Alvar Aalto

Human life is a combination of tragedy and comedy. The shapes and designs that surround us are the music accompanying this tragedy and this comedy. ”

Building art is a synthesis of life in materialised form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together. ”

Just as it takes time for a speck of fish spawn to develop into a fully grown fish, so, too, we need time for everything that develops and crystallizes in the world of ideas. Architecture demands more of this time than other creative work. ”

The very essence of architecture consists of a variety and development reminiscent of natural organic life. This is the only true style in architecture. ”

Once I tried to make a standardization of staircases. Probably that is one of the oldest of the standardizations. Of course, we design new staircase steps every day in connection with all our houses, but a standardized step depends on the height of the buildings and on all kinds of things. ”

Form must have a content, and that content must be linked with nature. ”

Our time is so specialised that we have people who know more and more or less and less. ”

We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street. ”

We should concentrate our work not only to a separated housing problem but housing involved in our daily work and all the other functions of the city. ”

I tell you, it is easier to build a grand opera or a city center than to build a personal house. ”