Muuratsalo Experimental House, Experimental residence in Säynätsalo, Finland
The Muuratsalo Experimental House is an L-shaped building with an internal courtyard and white-plastered walls of red brick overlooking Lake Päijänne. An open fireplace positioned in the center serves as the focal point connecting the spaces surrounding the courtyard.
Alvar and Elissa Aalto built this house between 1952 and 1954 as a place to test new architectural ideas. It served as a testing ground where different building styles and materials could be tried before use in larger projects.
The residence displays fifty different brick and ceramic panels that show how various building techniques work in practice. Visitors can observe how materials and methods come together in a working home.
Guided tours run from June through September and require advance booking through the Alvar Aalto Museum. Reservations are necessary since space is limited and walk-ins cannot be accommodated.
The house was constructed without a concrete foundation and tested early solar heating systems that were remarkable for the 1950s. This forward-thinking approach shows how the architects were experimenting with sustainable ideas decades before they became common.
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