(view google maps)

Alvar Aalto´s Villa Kokkonen, only 35 minutes from the centre of Helsinki. On Nov 2012, Villa Kokkonen, Villa Mairea, Aalto House and two other private houses designed by architect Alvar Aalto were chosen from Finland to a new website www.iconichouses.org as internationally significant representatives of 20th century modern architecture.

Drawing upon the ideas and experiences inspired by Aalto House, Villa Mairea and Maison Louis Carré,  it was Alvar Aalto´s aim to create for his friend, Mr. Joonas Kokkonen, a unique residence where nature and human everyday life would be blended together with a crossover of two forms of art – modern music and modern architecture. Villa Kokkonen (1967-1969)  turned out to be not only a wild experiment; regarding the interior design and the coherence of the overall plan, Villa Kokkonen has been called a “finely tuned music box”  and “Aalto´s finest house after Villa Mairea”.

Villa Kokkonen is hosted by two professional musicians, pianist Elina Viitaila and opera singer Antti A. Pesonen. They became full-time custodians of this unique house in 2009 when they hired Villa Kokkonen from the City of Järvenpää. According to their contract, Elina and Antti take utmost care of the building and the huge site having more than 7000 square meters. Also the everyday maintenance of Kokkonen´s collection including original grand piano and original Artek furniture etc. is on Elina´s and Antti´s responsibility. This precious collection is owned by the Museum Services of the City.

https://www.villakokkonen.fi/en

Aalto, Alvar, and Fleig, Karl. 1978. Alvar Aalto. Bologna : Zanichelli

Link:

http://www.villakokkonen.fi/en

Reviewed by :

Rémi Farwati, Elena Giannitsopoulos, Nadir Bouchene, Adela Plasilova, March 2017