The building that disappeared : the Viipuri Library by Alvar Aalto

• Main Author: Berger, Laura
• Other Authors: Niskanen, Aino, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Architecture, Finland, Mäntysalo, Raine, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Built Environment, Finland, Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Arkkitehtuurin laitos, Department of Architecture, Sanaksenaho, Pirjo, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Architecture, Finland, Aalto-yliopisto, Aalto University
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Aalto University 2018
• Subjects: Architecture; buildings; Viipuri Library; material culture; rakennukset; Viipurin kirjasto; materiaalinen kulttuuri; arkkitehtuuri; karelia*
• Online Access: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/34027

This dissertation introduces the `life´ of one building: the Viipuri Library, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1927-1935. The theoretical perspective draws from the field of material culture studies and the agency of objects. In the case of this particular building, the research enquires what buildings `do´as part of our material environment. In the context of architecture, the library has a role as an important early work by Aalto, while it is also internationally valued as a key building of modernist architecture. The meanings associated with this building are, however, also rooted in its geopolitical context. The library was originally opened in the Finnish city Viipuri, but at the end of World War II the city along with the larger region referred to as ´lost Karelia were annexed to the Soviet Union. Since 1991 the building has been located in present-day Russia. After the end of the Cold War, the Soviet/Russian, Finnish and international architectural community has advocated for the need to restore the library. The restoration was realized through Finnish-Russian cooperation, and completed in 2013. Regarding the building, this research aims to provide answers to two questions: 1) What exactly are the contexts in which the library has been presented as a building of importance? 2) What, if anything, is special about this particular library, enabling it with the ´capacity´to bring together recognizably different contexts? The study proceeds from two notions. First, that the library has been associated with contexts where there is something larger at stake, making the building stand out as a case of `more than just a building´. Second, that this particular building surfaces in very different types of materials ranging from professional architectural publications to war histories and opinion pieces in Finnish newspapers, which locate the building in Viipuri and lost Karelia. With use of materials from archival documents, military photographs, newspapers of the period, architectural drawings and publications, this work ...