Stories

Phenomena

Phenomena — 28.4.2026

Oodi Library is the opposite of flexibility – ”This is a public, open building for people, it cannot be transformed into an office building”

Finnish libraries are a laboratory for materializing an egalitarian society, says researcher Hossam Hewidy. Daniele Belleri discusses the importance of libraries in national crisis resilience with five architects dedicated to library design.

Phenomena — 20.4.2026

built heritage

What remains of the Oulu School?

The architecture of the Oulu School has been both loved and disparaged. The buildings are now due for refurbishment, and many risk demolition.

Phenomena — 10.3.2026

geopolitics

Mirkku Kullberg: ”Paimio Sanatorium can become the most interesting and important meeting place in the Nordics”

Paimio Sanatorium can offer answers to what kind of problems can be solved through architecture and design in a world where there are already enough goods and buildings, says Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of the Paimio Sanatorium Foundation.

Phenomena — 24.2.2026

housing co-ops

The bubble of the fortunate

Zurich’s housing co-operative model represents a success in both social policy and urban governance. It is based on political support measures that do not currently exist in Finland.

Phenomena — 2.1.2026

Museum of Architecture and Design

Pilvi Kalhama: “Today’s construction culture is too cautious”

Finland spends too much time calculating risks, says Pilvi Kalhama, director of the Museum of Architecture and Design. This may also be the reason why no major Finnish companies have emerged in the creative industries in recent decades, Kalhama says in an interview with Daniele Belleri.

Phenomena — 17.12.2025

geopolitics

Panu Savolainen: In Finland, architecture has been considered more apolitical than it actually is

Can geology and geopolitics together tell us something about the future of architecture in Finland? The climate crisis has forced us to rethink supposedly timeless elements of the Earth – air, oceans, and ancient sediments as not immutable or insulated from human impact, contrary to extractivist belief.

Phenomena — 9.12.2025

geopolitics

Finland’s geopolitical position has changed, and it also affects architecture

Finland has joined NATO and relations with Russia have frozen, but the effects of the country's changing geopolitical position on the field of architecture have hardly been discussed. Daniele Belleri, who led the curatorial team for this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, now addresses the topic in his online article series.

Phenomena — 4.12.2025

trends

New Historicism and the Value of Novelty

In recent years, a new type of relationship with history and the use of historical references has emerged in Finnish architecture. Is this merely another way to achieve a new kind of architectural expression, or does it reflect a deeper change?

Phenomena — 3.12.2025

young architects

The New Wave

What kinds of projects and ideas are taking shape on the desks of young architects? Eight architects, teams, or architecture offices present a project that reflects their approach to the built environment.

Phenomena — 1.4.2025

The Fifty-Year Myth

An often-repeated claim in the media and popular discussions is that 1970s buildings were not designed to last for more than thirty or fifty years. Where did this belief come from? Might there be some truth to it?

Phenomena — 1.4.2025

The Fate of Modern Office Buildings

Without a heritage listing, the preservation or demolition of an office building is up to the property owner. The deciding factor is whether the owner can see beyond an outdated mass of construction.

Phenomena — 1.3.2025

Three Cases of Nordic Suburban Renewal

The renovation, infill and renewal of suburban neighbourhoods built during the 1960s and 1970s is a burning issue across Europe. The three examples demonstrate the ways in which this problem has been addressed in Sweden and Denmark.

Phenomena — 1.3.2025

Transforming Suburbs – Viewpoints from Finnish Cities

Residential districts built between the 1950s and 1980s constitute a large geographic segment of Finnish cities. We asked those in charge of urban planning in our largest cities how the suburbs in their cities are being developed right now.

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.

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.