Revaluing Aalto’s Prewar Housing: Nature in the home, a Techno-poetic analysis

Ideas of sustainable architecture gained popularity 50 years ago, affected by the energy crisis and ideals of preserving limited global resources. However unique sustainable approaches in the Nordic region may stem from architectural traditions and practices developed earlier. This paper investigates how sustainable design aspects were included into some of the modern Northern architecture (e.g. contextual and environmental considerations, local building methods), prior to the development of what we call sustainable architecture today. This paper focuses in on a housing case‐study by Aino and Alvar Aalto from the 1930’s, combining in‐situ studies (e.g. sensory explorations, indoor environmental quality measurements, interviews with residents); plan and drawing analysis, and theoretical positions, including positions on housing and relations to the environment and traditional methods of construction. Initial data analysis highlights that sustainability aspects in these housing projects include consideration for indoor environmental quality (e.g. passive stack ventilation systems, optimising orientation according to daily changes of sunlight and features of the landscape). The research highlights that despite changes in the life of residents in the past 90 years, these aspects still work today. This demonstrates aspects of architecture that we can learn from today for the design of sustainable housing in the future.