Old Friend - Aalto in Reykjavik

Aalto was so refreshing to see halfway into my career... a reminder of what is possible in architecture. I had last seen his buildings 15 years prior on a roadtrip through Finland. In the Iceland library building, they had an audio tour there. Initially i thought the audio tour was malfunctioning because it was spouting scandinavian gibberish. I later found out it Aalto's voice that was used in the introduction. Speaking in Finnish, it’s the first time I have ever heard his voice. It was from a presentation of the building he made in 1968. He made the initial designs for the Nordic house in 1962, four years after Maison Carre towards the end of his career... his buildings to me are all about human spirit and freedom. The light is so luxurious in his library here. Under a crystal shaped skylight, he created a terracing Greek amphitheater of books... and made all these great reading niches for reading. The handrail details and materials, the wood detailing, the framed views (which were ridiculed for pointing north) and relationship to the main church in Reykjavík, and how the steps don’t align ever so slightly (like steps in Italian hill town alleys), etc.. were all typical traits of my old friend, Aalto.

landscape ramps and steps up into the building. aalto treats the interior landscape and exterior landscape with the sensitivity of a topographer's son (which he was). 

greek amphiteater of books. like asplund's stockholm library, books line the walls and envelop the users.

reading niches between faceted book shelves

stair misalignment. like life, imperfect.

crystal shaped skylight

massing responds to the main church in town, pictured in the distance