Alvar Aalto in Imatra

General station plan of Imatra township

Alvar Aalto was the most significant and internationally known Finnish architect of the post-war reconstruction period. For Imatra, Aalto was given the task of preparing a general station plan. The plan was financed by the state company Enso-Gutzeit. The Imatra general station plan work was started in 1947 and the finished plan was handed over to the Imatra municipality in 1953.

Vuoksi acted as the element holding the general station plan together. The three existing centers located quite far from each other, Imatrankoski, Tainionkoski and Vuoksenniska, were kept in their former places in the plan. Settlements were added in places suitable for traffic and terrain. A unified green network was formed from the forest zones between the centers, which also included agricultural areas. The number of inhabitants was estimated at 100, so a sufficient reserve was left in the general station master plan.

Buildings in Imatra

Imatra's Kolmen Ristin Church in Vuoksenniska (1957) is one of the central buildings of Finland's newer church architecture and belongs to Alvar Aalto's most internationally acclaimed production. The church, located on a bright honkanka, represents functionalist church building and belongs to Aalto's so-called to the Italian type, which is also influenced by Le Corbusier. The church has a reinforced concrete frame, an arched roof, and the facade lining is painted concrete. The massing of the spaces and the wall surfaces are alive and the design language is alive. Only two of the church's 103 window openings are similar. The bell tower of the church, made with slip casting technology, the Campanile represents Italian-oriented structural thinking.

The main idea behind the church's floor plan and the structuring of the volumes is a tripartite theme based on Lutheran sacral symbolism. The triple theme can be seen in all interior solutions, the church space is divided into three main elements, the pulpit, the altar and the organ gallery. There is no altar table in the church, there are three crosses placed on the altar, from which the church got its name, and the crown of thorns stained glass on the ceiling serves as a symbol of Christ.

The building complex includes a church hall, rectory, burial chapel and meeting and club facilities. Alvar Aalto himself was also responsible for decorating the interior of the church. The Church of the Three Crosses was completed in 1957 and consecrated by Bishop Martti Simojoki of Mikkeli in 1958.

Type houses designed by Alvar Aalto have also been built in Imatra in accordance with Kurkvuori C-type 1950-1955. In addition, Aalto type houses have been built in Virasoja and Sienimäki. There are also some individual residential buildings elsewhere in Imatra.