In the contemporary practice of architecture, digital design and fabrication are emergent technologies in transforming how architects present a design and form a material strategy that is responsible, equitable, sustainable, resilient, and forward-looking. This book exposes dialogue between history, theory, design, construction, technology, and sensory experience by means of digital simulations that enhance the assessment and values of our material choices. It offers a critical look to the past to inspire the future. This new edition looks to Alvar Aalto as the primary protagonist for channeling discussions related to these topics. Architects like ALA, Shigeru Ban, 3XN, Peter Zumthor, and others also play the role of contemporary guides in this review. The work of Aalto and selected contemporary architects, along with computer modeling software, showcase the importance of comprehensive design. Organized by the five Ts of contemporary architectural discourse—Typology, Topology, Tectonics, Technic, Thermodynamics—each chapter is used to connect history through Aalto and develop conversations concerning historical and contemporary models, digital simulations, ecological and passive/active material concerns, construction and fabrications, and healthy sensorial environments. Written for students and academics, this book bridges knowledge from academia into practice and vice versa to help architects become better stewards of the environment, make healthier and more accountable buildings, and find ways to introduce policy to make technology a critical component in thinking about and making architecture.

An intellectual biography that reconsiders the influence of Aalto's Finnish origins and explores geography as a dominant theme in the history of modern architecture Perhaps no other great modern architect has been linked to a native country as closely as Alvar Aalto (1898-1976). Critics have argued that the essence of Finland flows, as if naturally, into his quasi-organic forms, ranging from such buildings as the Baker House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to iconic 20th-century designs, including his Savoy vase and bent-plywood stacking stools. What did Aalto himself say about the importance of nationalism and geography in his work and in architecture generally? With an unprecedented focus on the architect's own writings, library, and critical reception, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen proposes a dramatically different interpretation of Aalto's oeuvre, revealing it as a deeply thoughtful response to his intellectual and cultural milieu--especially to Finland's dynamic political circumstances following independence from Russia in 1917. Pelkonen also considers the geographic and geopolitical narratives found in his writings. These include ideas about national style and national cultural revival, and about how architecture can foster cosmopolitanism, internationalism, and regionalism. Expanding the canonical reading of Aalto, this work promises to influence future inquiries on Aalto for generations to come.

Published to accompany exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 19/2 19/5 1998.

Der Architekt und Designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) war einer der wichtigsten Vertreter organischer Gestaltung im 20. Jahrhundert. Seine Architektur fasziniert bis heute durch natürliche Materialien und skulpturale, geschwungene Formen. Für das Sanatorium in Paimio entwarf Aalto 1932 den ersten Freischwinger aus Holz, seine Savoy Vase (1936) gilt heute als das Symbol finnischen Designs schlechthin. Die Ausstellung gibt einen umfassenden Einblick in das Werk Aaltos, präsentiert seine wichtigsten Bauten, Möbeln und Leuchten und geht den Inspirationen nach, die sein Werk prägten. Schlüsselthemen sind Aaltos Dialog mit wichtigen Künstlern wie Hans Arp, Alexander Calder oder Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, seine intensiven internationalen Verbindungen, seine Auseinandersetzung mit Fragen des rationalen Bauens, aber auch seine Suche nach einer Gestaltung, die stets den Menschen in den Mittelpunkt stellt. 0Exhibition: Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany (27.09.2014-03.01.2015).

Architectural practice today goes far beyond the design and construction of buildings - the most exciting, forward-thinking architecture is also found in digital landscapes, art, apps, films, installations, and virtual reality. This remarkable book features projects - surprising, beautiful, outrageous, and sometimes even frightening - that break rules and shatter boundaries. In this timely book, the work of award-winning architects, designers, artists, photographers, writers, filmmakers, and researchers - all of whom synthesize and reflect our spatial environments - comes together for the first time.

Aalto built three major works in America that counted among the most important in his career - the Finland Pavilion at the New York World's Fair, Baker House at MIT and the Library at Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon. This text deals with the complex nature of Aalto's experience with America.

The founder of Architizer.com and practicing architect draws on his unique position at the crossroads of architecture and social media to highlight 100 important buildings that embody the future of architecture. We’re asking more of architecture than ever before; the response will define our future. A pavilion made from paper. A building that eats smog. An inflatable concert hall. A research lab that can walk through snow. We’re entering a new age in architecture—one where we expect our buildings to deliver far more than just shelter. We want buildings that inspire us while helping the environment; buildings that delight our senses while serving the needs of a community; buildings made possible both by new technology and repurposed materials. Like an architectural cabinet of wonders, this book collects the most innovative buildings of today and tomorrow. The buildings hail from all seven continents (to say nothing of other planets), offering a truly global perspective on what lies ahead. Each page captures the soaring confidence, the thoughtful intelligence, the space-age wonder, and at times the sheer whimsy of the world’s most inspired buildings—and the questions they provoke: Can a building breathe? Can a skyscraper be built in a day? Can we 3D-print a house? Can we live on the moon? Filled with gorgeous imagery and witty insight, this book is an essential and delightful guide to the future being built around us—a future that matters more, and to more of us, than ever.