The displays do not change and become a feature of the exhibition itinerary, punctuated on the ceiling by large spherical chandeliers in white opaline on which a number has been painted in red paint.
Their counterpart is found on the wall and indicates which project you are looking at: the experimental house, the Casa de Popolo of Jyväskylä, the civic library of Viipuri (Russia), the civic center of Säynätsalo, the library of Mount Angel Abbey ( USA), Villa Mairea, the National Institute of Social Security in Helsinki, the Church and parish center of Riola (in Italy), the dormitories of MIT (USA), the Paimio Sanatorium and the Cellulose Factory and the residential neighborhood by Sunila, alongside a video game complete with a viewer to immerse yourself in the world of Aalto, furniture for children, fabrics, glass works and the history of Artek , the company that the Aaltos had founded to produce their own designer objects.
Of course, man is at the center of the discussion in a series of public buildings designed for everyone, for the community, in a philosophy of design as a total work: a building is designed and everything needed for it inside for people to use.
Thus the handles of the sanatorium doors were designed in such a way as to prevent the sleeves of the patients' clothes from getting caught and the sinks had a particular inclination so as to accompany the water from the tap and prevent the liquid from falling onto the ceramic from causing a noise that is too loud and annoying for the patients.
An example, which then extends to furniture: armchairs, beds, plates, cutlery, trays designed for that place but perfect for entering people's private homes too. This is how Artek and Aalto's design were born: from the particular to the universal.
Light guides the projects, always designed to dialogue with the interiors, both as natural light and diffused by the lamps, designed by Aalto. The reference to nature cannot be missed even in the long, dark Finnish winters which are illuminated by something capable of recalling the sun filtering through the leaves of the trees, that of a beehive or of illuminating like a spotlight the exact point you want, while the public libraries have overhead lighting of the individual positions conceived, as in Viipuri, taking into account different ways of sitting in front of a book and the - human - need to change position.
The sanatorium has low windows, designed so that patients could admire the outside panorama from the bed and the civic center on the island of Säynätsalo also uses bricks inside, illuminated, like the other wooden furnishings, with large windows to give guests a welcome and at the same time a sense of continuity with the outside.
And then the colours, the materials, the printed cotton fabrics, the functional but delicate objects in their natural shapes. What makes man feel good in his daily life?
AALTO - Aino Alvar Elissa. The human dimension of the project. MAXXI, Rome, until May 26th.
