Alvar Aalto AR Route – Augmented reality technology brings Aalto’s lost buildings to light

On the AlvarAalto AR Route, buildings designed by Aalto have been made visible with the help of 3D modeling. Via their mobile device, the visitors can easily see what it would look like if Aalto’s unrealised or lost works did exist. 

In the project, three locations were chosen as AR destinations, Jyväskylä Council Chamber, Varkaus Sawmill and Seinäjoki Lakeuden Risti Church. Alvar Aalto designed Jyväskylä’s Administrative and Cultural Center, but only part of its buildings were completed in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Council Chamber was not realised. AR methods make it possible to see the building, which, if realised, would have changed the urban landscape considerably. In Varkaus, the Sawmill designed by Aalto from 1948 was dismantled in 1975, but AR enables a view into the past, when timber still passed through Aalto’s sawmill. The third AR location presents the Seinäjoki Lakeuden Risti Church, built in the 1950-60s, in a different colour. In the initial plan Alvar Aalto planned the church to be black. 

See the 3D models of the sites.