domingo, 2 de dezembro de 2007

Livraria Académica, Helsínquia - Alvar Aalto, 1969





Designed in competition in 1962, though not built until 1966-1969, Aalto's Academic Bookshop provides a bright, attractive but businesslike interior piazza, lit by geometric, almost crystalline glass skylights and surrounded by beautiful, austere white marble. The deep, bright interior is unexpected behind the dark, copper office facade, and successfully creates a place that is more than just a store.


The store is on three floors, but the cutaway for the atrium is generous, and the angular skylights penetrate down into the void emphasising the light they bring down with them. The sharpness and complexity of the skylight geometry contrasts with the simple forms and finishes of the white marble balustrade and staircases.
The whiteness and hardness might seem cold, but do not; filled with books, people and the Café Aalto on the far balcony, the bookstore has a strongly welcoming, human feel.


by Inês Didelet

1 comentário:

Arquitectura de Interiores FAUTL disse...

É mesmo um espaço muito confortável, e inesperado porque entramos num edifício que não nos revela à partida a possibilidade da existência de iluminação zenital.
E a maneira como a luz entra no espaço através daqueles grandes cristais é magnífica.
Eu ia escrever "a forma como a luz entra" e é literalmente isso que acontece: a luz entra como forma naquele espaço!

João Pernão