Alvar Aalto Atrium of Academic Bookstore - WINDOW RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Series Window Behaviorology on Nordic Architecture

Alvar Aalto
Atrium of Academic Bookstore

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory (Institute of Science Tokyo)

14 Jul 2026

Keywords: Architecture; Columns

Large-format glass is inset into a copper-plated post-and-beam frame. A long, narrow inner door is attached next to the window, allowing outside air to enter through ventilation louvers on the outside of the columns, and a shading screen is provided between the two panes of glass. The windows facing the Esplanadi park have white gabled aluminum panels (originally made of marble), in keeping with the neoclassical architecture of the streetscape.

Academic Bookstore
Alvar Aalto
Esplanadikatu, Helsinki, 1969

This article is an excerpt from “Windows Stranding the Ethnological and Industrial Networks,” a joint research project concerning windows and the behaviors around them done in collaboration with Institute of Science Tokyo’s Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory.