Alvar Aalto Quotes & Sayings

“Building art is a synthesis of life in materialized form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together.”

“Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we design new staircase steps every day in connection with all our houses, but a standardized step depends on the height of the buildings and on all kinds of things.”

“The ultimate goal of the architect...is to create a paradise. Every house, every product of architecture... should be a fruit of our endeavour to build an earthly paradise for people.”

“Form must have a content, and that content must be linked with nature.”

“The best standardisation committee in the world is nature herself, but in nature standardisation occurs mainly in connection with the smallest possible units: cells. The result is millions of flexible combinations in which one never encounters the stereotyped.”

“Even the smallest daily chore can be humanized with the harmony of culture.”

“The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture.”

“God created paper for the purpose of drawing architecture on it. Everything else is, at least for me, an abuse of paper.”

“I do not write, I build.”

“Our time is so specialised that we have people who know more and more or less and less.”