FUNCTIONALISM - UTOPIA OR THE WAY FORWARD?
The 5th International Alvar Aalto Symposium
Maija Kèrkkèinen [Editor]
Maija Kèrkkèinen [Editor]: FUNCTIONALISM - UTOPIA OR THE WAY FORWARD? [The 5th International Alvar Aalto Symposium]. Jyväskylä, Finland: Alvar Aalto Symposium, 1992. First edition. Text in English. Quarto. Photo illustrated wrappers. 190 pp. Essays and notes illustrated with 11 color and 175 black and white images. Interior unmakred and very clean. out of print. Wrappers lightly worn, but a nearly fine copy.
8.375 x 9.375-inch softcover book with 190 pages fully illustrated with 11 color and 175 black and white images. “The purpose of this symposium is to initiate a critical reappraisal of the original functionalist concepts in order to find out whether they could provide some solutions to the manifold problems of our turbulent time.”
Contents include:
- Ricardo Legorreta, Mexico Contemplations
- Balkrishna V. Doshi, India Brahmand – Between the Built and the Un-built
- Karljosef Schattner, Germany Tightrope Walk Between History and Modernism
- Wladimir Slapeta, Czechoslovakia On Czechoslovak Functionalism
- William J.R. Curtis, UK The Idea of a Modern Tradition
- Ignasi de Sola-Morales, Spain High-Tech : Functionalism or Rhetoric ?
- Björn Linn, Sweden The Modernity of Functionalism
- Steven Holl, USA Edge of a City
- Colin St. John Wilson, UK Functionalism and the Uncompleted Programme
- Juhani Pallasmaa, Finland From Metaphorical to Ecological Functionalism
- Göran Schildt, Finland Was Alvar Aalto a Functionalist?
- Riitta Nikula, Finland Functionalism and Scarcity: The Legacy of Erik Bryggman’s Architecture
- Gudmundur Jonsson, Iceland The Issue and the Origin
- Andres Siim, Estonia Four Projects
- Mikko Heikkinen – Markku Komonen, Finland Within Structures
- Pentti Kareoja, Finland Observations about Architecture
- Marjaana Kinnermä, Finland What Is
The fifth international Alvar Aalto Symposium was held in Jyväskylä in August 1991. The theme of the symposium returned to the roots of modern architecture and considered whether solutions to the problems of contemporary architecture could still be found on the basis of the Functionalist tradition. Twelve international experts spoke on the theme and the chairman of the symposium was the architect Kristian Gullichsen.
During the symposium, the Alvar Aalto Museum opened a renewed permanent exhibition dealing with the work of Alvar Aalto and an exhibition showing the work of Alvar Aalto’s artist friends and kindred spirits. At the Museum of Central Finland, there was an exhibition about the architect Sven Markelius put together by the Swedish Museum of Architecture.
After the symposium, an excursion was organized to visit examples of Finnish Functionalist architecture.
The Alvar Aalto Symposiums are international symposiums on architecture held every three years in Jyväskylä with the intention of arousing discussion about the artistic, social and technical problems of modern architecture. The language of the symposiums is English.
Alvar Aalto frequently gave lectures at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival and in 1977, a special Alvar Aalto event was held, which involved a number of lectures and visits to various buildings designed by Alvar Aalto in and around Jyväskylä. The same year, the decision was made to hold the first symposium in 1979. The Alvar Aalto Museum and the Jyväskylä Summer Festival acted as the principal local organizers. Representatives of SAFA (the Finnish Association of Architects), the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Alvar Aalto Foundation were invited to join the organizing committee.
Nowadays, the principal local organizer of the symposiums is the Alvar Aalto Foundation.
So far, the symposiums have been organized fourteen times and their themes have included the relationship between modern architecture and tradition, popular culture and cultural values, and taking the limitations of natural resources into account in the architecture of today.