spirituality - lesson 24: alvar aalto

between the years of 1957 and 1960 finnish architect alvar aalto took on perhaps one of his most monumental challenges. the site was only 40km from his birthplace and the project was to design a small town's centre. seinjoki is located in west finland and work began after aalto won the architectural competition. the church of the cross of the plain part of the design was to include a church and at the time there was consideration for a new diocese in the area. as the town of seinjoki was located near and easy to reach for many people in the vicinity it was believed that this place would be chosen for the new bishopric. however in the end the government decided against it and seinjoki was left without a new cathedral. it was this disappointment that influenced the resulting church that aalto built on a cathedral scale. the lakeuden risti, or cross on the plain church became a beacon of the local community and a reflection of the importance of community and spirituality. much has been said about aalto's decision to but the church of the cross on the plain in the centre of the town plan. it's predominant position makes it a centre of spiritual power and reflects old european town formats.

the church of the cross of the plain

elissa aalto (left), alvar aalto (centre) and aalto's office manager jaakko kontio inside the church of the cross of the plain. city of seinjoki

view of the tower

the interior of the church

the alter

windows in the church of the cross on the plain

aalvos pendant lights compliment the interior

view of the back of the church and the organ

the town hall, with the church tower in the background, seinjoki

seinjoki town hall

the blue ceramic tiles cladding the town hall

aerial photo of seinjoki aalto centre

in harmony with the spiritual centre, aalto places the town's civic buildings around the church, providing the earthly authority. in contrast to the white church the town hall is clad in aalto's signature blue glazed ceramic tiles. there are four other buildings, including a library, local council offices, the parish centre and a theatre. alvar aalto was given a huge amount of freedom on this project, which was good timing as he was having difficulties with other projects. the church follows the trend of functionalism and modernism implicitly but is not merely a white box. for aalto the church's place within the plans was as a spiritual centre and it was paramount that the manifestation of the place for worship was a space that provided a comfortable experience. unlike designing a commercial building an architect who undertakes the task of designing a church, let alone a town centre, has more than one client to contend with. in this case alvar aalto had 3 clients; the parish, the state and the town's people themselves. local residents were a bit shocked as the church began to be constructed. references were made to car repair shops or coffins. however, upon entering the new chapel they were struck by the medieval scale of the space and accepted the church as the centre of their community.

'true architecture - the real thing - is to be found when man stands at the center.' aalto's style was always to build architecture for people and not just for architects. his buildings are determined by the building site, financial considerations and the function, not influenced by style. and yet beyond simply function aalto always added value in a humanistic way, giving meaning to a space psychologically. growing up, he was influenced by the two main men in his life; his father and his grandfather. a forester by trade, his grandfather would have undoubtedly sparked aalto's interest in nature and the organic. his father, a surveyor taught him the qualities needed to see land and how a building might be made for that space (and not the other way around). for them, to build a building was not simply a chance for commerce but a civic duty and a vocation. 'I believe that architecture and arts have an abstract common origin, which is found on knowledge and experiences stored up in the subconscious.' alvar aalto