Phenomena

From Industrial Romanticism to Office Romanticism

Could emptying office buildings be saved by an upward trend similar to that which industrial buildings saw during the last century?

Case Study

Revisit: Kuokkala Centre

The Kuokkala centre shows that urban planning, at its best, is an endurance discipline.

Phenomena

Threat to Protected Buildings

Protected buildings should always be renovated preserving their distinctive features. Nowadays, more and more often, the proposed solution is demolition to make way for larger and more efficient spaces.

Research

Helsinki is a Prisoner of its Geography and Government

The growth of the Helsinki region is a challenge for the development of Helsinki’s city centre. The urban development ideals that have taken over the planning in Helsinki over the last few decades have failed to recognize the nature of urbanization in the long term.

Research

Urban Greenery as a Climate Action

To date, urban planning has failed to pay due consideration to urban carbon sinks and the numerous other benefits of urban green. Researchers in the Co-Carbon project compiled a set of tools for architects and landscape architects to foster carbon-smart solutions.

Phenomena

Tuned to Destruction?

Everyday tuning can help maintain and improve buildings, but in the worst cases it can even lead to the building having to be torn down.

Case Study

Six Lessons from Jyrkkälä

The Turku district of Jyrkkälä shows that a problem neighbourhood of the 1960s and 1970s can be renovated in a sustainable way rather than being demolished.

Case Study

Contextual Juha Leiviskä

Juha Leiviskä had an unsung ability to fit buildings to their surroundings.

Essay

Quiet Labours – On Care and Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall

What is it like to renovate a hundred-year-old building? Ulla Engman writes about the Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall and a type of care work.