When Alvar Aalto designed a new building for his architectural practice in Helsinki in the mid-1950s, he created a light-filled studio space with gently curved walls and a view of a courtyard shaped like an amphitheater. Join Design Stories for a visit to Studio Aalto – a place where creativity, architecture, and everyday life intertwined.
THE EARLY 1950s were a particularly busy time at architect Alvar Aalto’s (1898–1976) office, as several major building projects were underway. At the time, the work was carried out in a studio connected to Aalto’s family home on Riihitie in Helsinki. As the number of commissions grew and more staff needed to be hired, the home office quickly became too cramped. As a temporary solution, Aalto rented additional workspace in the Engineers’ House (Insinööritalo), a building he had designed a few years earlier on Ratakatu in downtown Helsinki (1948–1951).
In 1954, when Aalto found a suitable plot about half a kilometer from his home in Munkkiniemi, construction began on a new, more spacious office building. The sloping lot, with exposed bedrock at its highest point, was nestled in a quiet residential area surrounded by greenery – Munkkiniemi was then considered a suburb on the outskirts of Helsinki.
Studio Aalto
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Completed in 1955
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Located in the Munkkiniemi district of Helsinki (Tiilimäki 20)
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Served as the working space for Alvar Aalto’s architectural office
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Today, the building is home to the Alvar Aalto Foundation
Work at Aalto’s “bureau” or “atelier” – as the office was casually referred to by staff – began in 1955. The original building offered 436 square meters of workspace, with an additional apartment for the caretaker located on the lower floor.
Aalto placed the building along the edge of the lot, near the road. From the street, the office appeared rather closed off amid the residential neighborhood, with no windows facing the road and a sturdy brick wall marking the property’s boundary. But the impression shifted entirely once you walked around to the back: the leafy rear courtyard was filled with large windows and opened up to a gently sloping yard shaped like an amphitheater.
THE ORIGINAL FLOOR PLAN of Aalto’s studio formed an L-shape, but in the 1960s, an extension was added, transforming the building into a U-shaped layout.
Initially, the space consisted of two wings with distinctly different atmospheres. The main room, higher than the rest of the building and crowned with a slanted ceiling, served as Aalto’s personal studio where he often worked while singing bold tunes. With its curved wall, the room was every architect’s dream workspace: spacious, filled with natural light, and soaring in height. A sculptural staircase and loft structure added a dramatic touch, along with a wooden relief adorning the wall.
Alvar Aalto’s studio was designed to be anything but ordinary – from its flowing forms to its flexible workspaces.
But the “chief’s” studio wasn’t reserved for him alone. It also hosted client meetings and, at times, accommodated multiple architects’ desks. When the office was working on a major town plan, for instance, the model would be assembled right there in the atelier. The generous space adapted easily to different uses.
One of the building’s wings is two stories high. The lower floor is a low-ceilinged, dimly lit space that originally housed the entrance, the secretary’s office, and a dining area for staff. The upper floor, in contrast, feels like an entirely different world: a spacious and light-filled drawing hall, with large worktables arranged along both sides of a central corridor. The desks were sturdy enough for architects to climb onto them when working on oversized architectural or urban planning drawings.
The slanted pillars and beam structures, along with clerestory windows placed high near the ceiling, give the drawing hall its distinct character. Through these windows, soft, even light filters in – another example of Aalto’s subtle mastery of light, even within his own office.
AS AALTO'S reputation continued to grow in the 1960s, both in Finland and internationally, the studio saw an increasing number of commissions. At its busiest, the “bureau” employed around thirty full-time staff members. In addition, there were often some twenty international interns drawn to Finland by Aalto’s global fame.
In his later years, Aalto favored the studio’s cozy dining room over the stairs to the drawing hall.
The existing spaces could no longer accommodate the growing team. In 1962–1963, a 90-square-meter extension was added to the building, providing an additional workroom adjacent to the upper-floor drawing hall. The lower level of the new wing housed a staff dining area called “Taverna,” which exuded the casual charm of a small Italian or French corner café. In Aalto’s later years, it became one of his favorite spots. He would often settle there, glass of Chianti in hand, when the stairs to the upstairs studio grew too demanding.
THE ATMOSPHERE at Aalto’s office was relaxed and informal, both in terms of its architecture and work culture. In a 1959 issue of the Finnish Arkkitehti magazine, Aalto remarked, “Architectural art cannot emerge in an office-like office.” That statement undoubtedly guided his vision when designing both the building and its interior.
Aalto led his architectural practice until his death in 1976. Afterward, his second wife, architect Elissa Aalto (1922–1994), who had worked alongside him since the early 1950s, took over the studio’s operations.
Under Elissa’s leadership, the office completed Alvar Aalto’s unfinished projects and designed renovations and additions to many of his earlier works. After her passing in 1994, the building was transferred to the ownership of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, which continues to use part of the studio as office space.
Alvar Aalto’s studio is open to the public and can be visited on guided tours.
Preserving Aalto’s legacy
IN MARCH 2025, the Design Stories team visited Alvar Aalto’s studio – and during our visit, we had the opportunity to photograph Artek’s Aalto wood relief in the studio. For every anniversary edition of the relief sold, Finnish Design Shop donates €200 to the Alvar Aalto Foundation to help conserve the original floor of the studio’s drawing hall.
Originally crafted from bent birch and unveiled in London in 1933 as part of the Wood Only exhibition at Fortnum & Mason, the wooden artwork made a striking comeback recently to mark Finnish Design Shop’s 20th anniversary.
If the flowing lines of the relief feel oddly familiar at first glance, there’s a reason: the piece echoes the soft, inviting curves of Aalto’s iconic Armchair 41, also known as the Paimio Chair, which can be spotted in the images featured in this story.
See also:
• Artek's Aalto experimental wood relief >
• All designs by Alvar Aalto >
Text: Anna-Kaisa Huusko Images: Niclas Mäkelä Production: Design Stories