Aalto on the Internet: architectural analysis and concept representation with computer media

This paper describes a teaching project, carried out in the postgraduate program of the ETH in Zurich, whose goal was to apply multimedia, Internet-based technology to a study of the work of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. The goal of the course was twofold: to learn about the architecture of Aalto while teaching students to design a web site, using dynamic pages and databases. The outcome of the course was a web site in which the work of Aalto is represented in three distinctive contexts: descriptive, analytical and associative. The rich network of connections within and between the different contexts allows the visitor of the site to gain new insights on the work of Aalto in a truly interactive way.