1955年，当文化之家的设计工作开始时，阿尔托的办公室正忙着繁重的工作。还有许多其他设计仍在图纸上，从赫尔辛基的一栋工作室到Oulu的一个大型音乐厅。[2]与此同时，办公室设计的其他多个项目正在施工，包括Jyv skyl教育大学的第一期工程。然而，文化之屋可能会成为当年阿尔托实践中最令人难忘的设计。

Aalto’s office was busy with a substantial workload when design work commenced on the House of Culture in 1955. Numerous other designs were still on the drawing board, ranging from a studio house in Helsinki to a large concert hall in Oulu.[2] Meanwhile, construction was ongoing on multiple other projects designed by the office – including the first phase of the Pedagogical University at Jyväskylä. However, it was the House of Culture that would emerge as perhaps the most memorable design to come out of Aalto’s practice that year.[3]

Courtesy of Wittenborn & Company

维滕伯恩

文化之家的三方设计源于在其围墙内进行的各种计划。作为一个政党的总部，这意味着该设施必须具备日常行政和官僚事务以及特别公共活动的设备，所有这些都符合它所代表的政治意识形态。节目的两个主要部分作为综合体的两个主要元素出现，它们之间的空间作为公共广场和接待空间。

The House of Culture’s tripartite design stems from the variety of programs which were intended to take place within its walls. Serving as the headquarters of a political party meant the facility would have to be equipped for daily administrative and bureaucratic business as well as special public events, all in keeping with the political ideologies it was to represent. The two main elements of the program arose as the two main elements of the complex, the space between them serving as a public plaza and reception space.[4]

Courtesy of Flickr user Wotjek Gurak

Flickr用户Wotjek Gurak提供

广场的左边是大礼堂的起伏的砖楼。用砖块建造这种不规则的形状需要广泛的试验；一个特定的单元必须能够形成不同半径的凹墙和凸墙。[5]由此产生的砖不是矩形的，而是扇形的，每个都形成一个圆圈的一小部分。圆角可以更容易地组装，在正面表面更复杂的光线作用，甚至有助于防止墙上的裂缝。

On the left side of the plaza is the undulating brick edifice of the auditorium. Constructing such an irregular form out of brick required extensive experimentation; a particular unit had to be capable of forming both concave and convex walls of varying radii.[5] The resulting bricks were not rectangular but fanned, each forming a small segment of a circle. Rounded corners allowed for greater ease of assembly, more complex play of light across the surface of the facade, and even helped to protect against fractures in the walls.[6]

Courtesy of Flickr user Josep Maria Torra

Flickr用户Josep Maria Torra提供

在以前的项目中，阿尔托曾广泛使用红砖，但在文化之家，他将首先以非正交的形式试验红砖的使用。[7]他将在另外两个项目中采用类似的处理方法：贝克宿舍和同年的奥塔尼米礼堂(Otaniemi大礼堂)。然而，在他的职业生涯中，阿尔托最终很少使用这种类型；1958年文化之家建成后，阿尔托将彻底放弃砖头，而在1960年代开始使用瓷砖和大理石护套。

Aalto had made extensive use of red brick in his previous projects, but it was in the House of Culture that he would first experiment with its use in a non-orthogonal form.[7] He would employ  a similar treatment in two other projects: the Baker Dormitory and the Otaniemi auditorium of the same year. However, Aalto would ultimately make little use of this typology in his career; after the House of Culture’s completion in 1958, Aalto would turn away from brick altogether, instead beginning to work with ceramic tile and marble sheathing during the 1960s.[8]

© James Taylor-Foster

詹姆斯·泰勒-福斯特

参观者通过一个巨大的大厅进入礼堂侧翼，大厅沿着礼堂本身的座位曲线而行。有三层楼梯上上下下，他们的铜制扶手在上面弯曲的灯光下闪闪发光。虽然大厅的主要目的是作为通往礼堂的戏剧性入口，但大厅并不仅仅是为了这个目的而设的：事实上，乐队的存在使它本身可以作为一个社交大厅。地板上的红色瓷砖模仿了外面的广场，进一步强化了这样一种感觉，即大厅和它所服务的礼堂一样，也是一个潜在的目的地。

Visitors enter the auditorium wing by way of a vast, sweeping lobby which follows the curve of the seating in the auditorium itself. Three flights of stairs lead up and out of the lobby, their bronze handrails gleaming under the curving banks of lights above. Though primarily intended as a dramatic entryway to the auditorium, the lobby is not solely relegated to this purpose: indeed, the presence of a bandstand allows for it to additionally serve as a social hall in itself. The red tiles of the floor emulate those of an exterior plaza, further strengthening the sense that the lobby is as much a potential destination as the auditorium it serves.[9]

Courtesy of Wittenborn & Company

维滕伯恩

礼堂被布置成一个宽的、不对称的翻盖，比深的要宽得多。大厅由混凝土、木材和瓷砖制成，非常重视声学的控制：根据房间各个部分的特殊需要，将材料组装成反映或吸收声音的专门面板。某些面板甚至可以根据与会者的数量和发生的事件类型被移除或互换，同时仍然保持所设想的总体布局和审美AALTO。[10]

The auditorium is laid out as a broad, asymmetrical clamshell that is much wider than it is deep. Wrought of concrete, wood, and tile, the hall places significant importance on controlling acoustics: the materials are assembled into specialized panels that either reflect or absorb sound, based on the particular need of each part of the room. Certain panels can even be removed or interchanged based on the number of attendees and the type of event taking place, while still maintaining the general layout and aesthetic Aalto envisioned.[10]

礼堂的座位被分成不同的分区，每个分区都有自己独特的足迹和视觉质量。舞台前的管弦乐队空间是宽而平的，可以像墙壁上的声学面板那样进行可变的配置。过道把每个分区分开，就像房间后部的一对精致的混凝土柱子一样。这种细分创造了这样一种感觉，即每个座位区都是自己的空间，尽管它们在舞台上的关注点是统一的。

Seating in the auditorium is broken up into various subsections, each with its own unique footprint and visual quality. The orchestra space before the stage is wide and flat, allowing for variable configuration as with the acoustic panels along the walls. Aisles divide each of the subzones from each other, as do a pair of elegantly finned concrete columns in the rear end of the room. This subdivision creates the sense that each seating zone is its own space, despite being unified in their focus on the stage.[11]

© James Taylor-Foster

詹姆斯·泰勒-福斯特

站在沉默的反驳，曲折，不规则的曲线，礼堂是行政区划。“块”是一个恰当的术语，坚定的直线办公室机翼，这也是表面铜，而不是独特的砖组成它的邻居。这座建筑相对简朴、正式，适合用于官僚主义事务，而不是广场对面礼堂的公众集会。

Standing in silent rebuttal to the sinuous, irregular curves of the auditorium is the administrative block. “Block” is an appropriate term for the firmly rectilinear office wing, which is also surfaced in copper instead of the unique bricks that make up its neighbor. The building’s relatively austere, formal nature is suited to its use for bureaucratic affairs, as opposed to the public gatherings in the auditorium across the plaza.[12]

尽管最初的赞助人已经解散，但自1958年建成以来，文化之家一直是赫尔辛基音乐厅的首选。正如它的网站所指出的，它是一座“宏伟的建筑”，“散发着逝去岁月的气息”。[13]时代显然并没有玷污文化之家最初的光彩；事实上，这座建筑仍然是20世纪50年代阿尔托作品中最具代表性的建筑之一。

Though its original patrons have since disbanded, the House of Culture has continued to serve as Helsinki’s concert hall of choice since its completion in 1958. It is, as its website states, a “magnificent building” which “exudes the atmosphere of years gone by.”[13] Age has evidently not tarnished the House of Culture’s original lustre; indeed, the building remains one of the most iconic of Aalto’s works of the 1950s.

Courtesy of Flickr user Wotjek Gurak

Flickr用户Wotjek Gurak提供

Kulttuuritalo，00101，芬兰赫尔辛基，类别文化中心建筑师，主管阿尔瓦·阿尔托项目，1955年拍摄詹姆斯·泰勒-福斯特

Location Kulttuuritalo, 00101 Helsinki, Finland Category Cultural Center Architect in Charge Alvar Aalto Project Year 1955 Photographs James Taylor-Foster