Villa Mairea - Final Submission

What do I want to achieve from my drawings of the Ahlstrom family home?

After a brilliant lecture on the Villa Mairea last week I grabbed some tracing paper and tried to identify what I wanted to depict and decipher how to do it. I decided to focus on three patterns evident in the building:

1. The environmental pattern. Reflecting the unique surroundings of this building, ie. a pine forest in Finland, in the finishes and architecture of the building.

2. The pattern formed from the relationship to site. Upon which, all key meeting and living areas are placed upon the ridge of the slope. This is largely symbolised through the placement of fireplaces, a traditional symbol of meeting.

3. The architectural and structural pattern developed to support human patterns of life. Through the use of poles, walls, screens and flooring Aalto creates a unique flow through the house from central space to perimeter spaces and finally outer spaces. It is interesting how Nordic traditions have appeared within this pattern.

Notes

Ground Floor - Supporting the Patterns of Life

Upper Floor - Supporting the Patterns of Living

Ground Plan - Forms From Nature

Ridge Line

The Meeting Place on the Ridge

Early Progress

I arrived at and left todays tute not incredibly happy with what I had completed to date. Our model was coming along strong but my drawings weren't quite up to scratch. In my first attempt I tried to tick the three boxes required by the assignment, but didn't quite capture the architecture within the building. I hope that seeking out some more information on the building will better equip me to re approach these drawings.

I believe the most important pieces of advice I received today where:

- line weights were a bit off in quite a few of the drawings

- the vacantness of the pool edge and darkness of the hatching draw too much attention

- drawings were often too diagrammatic

- first approach what you want to say through your drawings, and then how.

Ground Floor Plan

Public vs Private Analysis

Structure

Site/Plan

Trees and Poles

Villa Mairea - A Romantic Humanist Experiment

I would like to introduce my latest study, the Villa Mairea through this is, favourite photograph of the building. I think it captures the key ideas behind Aalto's design in a simple unassuming way. The photo depicts the flowing indoor outdoor living an example of how the house was built to adapt to the patterns of life and the strong connection with nature by highlighting the parrallel between the posts within the house and the trees along the horizon. Given, the humanist principles held by Aalto it seems so right that people be framed centerally by the doorway.