Steph Allen: 2011

Sunday, 6 March 2011

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto Aalto’s Armchair 41 (Paimio Arm Chair)

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was born February 3, 1898 and died May 11, 1976. He was a Finnish architect whom was one of the first and most influential architects of the Scandinavian modern movement. He is also a designer of furniture and glassware. The Aalto Vase, also known as the Savoy Vase, is a world famous piece of glassware and an iconic piece of Finnish design. Aalto was considered a modern architect who manifested an understanding of the psychological needs of modern society, the qualities of the Finnish environment, and the historical, technical, and cultural traditions of Scandinavian architecture.

Aalto’s Armchair 41 also known as the Paimio Arm Chair was designed in 1930 using laminated birch (timber) and moulded plywood. The curves are made by clamping layers of veneer and glue over a form to achieve the desired curved shapes.
A straight laminated timber crossbar in the upper back stabilized the framework. The continuous curves of the chair seat and back resembled a coil spring – this provided extra resilience to the plywood design. The springy plywood fixed on a closed frame was a brainstorm of Aalto’s for making a wooden chair "soft".

Aalto’s Armchair was designed to reduce Hospital “clatter” and the selection of soothing materials used help achieve this. The Armchair was placed in the patients lounge as the angle of the chair was designed to help patients breathing and encouraged them to lie back instead of sitting up, while the front curve of the arm made it easier for them to grip when getting in and out of.

At the time of Aalto’s Armchair design the stock market crashed causing fortunes of investors around the world to be destroyed. T hat day became known as "Black Tuesday." Fortunes were wiped out. The stock market had crashed. Another world event was that of Amelia Earhart whom in 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately in 1937 she is lost over the Pacific on a round-the-world flight. Her plane and the bodies of Earhart and her navigator have never been found.