「建築是個幾乎涉及所有人類活動領域的合成現象[…]這並非是現代建築首見、或現今才有的、錯誤的自我合理化。若有錯那也是錯在這種合理化尚且不夠深入[…]現代建築的最新階段並非對抗理性心態，而是試圖把技術領域的理性方法，投射到人性與心理領域去 […]技術功能主義唯有擴大到甚至能涵蓋心理主義時，才算恰當。那也是使建築人性化的唯一途徑。」－《人性化的建築》（The Humanizing of Architecture，1940年），阿爾瓦．阿爾托（Alvar Aalto）著。
阿爾瓦．阿爾托與當前的建築實況
現在世界各地的城市，都以重視技術經濟與全球化風格的建築為主要導向，希望透過強力的形式、技術與美學創新來尋求外界關注。我們這時代中，建築受到兩種對立勢力的威脅，一方是追求工具化與功能化，另一方則是追求美學。如果從現今建築的主要潮流去思考，例如展現奇異的形狀、建築結構上的變化、使用新材料與技術，藉數位之力生成影像，還有環遊世界各地的國際明星建築師們，那麼談阿爾瓦．阿爾托（1898-1976）一生作品的演講或許會顯得過時。
阿爾瓦．阿爾托這位芬蘭建築與設計大師已辭世近四十年。他的作品從未被視為前衛建築的一部分。他一直被當成建築界的異類。他去世的時候，家鄉的建築因短視的技術觀點與近利的粗暴態度，評價已步入最低谷，他也普遍被認為是過氣的建築家。此外，他選擇在偏遠的家鄉工作，作品總被看作表達芬蘭獨有的景觀、特殊的光線、北歐的文化以及社會狀態，因而難與外界產生更廣泛的關聯。當主流的現代主義渴求一種國際共通的語言時，他卻致力說著追本溯源的區域方言。
然而現在，隨著越來越多人感覺建築太常立基於無謂且倏忽即變的價值觀，阿爾瓦．阿爾托多面向的設計作品與人性的哲學觀，逐漸在建築界中成為焦點。在建築的教學現場，受教者渴望擁有的，是一種更寬容、更人性、更感性且以經驗為本的建築，設計思想也應該以人類的現實生活為基礎，而非短暫的理論、風格或潮流。
阿爾托是唯一一位從未受到建築學者與批評家仔細評論的現代建築重量級人物。他經常被視作國際風格的另類代表、今日全球主義的「另一種傳統」（The Other Tradition）；後者用詞是擷自科林．聖約翰．威爾遜爵士（Sir Colin St. John Wilson）的著作書名，該書旨在重新評價現代主義運動2之價值及期許。另外，雖在阿爾托去世後，相關的研究與書籍始終源源不絕地出現，然而其作品裡的人道精神與價值、還有設計策略，卻從未被充分理解。......(全文請見《實構築季刊》03期）
“Architecture is a synthetic phenomenon covering practically all fields of human activity[…]It is not rationalisation itself that was wrong in the first and now past period of modern architecture. The wrongness lies in the fact that the rationalisation has not gone deep enough[…] Instead of fighting rational mentality, the newest phase of modern architecture tries to project rational methods from the technical field out to human and psychological fields […] Technical Functionalism is correct only if enlarged to cover even the psychophysical fields. That is the only way to humanize architecture.”
Alvar Aalto, “The Humanizing of Architecture”, 1940
Alvar Aalto and Today's Architectural Scene
Today cities around the world are dominated by techno-economically oriented and stylistically globalized construction, that seeks to catch attention through forced formal, technical and aesthetic innovations. In our time, architecture is threatened by two opposite forces, instrumentalization and functionalization, on the one hand ,and aestheticization, on the other. Considering the currently dominant orientation in architecture, characterized by eccentric shapes, structural gymnastics, new materials and technologies, digitally generated imageries, and international star architects orbiting around the world, an lecture on Alvar Aalto’s （1898-1976） life´s work may appear outdated.
Alvar Aalto, the Finnish master architect and designer, died almost forty years ago, and his work has never been considered part of the architectural avant-garde. He has always been seen as an architectural dissident. At the time of his death, architecture had reached the all time low point in his homeland due to the dominance of short-sighted technocratic views and crude profit-seaking, and Aalto was widely considered an architect of the past. Besides, he had chosen to work in his remote homeland, and his work was seen to be born and expressive of the unique characteristics of Finnish landscape, specific conditions of light, as well as the particular cultural and social realities of the North, without a wider universal relevance. Whereas the main line of modernism aspired for a universal formal language, he sought a regional expression bound to its very place.
Yet, today the growing feeling, that achitecture is too often based on futile and passing values is drawing the multifaceted design work and humanistic philosophy of Alvar Aalto into the focus of architectural thought. In architectural education, one can sense a growing yearning for a more inclusive and humanistic, sensuous and experientially grounded architecture, and for a design thinking that is rooted in the lived human reality, rather than a passing theory, style, or fashion.
Aalto is the only major figure of modern architecture who has not been much criticised by architectural scholars and critics. He is often seen to represent an alternative to the International Style, and today’s Globalism,”The Other Tradition”, paraphrazing the title of Sir Colin St. John Wilson’s seminal book that re-assessed the values and aspirations of the Modern Movement.2 On the other hand, regardless of the constant stream of studies and books on Aalto since his death, the humane qualities and values of his work, as well as his design strategies, have not been very well understood.