Alvar Aalto, Donald Judd, and Architectonic Wholeness

Thursday January 16 2020, 6-7:30pm

Scholastic Big Red Auditorium

130 Mercer Street, New York

Free admission

Register here

The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and the Judd Foundation are proud to announce a panel discussion on the idea of architectonic wholeness through the shared sensibilities of Alvar Aalto and Donald Judd.

The panel, consisting of panelists Sir David Adjaye, Architect; Marianne Goebl, Managing Director at Artek; and Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Author and Assistant Dean and Associate Professor at Yale School of Architecture will look closely at three spaces, Aalto’s Villa Mairea and Paimio Sanitorium in Finland, and Donald Judd’s home and studio, La Mansana de Chinati/The Block in Texas. For each space, the panelists will explore Aalto and Judd’s consideration of interior and exterior, use of materials, and integration of furniture and architecture. Additionally, David Adjaye will discuss how these concepts relate to his practice, in particular, his pavilion designs and Monoform furniture series.

The panel will be moderated by Caitlin Murray, MOBIUS fellow and Director of Archives and Programs at Judd Foundation. It is part of the public programs for the Aalto + Chamberlain exhibition, on display at the Judd Foundation’s Spring Street location until January 18, 2020. Support for the panel is provided by the Kone Foundation.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT.

Speaker bios

SIR DAVID ADJAYE OBE is a Ghanaian-British architect who has received international acclaim for his impact on the field.  Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents, his influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and the civic life of cities. In 2000, he founded Adjaye Associates, which today operates globally, with offices in Accra, London, and New York and projects spanning across the globe.

Known for his ingenious use of materials and his sculptural ability, David Adjaye has established himself as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision. His projects range from private houses, bespoke furniture collections, product design, exhibitions, and temporary pavilions to major arts centers, civic buildings, and master plans. His largest project to date, The National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by The New York Times. In 2017, Adjaye was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME Magazine.

EEVA-LIISA PELKONEN is an Associate Professor at Yale School of Architecture, where she teaches design, history, and theory of architecture. Her scholarly interests cover 20th Century European and American art and architecture, art and aesthetic theory, and history of ideas.

She has authored and edited numerous books, including Alvar Aalto: Architecture, Modernity and Geopolitics (Yale University Press, 2009), which won the Alice Davis Hitchcock Prize. The book she co-edited with Donald Albrecht of Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future (Yale University Press, 2006), won both the Philip Johnson Award and the Bannister Fletcher Award, given by the London Authors Club annually for the best book in art or architecture. Her most recent book Exhibit A: Exhibitions that Transformed Architecture, 1948-2000 was published by Phaidon last year and has just finished a new book manuscript entitled Untimely Modern: How Modern Architecture Discovered Future in the Past.

MARIANNE GOEBL is a design professional specialized in the development and dissemination of projects at the intersection of culture and commerce. She has led initiatives in the fields of product design, graphic design, interior design, exhibitions, temporary structures, and fairs. The projects were developed in close collaboration with leading designers and architects, including Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, Hella Jongerius and Jasper Morrison, among others.

Since 2014, Marianne has been the Managing Director of the Finnish design company Artek, founded by Alvar Aalto and likeminded idealists in 1935. From 2011 to 2014, she served as director of the fair Design Miami/, the “Global Forum for Design”, with yearly events in Basel/Switzerland and Miami/USA. Before, she spent a decade with the Swiss furniture company Vitra, most recently as head of international public relations. Marianne Goebl is an Austrian and studied economics at the Vienna Business School and HEC Paris.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO STAY UP TO DATE ON OUR LATEST PROJECTS AND EVENTS.