Alvar Aalto Architect Volume 20
Maison Louis Carré 1956–63 After the Villa Mairea, the Maison Louis Carré is the most carefully executed and detailed of the private houses designed by Alvar Aalto. Built for a wealthy Parisian art dealer, the house is situated in the small village of Bazoches-sur-Gyuonne, in the historic rural landscape near Versailles and Chartres. Aalto made the house an integral part of this landscape. Although the Maison Louis Carré is an expression of Aalto at his most mature, it also embraces the youthful architectonic ideas of his second wife, Elissa Aalto. In her articles, A Home of Design and Art and Living at Maison Louis Carré, Ásdís Ólafsdóttir deals with life in the house and the complex process of designing its interiors, with particular reference to the specially made unique pieces of furniture. In his essay, “I speak of what is good”, Esa Laaksonen discusses the architecture of the building as a complete work of art and its relationship to Aalto’s other designs. His analysis largely centres around the hitherto unpublished sketches, working drawings and photographs in the collections of the Alvar Aalto Museum. Antoine Terrasse describes Louis Carré’s rich and eventful life, a story complemented by Irmelin Lebeer’s interview with the art dealer in the 1960s. Louis Carré was a leading figure in the art world of the last century and his scholarly works on medieval French silver are still considered essential reading on the subject. The book also presents other works produced by Aalto’s office contemporaneous with the Maison Louis Carré design, 1955–57. Arne Heporauta’s list of realised and unrealised projects is complemented by Päivi Lukkarinen’s article on the Korkalovaara housing area in Rovaniemi and Mari Forsberg’s article on housing for the Viitaniemi garden town in Jyväskylä.
ISBN 978-952-5498-05-9
9 789525 498059