Alvar Aalto The Mature Years

Rating:
Summary: Continuation of a Fine Biography
Review: First, let me warn you: my perspective is "Alvar Aalto is THE great 20th century architect." Yes, Wright, Corb, Mies, Gropius and Kahn had more immediately recognizable & defiable styles, but Aalto was just as groundbreaking as any of them and more practical (and practicable) than any of them. That said, this is NOT really about his buildings. Rather, the man Aalto is examined, and thereby the mind that gave us the buildings. The whole thing is interesting (you don't need to have read the earlier two volumes to gain insight; this isn't Calculus). I found the chapters on the illness & death of his partner & wife Aino, a gifted designer in her own right and a huge part of Aalto's life, particularly affecting. I was tempted to give this book five stars, but it is, while very interesting and well written, incomplete. Not in the lack of knowledge of Aalto's earlier life/career, but in that his history as a designer is left to Schildt's later catalog of Aalto's work. The two are best read together.

Rating:
Summary: Continuation of a Fine Biography
Review: First, let me warn you: my perspective is "Alvar Aalto is THE great 20th century architect." Yes, Wright, Corb, Mies, Gropius and Kahn had more immediately recognizable & defiable styles, but Aalto was just as groundbreaking as any of them and more practical (and practicable) than any of them. That said, this is NOT really about his buildings. Rather, the man Aalto is examined, and thereby the mind that gave us the buildings. The whole thing is interesting (you don't need to have read the earlier two volumes to gain insight; this isn't Calculus). I found the chapters on the illness & death of his partner & wife Aino, a gifted designer in her own right and a huge part of Aalto's life, particularly affecting. I was tempted to give this book five stars, but it is, while very interesting and well written, incomplete. Not in the lack of knowledge of Aalto's earlier life/career, but in that his history as a designer is left to Schildt's later catalog of Aalto's work. The two are best read together.