Alvar Aalto

Nothing old is ever reborn but neither does it totally disappear. And that which has once been born, will always reappear in…

— Alvar Aalto

Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we…

— Alvar Aalto

Human life is a combination of tragedy and comedy. The shapes and designs that surround us are the music accompanying this tragedy…

— Alvar Aalto

Nothing is as dangerous in architecture as dealing with separated problems. If we split life into separated problems we split the possibilities…

— Alvar Aalto

Our time is so specialised that we have people who know more and more or less and less.

— Alvar Aalto

The best standardisation committee in the world is nature herself, but in nature standardisation occurs mainly in connection with the smallest possible…

— Alvar Aalto

We should concentrate our work not only to a separated housing problem but housing involved in our daily work and all the…

— Alvar Aalto

Objects are made to be completed by the human mind.

— Alvar Aalto

We should work for simple, good, undecorated things

— Alvar Aalto

The most difficult problems are naturally not involved in the search for forms for contemporary life. It is a question of working…

— Alvar Aalto

It is the task of the architect to give life a gentler structure.

— Alvar Aalto

We have almost a city has probably two or three hundred committees. Every committee is dealing with just one problem and has…

— Alvar Aalto

Every one of my buildings begins with an Italian journey.

— Alvar Aalto

Beauty is the harmony of purpose and form.

— Alvar Aalto

The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style…

— Alvar Aalto

The tubular steel chair is surely rational from technical and constructive points of view. It is light, suitable for mass production, and…

— Alvar Aalto

Architecture belongs to culture, not to civilization.

— Alvar Aalto

I tell you, it is easier to build a grand opera or a city center than to build a personal house.

— Alvar Aalto

In almost every task involving form, there are dozens, often hundreds of contradictory elements, which need to be forced to work in…

— Alvar Aalto

Architecture is not merely national but clearly has local ties in that it is rooted in the earth.

— Alvar Aalto

Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need…

— Alvar Aalto

We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to…

— Alvar Aalto

Building art is a synthesis of life in materialised form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a…

— Alvar Aalto

God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is at least for me an abuse of paper.

— Alvar Aalto

Modern architecture does not mean the use of immature new materials; the main thing is to refine materials in a more human…

— Alvar Aalto