Editing Alvar Aalto (section)

===Mature career: monumentalism===
[[File:Jyväskylän Kaupunginteatteri Aalto-laatta.jpg|thumb|200px|Alvar Aalto's signature on the wall of the [[Jyväskylä]] theatre]]
Foremost among Aalto's work from the early 1960s until his death in 1976 were his projects in Helsinki, in particular the huge town plan for the void in the centre of Helsinki adjacent to [[Töölö]] Bay and the vast [[VR warehouses|railway yards]], an area marked on the edges by significant buildings such as the National Museum and the main railway station, both by [[Eliel Saarinen]]. In his town plan, Aalto proposed a line of separate marble-clad buildings fronting the bay, which would house various cultural institutions, including a concert hall, opera, museum of architecture, and headquarters for the [[Finnish Academy]]. The scheme also extended into the [[Kamppi]] district with a series of tall office blocks. Aalto first presented his vision in 1961, but it went through various modifications during the early '60s. Only two fragments of the overall plan were realized: the [[Finlandia Hall]] concert hall (1976) fronting on Töölö Bay and an office building in the Kamppi district for the Helsinki Electricity Company (1975). Aalto also employed the [[Ludwig Mies van der Rohe|Miesian]] formal language of geometric grids used in those buildings for other sites in Helsinki, including the [[Stora Enso headquarters|Enso-Gutzeit headquarters building]] (1962), the [[Academic Bookstore]] (1962), and the SYP Bank building (1969).

Following Aalto's death in 1976, his office continued to operate under the direction of his widow Elissa, who oversaw the completion of works already designed (to some extent), among them the Jyväskylä City Theatre and [[Aalto Theatre|Essen opera house]]. Since the death of Elissa Aalto, the office has continued to operate as the Alvar Aalto Academy, giving advice on the restoration of Aalto buildings and organizing the practice's vast archives.