Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto knew very early on that he wanted to become an architect. His first internship was with an architect after graduating from high school. Aalto studied architecture in Helsinki from 1916 to 1921, with the intention of starting his own business in the Finnish capital.

Influenced by the German Bauhaus, Alvar Aalto was one of the pioneers of modernism. He was passionate about building and furniture design, but also worked with glass and fabric.

Known primarily for the organic forms of his designs, he aspired to an architecture in which buildings fit naturally into the environment and landscape. Some of Alvar Aalto’s most famous buildings can be found in France.