The Barbican Art Gallery in London currently has a retrospective of the brilliant Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's career, curated by the leading Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Called "Alvar Aalto: Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban," it examines Aalto's career beyond the furniture and vases he is mostly remembered for today. It runs until May 13. Read Alan Riding's IHT review here.
From the review, a great Aalto quote from a speech given in London in 1957 demonstrates his humanistic approach to architecture and design: "We should work for simple, good, undecorated things, but things which are in harmony with the human being and organically suited to the little man in the street."