Vestigios de Alvar Aalto en la opera prima de Antonio Fernández Alba (1959-62)

Abstract

<p><em>Antonio Fernández Alba’s work of the nineteen-sixties has been described fundamentally as ‘organic’, alluding to its consonances with the architecture of Alvar Aalto. This text examines the reading that Fernández Alba presented about the culture of Finnish architecture in several writings published in the Madrid journal </em>Arquitectura<em>, among which the essay “Human and Aesthetic values in Finnish Design” published in 1962 stands out. Reflections presented in this text were manifested in his design for the School of Nuestra Señora Santa María in Madrid, a project in which Fernández Alba was working at that time. Whilst remaining true to the requirements of a Catholic girl’s school, Fernández Alba’s project shows his interest in designing an architecture conducive to play, connected with the surrounding nature, not governed by preconceived forms, sympathetic in its choice of materials, and free in the use and enjoyment of its facilities. In short, an architectural design that considered the psychophysical needs of the female students and teachers, so that a ‘humanized architecture’ emerged, alluding to the well-known essay by Aalto written in 1940.</em></p>