Stories

In Depth

Phenomena — 1.2.2025

Unique, Personalised and Urban Housing

When an architect or client sets out to build a multistorey residential building for their own use, the end result is often more intriguing than what is typically generated through ordinary housing production – for example, a home base for a theatrical community or a combination of a private home and an editorial office for an architectural journal.

Research — 1.2.2025

Towards Housing Design for Shared Living

Shared living challenges the established principles of what is considered good housing design.

Phenomena — 1.2.2025

A Realized Social Utopia

19th-century France and the small town of Guise, about 200 kilometres north of Paris, offer inspiration for concepts of more communal living.

Case Study — 1.2.2025

A Carpet’s Many Patterns

Between a detached house and an apartment building there is room for more diverse building typologies that both save space for nature and offer a detached house-like living experience.

Essay — 1.1.2025

The newest Alvar Aalto Medallist has an intense sensitivity for all aspects of space

The architect Marie-José Van Hee’s oeuvre largely consists of skilfully designed private houses in Belgium.

Phenomena — 1.1.2025

The Views Are What Really Matters

If the plans materialise, the new business district on Makasiiniranta will become part of Helsinki’s national landscape during the 2030s. Architect Mikko Summanen considers its design a “once in a lifetime” project.

Phenomena — 1.1.2025

Ode to a Work in Progress

Instead of clearly defined development projects, urban design should entail more continuous processes without predetermined end results. Ecosystem thinking offers guidelines for changing the focus.

Research — 1.1.2025

A Child-Friendly City is Slower, More Permissive and Better for Everyone

In a child-friendly city, play spreads beyond parks, and car users have to be flexible, envision landscape architect Mari Ariluoma and researcher Veera Moll. Through discussion, they found eight principles for planning a child-friendly city.

Research — 1.1.2025

The Metabolic City

A nature-inspired concept from the 1960s helps to outline flexibility on a city scale.

Essay — 1.1.2025

Sites of Resistance

The rise of protest, activism and alternative memorials challenge urban planners to adopt more flexible approaches to the urban landscape.

Phenomena — 1.5.2024

Destination USA? – In Discussion with Ala Architects

Ala Architects has designed buildings throughout Europe, but so far none of their designs have made it to the United States. Why is that?

Phenomena — 1.5.2024

Finnish (Post)modernism?

The prominent names in Finnish architecture of the 1980s, Simo and Käpy Paavilainen, Jyrki Tasa, and Reijo Jallinoja, talk about what postmodernism meant to them at the time, and what it means today.

Article Collection — 1.5.2024

Internationalising Finland – Four Viewpoints

Four architects who have made Finland their home discuss what day-to-day practice looks like here and the change that is needed to help the sector become more international in outlook.

Essay — 1.5.2024

The Domestication of the Foreign

How do the local and the foreign come together? For Fernando Nieto, the adaptation process is two-sided.

Essay — 1.5.2024

Porous Boundaries

In Japan, one can encounter spaces where nature and architecture are inseparably intertwined.