Alvar Aalto Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street.”

“Human life is a combination of tragedy and comedy. The shapes and designs that surround us are the music accompanying this tragedy and this comedy.”

“I tell you, it is easier to build a grand opera or a city center than to build a personal house.”

“Nothing is as dangerous in architecture as dealing with separated problems. If we split life into separated problems we split the possibilities to make good building art.”

“Architecture is not merely national but clearly has local ties in that it is rooted in the earth.”

“Every one of my buildings begins with an Italian journey.”

“The most difficult problems are naturally not involved in the search for forms for contemporary life. It is a question of working our way to forms behind which real human values lie.”

“Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need time for everything that develops and crystallizes in the world of ideas. Architecture demands more of this time than other creative work.”

“Architecture belongs to culture, not to civilization.”

“We should concentrate our work not only to a separated housing problem but housing involved in our daily work and all the other functions of the city.”