Revell, Viljo

▪ Finnish architect

born Jan. 25, 1910, Vaasa, Fin.

died Nov. 8, 1964, Helsinki

 Finnish architect, one of the foremost exponents of Functionalism in Finnish architecture.

      He became an assistant to the Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto while he was still a student. Before his studies were completed in 1937, he had participated in the design of a Helsinki department store called the Glass Palace. Early works emphasizing simple precise forms with smooth unbroken surfaces include the Teollisuuskeskus Hotel and offices in Helsinki (1952; in collaboration with Keijo Petäjä) and a hosiery factory for Kudeneule Ltd., at Hanko (1954–56). An increased freedom of form characterizes his four-tower apartment buildings in Tapiola (1959–60), which are rhomboid in plan; the cemetery chapel at Vitiala, near Tampere (1960–61), actually a group of buildings the most prominent of which is a large chapel with a parabolic shell roof; an apartment house in Helsinki-Munkkiniemi (1961–62), notable for balconies or verandas giving a view of the Gulf of Finland; and the Toronto (Canada) City Hall (1965), a combination of two gracefully curved, semicircular tower office buildings and a low-domed central structure.

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