Abstract
Unlike "humanizing", "expressive forms", and "phenomenological significance of materials", Aalto's structural conception has been seldom recognized as masterly touches and even misunderstood by some theorists as "a-tectonic" and "irrational." Since initiating practice, he had developed a "surface + frame" composite as a structural solution. Then a "thick partition" formed with ambient spaces, became a basis to fully explore in spatial, lighting, and signifying dimensions, breaking a new path long before the "skin + bone" prototype of modern architecture received sublation from the younger generation.
This paper chooses three built churches throughout Aalto's career for a serial case study and reveals, through analyses from drawings to actual construction, how the composite system acts as a reasonable stress system and construction basis, participating in controlling the force system and force flows, how the "thick partition" mediates the spatial flows and directs the light-shadow interplay, and how such webs of significance have transcended the high modern architecture.
This paper chooses three built churches throughout Aalto's career for a serial case study and reveals, through analyses from drawings to actual construction, how the composite system acts as a reasonable stress system and construction basis, participating in controlling the force system and force flows, how the "thick partition" mediates the spatial flows and directs the light-shadow interplay, and how such webs of significance have transcended the high modern architecture.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 146-166 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Architectural Research in Finland |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 29 May 2023 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |