Alvar Aalto’s Villa Kokkonen

Villa Kokkonen (1967 – 1969) is a real rarity among the private homes designed by Alvar Aalto, because Aalto designed the building as an artist’s home. The composer Joonas Kokkonen lived in Villa Kokkonen for 27 years. The architectural heart of the building is the unique combination of a grand piano and concert room. The Tuusulanjärvi artists’ community would have come to an end by the death of Jean Sibelius in 1957, but the community gained new momentum when Joonas Kokkonen cancelled his plans to move to Helsinki. Instead, he acquired a lakeside plot from the Town of Järvenpää at an affordable price and was able to hire the most famous architect in Finland to design his home.

Villa Kokkonen is a single-storey and multifaceted wooden house that is immersed in natural light. The house itself is worth seeing.

In Villa Kokkonen you can experience the past and the present of the artist’s home. Villa Kokkonen was also one of the first Finnish houses to be selected in the network of Iconic Houses in 2012. The network includes some of the most famous house museums in the world.