Alvar Aalto came out of Nordic Classicism in the 1920s, converted to Functionalism with the Turun Sanomat building, the Viipuri Library and the Paimio Sanatorium, and then spent forty years dismantling the movement's severity from inside it. From the late 1930s his work bends: undulating timber screens, fan-shaped plans, brick left rough, light brought down through shafts rather than pushed through glass walls. He worked in partnership with Aino Marsio-Aalto from 1924 until her death in 1949, and with Elissa Mäkiniemi from 1952. Furniture, glass and lighting were part of the same practice — the bent-plywood stool and the Savoy vase are as widely known as the buildings. He won the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1957 and the AIA Gold Medal in 1963; thirteen of his works were inscribed together as a World Heritage Site in 2026.
