Seven Steps to Organic Modernism: Alvar Aalto's Civic Centre in Seinäjoki Seen through the Lenses of Bruno Zevi

Abstract

Some scholars point out that modern architecture has been comprised of two parallel currents from its very beginning: rational and organic. Although many interpretations of modernism highlight industrial standardisation and mass production, Bruno Zevi suggested that the basic ideas of functionalism already included the principles of organic architecture. Here organic does not refer to nature’s forms but to human life. In the 1970s, Zevi published his theory of seven invariants of modern architecture, which received mixed reviews. This study aims to update these invariants for being viable in our time by comparing them to Zevi’s former writings dealing with organic architecture and the role of space in architecture. The invariants will be tested and elaborated in empirical analysis of Aalto’s Civic Centre in Seinäjoki, Finland.