Community center of Syayunatsalo village - SKETCHLINE

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1952

Community center of Syayunatsalo village

author

Alvar Aalto

description

On the site where the center of the Syayunyatsalo settlement was built in 1952, the moraine masses of land were preserved. As a result, the surface of the central site of the complex turned out to be a whole floor higher than the surrounding buildings. This made it possible to create a kind of patio-terrace, which could be reached by two staircases. One of the staircases is front – adjacent directly to the building of the council villages and is faced with gray granite. Another, located on the opposite side of the courtyard, is designed in the form of earthen steps overgrown with grass and flowers. With their outlines, the steps seem to repeat the natural profile of the slope. The local government hall with work rooms, a library, a shop and a service apartment is an example of an organic approach to creating a small public building that combines monumentality and grace.

All facades of the building, as well as the interiors of the administrative part, some part of the floor and internal stairs, are faced with local red bricks. The cubic boardroom has a timber rafter roof that supports a suspended timber ceiling. The architect also used the technique of including elements of terraced natural relief in the public space in his design for the city center of Seinäjoki (1959).