“Colour design is an opportunity and an area of design that one would hope to see applied more universally and in a more considered fashion.

How does a restoration specialist look at a painted surface? Kati Winterhalter, an architect and a specialist in restoration and building research, explains the knowledge behind colour research. Read the essay →

Project Review

Spirit of the 1980s

The premises of the Supreme Administrative Court have been updated to meet current needs, but the 1980s atmosphere is also very much present.

Column

The Architect’s Degree – in Black and White?

In the three schools of architecture in Finland, the curriculums have recently included only a few courses dealing with colour. “It is time to learn to think about the colour of our environment already at the sketching phase”, write three recently graduated architects.

Article

Something Old, New and Borrowed – But Do We Have Anything Blue?

The urban planners working on Tampere’s new colour plan would be wise to look to earlier examples for guidance.

Article

Short Syllabus in Colour Research

The research-based colour design is weakly known in Finland. Colour researcher Saara Pyykkö shares her insights on what an architect should know about colour.

3/2024Stage

What kind of space is suitable for presenting? What kind of ideals guide contemporary theatre buildings? What kind of city will be created around the arenas?

Project Review

Vision and Form

Kotka’s new events centre is ALA Architects’ latest take on the theme of a sculptural main facade.

Essay

Dramaturgy of Building and Ruin

If one examines an office building or shopping centre through the means of performing arts, what do they reveal about themselves, about architecture – and about the act of performing?

Article

Artwashing Demolition

Utilising to-be-demolished buildings for temporary art shows is becoming a formalized urban development practice. However, it disregards the potential of existing urban spaces and ignores the temporary use and artistic agency as vehicles for place-shaping.

Project Review

A Stadium and a Place

With the new stadium carefully adapted to its surroundings, a quiet corner of Tammela has become a vibrant part of the city district.

Article

A Key to Modern Architecture

In the 1970s, architect Pentti Piha was involved in developing and bringing to Finland the so-called black box stage, which performing artists are nowadays critical of. Through this critique, we can reevaluate the legacy of modernist architecture even more broadly.

Project Review

Time Traveling

In the recent renovation of the Finnish National Theatre’s Small Stage there is no appreciable distinction between the materials of different ages or the temporal layers, but rather a theatre visit takes you back to the 1950s.

Article

Arenas of Urban Development

Helsinki, Turku and Oulu are planning to build event arenas in central locations. In Tampere, an arena built above the railway has been in use for a good two years. What kind of cityscape is being constructed along these megaprojects?

2/2024Matter and Intelligence

How will artificial intelligence change architecture? If one must build new or repair, what are the best material choices in terms of natural resources and the carbon footprint? What is the new aesthetics of architecture like?

Article

Material Upheaval

If one must build new or repair, what are the best material choices in terms of natural resources and the carbon footprint?

Housing

Topeliuksenkatu 16 Housing

Kirsi Korhonen and Mika Penttinen Architects
Helsinki
2023

Project Review

Wooden Charm in a Concrete Neighbourhood

A CLT-frame daycare centre introduces fresh shapes and a pleasant milieu for children in Oulu’s Kaijonharju.

Houses

Villa Koppar

Collaboratorio
Inkoo
2023

Article

A Pioneer of the Circular Economy

The warehouse of a former brewery in Berlin’s Neukölln district is now being used for work and living. The project named CRCLR House has been designed following the principles of circular economy.

Interview

Talking Trash With an Architect And a Designer

What is it like to design with materials someone else has discarded? Architect Seela Pentikäinen explored the topic with designer Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom and architect Satu Ratinen.