“The boost won’t be created just with the help of the rails, but without them, it is very difficult for us to create such dynamics.”

Public transport services in the largest cities in Finland are undergoing a major change, along with a launch of light rail systems. Kristo Vesikansa charted the development of the city regions along the sides of the tramlines. Read the article →

1/2023Movement

What is the current transportation-related architecture like? What kind of urban environment is created around the transport systems? What is the significance of different movements and the concept of change for architecture?

Article

Social Movements, Saviours of Built Heritage?

For almost a couple of decades, the residents of the Meri-Rastila area in Helsinki have sought to influence the development of their daily environment. They are not the first ones to act due to concerns about changes taking place in a neighbourhood.

Project Review

New Adventure and Romance

The new entrance building of Helsinki Airport offers a memorable setting for departures and arrivals.

Project Review

Metro Geography

With the recent completion of the final stations of the western metro extension, Länsimetro, the Helsinki metro now also runs through Espoo. When one part of a system like the metro undergoes change, the entire system simultaneously changes, muses Tommy Lindgren. He visited all the stations west of Lauttasaari.

Article

Technology, Asphalt and Attitudes

The Finnish transport system’s development around the passenger car has caused great societal problems. Instead of broader systemic change, the visions of mobility futures still focus on emerging technologies.

Article

Concept: Fluidity

Fluidity opens up a refreshing angle for everyone and anyone looking at a city, Tuulia Kivistö proposes.

Industrial

Finnish Design Shop

Avanto Architects, Arkkitehtiruutu
Turku
2021

Article

The First Steps of the Tramway City 

Public transport services in the largest cities in Finland are undergoing a major change, along with a launch of light rail systems. How will the new means of transport affect the development of the city regions, and what kind of urban environment is being created along the sides of the tramlines?

5/2022Refurbish or Demolish?

Why do we demolish buildings? How to repair old and design additions? What kind of concepts do we use and need when talking about the built heritage?

Editorial

Editorial: Finland Is Demolishing, but for How Long?

Approximately 4,000 buildings are demolished in Finland every year. Would it be possible to imagine a future in which buildings would only be demolished if absolutely necessary?

Article

Two Municipal Halls, Two Fates

Many significant buildings end up on lists for demolition if renovation seems too expensive or a suitable use cannot be found. The everyday built heritage is threatened without a timely protection status.

Project Review

The Many Lives of a Commercial Palace

Renovated and remodelled many times over, Mikonkatu 7 has one of the most complex building histories in Helsinki. The latest renovation borrows heavily from the past yet interprets the themes through the means of contemporary architecture.

Article

Learning from the Ugliest Building in Oulu

In the middle of a residential area in Oulu, a silo designed by Alvar Aalto is decaying as one last remnant of a pulp mill that operated on the site in the 1900s. In its unmaintained state, the building offers a lesson in the time of an eco-crisis.

Project Review

Cuckoo in the Villa

In the hands of a new owner, an old villa in Savonlinna underwent extensive renovations and received a few extra buildings on the grounds. The old and the new are engaging in a dialogue that is both delicate and doubtful.

Article

Would Nostalgia Provide Help for the Eco-crisis?

Emotionally charged nostalgia could be a resource for building conservation if used correctly, argue Iida Kalakoski and Riina Sirén.

Project Review

Like Time Standing Still

An old stable built more than a hundred years ago in Helsinki’s Punavuori is now home to people instead of horses. What remains is the historical atmosphere.

4/2022Home

What do we mean by good quality housing? Who benefits of the housing crisis? What are the qualities of a private villa in 2022?

Article

Housing as a Solution

In cities worldwide, people are suffering the effects of a prolonged housing crisis. Housing as a Service has been presented as a solution, but who does it really benefit?

Column

Ecocatastrophe Requires Negative Ideas

Architects should get rid of the idealistic view that our task would be to find a solution to any problem, writes Julius Jääskeläinen.

Article

What Makes a Sustainable Living Environment? – Researchers Compiled a Checklist

Several new trends in housing production are worrying experts, as these trends are compromising dwellers’ health and well-being as well as the longevity of the apartments. Researchers at the Tampere University School of Architecture compiled different aspects of housing design quality into a checklist.

Article

Revisit: Lehtovuori House

Architect Olli Lehtovuori’s own house has for already half a century served as a laboratory for residential architecture. Its flexible floorplan based on a traditional two-room farmhouse would be applicable even today.

Leisure

Sauna Humble

Mattila & Merz
Kimitoön
2022

Article

Gustaf Estlander, Romanticist and Businessman of Residential Architecture

Just over a hundred years ago, one particular architect in Helsinki had notable financial success with his exuberantly romantic apartment buildings.