Alvar Aalto Week 2020 – Fascinating programme set in superb cultural environments of Pori and Eura

On August 22–30, 2020, Pori and Eura will host Alvar Aalto Week. This year’s theme is “Everyday Life”. The fourth successive Alvar Aalto Week offers a diverse, fascinating range of architectural, design and cultural experiences. This year’s programme puts the spotlight on the rich industrial history of the municipalities of Pori and Eura, and on their links with Alvar Aalto’s production, taking us up to the present day. Brilliantly occupying their rightful place at the centre of attention will be the Aino and Alvar Aalto-designed Villa Mairea (1937–39) in Noormarkku in Pori and the Terraced House (1937–38) in Eura, with guided tours of both during the week.

Time travel is also on the agenda in the form of exhibitions, such as Maire Gullichsen, Alvar Aalto and Galerie Artek at Pori Art Museum and Arkielämän kuvia ja esineitä Aallon suunnittelemista taloista Kauttualla (pictures and objects from everyday life in Aalto-designed houses in Kauttua) at Eura Main Library.

Stories told on tours and visits to rarely accessible architectural sites lead into the area’s local history and present day. “One interesting way to get to know the built cultural environment is on a canoe trip along the Eura River and Lake Pyhäjärvi in Säkylä, where you can enjoy the diverse shoreside architecture, waterways and natural beauty of the area. Alvar Aalto’s architecture is also a powerful presence in the everyday lives of local residents, since the type-planned housing on Varkaudenmäki Hill is still in its original use,” says Director of Cultural Services at the Municipality of Eura Sirpa Wahlqvist.

Tours of Noormarkku Works will focus on the long-term, wide-ranging collaboration between Alvar Aalto and Ahlström. “We expect the event will increase interest in and awareness of Pori’s built landscape and cultural history, and make Alvar Aalto and his production even better known in the Satakunta region, too,” says Head of the Cultural Unit at the City of Pori, Jyri Träskelin. He hopes the lively urban event will also tempt visitors to take walking tours of Pori city centre, to hear lots of stories about the origins and construction of the stone city from the 1930s to the 1990s.

Full programme of the Week’s events in Finnish here.

Alvar Aalto Week is based in a different Alvar Aalto City in Finland each year. Pori and Eura are arranging Alvar Aalto Week 2020 together with the Alvar Aalto Foundation and numerous partners in collaboration.

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