

Follow-up assignment: Make a picture of the space. Use any technique you’d like. What angle would be best to show the space: From the side? From above? You can also include a picture of yourself in the space.

5. Materials: What materials do you see? Is a particular material special in some way?

6. dimensions: Is the space high or low? What does it make you feel when you move in it?

7. touch: Alvar Aalto spoke about the handshake of a building. When you enter the building, do you touch something with your hands?

8. sounds: What sounds do you hear? Is there an echo in the building?

9. light: What is the light like? Where does it come from? Is it direct or indirect?

10. smells: What can you smell in the building?

11. Furniture: Is the furniture in the space from the same period as the building or is it newer? Does it appear uniform (all of the same style) to you? Does the interior seem to communicate something?

12. Colours: What colours are used in the interior? How do the colours affect your experience of the space?

13. temperature and motion of the air: Is the temperature or the flow of air different in different parts of the building? Can you change the flow of air in some way, such as by opening a window?

Viipuri Library, alvar aalto 1927–1935. Photo: Gustav Welin. @ alvar aalto museum.

AdviCe For group visits

For all groups

We recommend that you book an expert guide from the Ateneum for your group. Our guides are familiar with the exhibitions and know how to tailor the visit to suit the needs of your group.

Please let our guide reservation service know that you are coming, even if you do not want to take a guided tour. This helps us to ensure a pleasant visit for all groups. Upon arrival at the museum, please have the group leader pay the admission fee or notify the museum’s info desk of your arrival (school groups). The leader will be given admission stickers that must be displayed visibly (such as on one’s shirt front, back of the hand, etc.).

Please leave coats and hats and large bags (e.g., backpacks) in the cloakroom. The museum also has lockers that work with a 50-cent coin (you’ll get the coin back when retrieve your belongings).

visitors taking a guided tour

If you have any special wishes or needs for any members of your group, please let us know when you book the tour. You should also remind the guide of these needs before taking the tour.

Guided tours take approximately one hour and cost 70 euro on weekdays (max. 20 students per group, max. 15 children for primary school and day care groups).

Tour booking Mon–Fri, 9–15; tel. +358 (0)294 500 500 or varaukset@kansallisgalleria.fi Admission is free for children under 18 and accompanying teachers.

Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish national galleryKaivokatu 2, 00100 Helsinkitel. +358(0)294 500 401ainfo@ateneum.fi www.ateneum.fi Open Tue and Fri 10–18, Wed and Thu 10–20, Sat and Sun 10–17.

Editor: Ateneum public programmes/Satu Itkonen. Translations: Finnish–Swedish Anna Björkenheim, Finnish–English Tomi Snellman. Graphic design: Maara Kinnermä.Ateneum Art Museum / Finnish National Gallery 2017.

aino aalto and maire Gullichsen at Villa mairea in the early 1940s. Photo: Gustav Welin. @ alvar aalto museum.