The new Aalto2 Museum, designed by A-Konsultit Architects, will showcase the cultural legacy of the architecture and design of renowned architect Alvar Aalto. The Museum will open to the public on 27 May 2023, fulfilling the architect's desire to establish a venue for the fusion of various mediums and art forms at the Ruusupuisto park in Jyväskylä, in Central Finland.
The Alto2 Museum Centre comprises three buildings: the renovated Alvar Aalto Museum, the Museum of Central Finland, and the new addition of the Aalto2 center which will join them this year. The original Alvar Aalto Museum will open its doors after having undergone structural repairs, and changes in facilities to serve the new Aalto2 concept. The Aalto2 design connects both museums and is based on an international competition held in 2015, which attracted nearly 700 entries worldwide, demonstrating the international appeal of Aalto’s architectural style.
Aalto2 seamlessly fuses art and science with architecture, design, and cultural contexts. The center provides a new calendar of events and embeds various exhibitions into the city center. At the exhibition's opening, The museums will display "Human Traces - World Heritage", curated by Finnish-Spanish architects Anna and Eugeni Bach. The display highlights physical and intangible heritage, ranging from the Great Wall of China to Finnish sauna culture, and contemporary architecture. Additionally, five mini-exhibitions will explore the variety of built heritage and cultural significance in the Aalto2 museum.
The building’s bright and roomy addition enhances accessibility to the museums expanding collaboration possibilities. The communal lobby space, museum shop, and café form a warm domestic living room feel, making it easier for visitors to explore the museum center and its many displays. Furthermore, the improved accessibility of Aalto2 will allow larger exhibitions, events, and various offerings to larger groups of people sharing the space.
The Alvar Aalto Museum's newest permanent display, "AALTO - Work and Life," showcases Aalto's designs and the concepts and influences that went into them. The exhibit provides guests with information about Alvar Aalto's life and work. (1898–1976). Known as an architect and designer, Alvar Aalto believed that since the architect's responsibility is to serve the underprivileged, excellent design and architecture can help resolve issues in society and human life. The permeant exhibition delves deeper than the surface to examine Aalto's creative process, in which he approached each design brief as a brand-new challenge.
The new museum center will have a profile as a multifunctional building specializing in cultural environments, architecture, and design, offering experiential content that attracts an increasingly wide audience.
--Heli-Maija Voutilainen, Director of Museums for the City of Jyväskylä.
In 2020, The Alvar Aalto Museum was showcasing one last exhibition before it closed for renovation. “The Dream of a Museum” highlighted the architect’s unbuilt museum designs, including sketch-like plans and competition entries. Aalto was born in 1898 in Finland and lived out his career as an architect: experimenting with architecture, furniture, textiles, and glassware. Many of the architect’s masterpieces are in his homeland, namely the Säynätsalo Town Hall designed in 1949, blending modernity and intimacy to create a new center point. The Helsinki House of Culture, designed by Aalto in 1955, is until today one of Helsinki’s most popular concert venues.
