Terraced House

In 1937 Alvar Aalto received a commission from the A. Ahlström company to plan the area of the Kauttua ironworks and an infill building. The link with the region's tradition and old architecture was deliberately cut; instead, Kauttua was envisaged as a stage for a new social life and modern architecture. The first house built in the area was a “staircase-free apartment block”, named the stepped Terraced House, completed in 1938.

The house was designed as housing for the company's senior staff, and several houses of this kind were at first to be built on the slopes of the area. The Terraced House is a living example of the architect's interest in placing a building as part of nature: the multi-storey residential building follows the slope of the ground, so that the entrance to every unit is at ground level.