Stories

Viewpoints

Opinion Piece — 1.1.2025

Where Did the Landscape Go?

Urban nature is more than healthy and hygienic green space steered by science and technology, argues landscape architect Meri Mannerla-Magnusson.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

What Sets the Finnish Architecture Scene Apart from the United States?

Henrik Ilvesmäki studied architecture at Harvard University for four years. He noticed a marked difference between the United States and his native Finland in the dynamics between architectural academia and practice. This difference has a potentially profound impact on the future of the field in the two countries.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

Why Is Finland Not More Visible Abroad?

Rainer Mahlamäki sees at least three factors that explain the modest international visibility of contemporary Finnish architecture. The photos in the article show the 11 Finnish buildings that have been shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Award.

Column — 1.5.2024

Sustainability Is No Longer a Matter of Choice

A new EU directive demonstrates that sustainability entails more than just environmental impacts, and it affects us all.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

How to Integrate into the Finnish Workforce?

To integrate fully into Finnish society, you need to learn the language, says Martino De Rossi.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

How Can Architecture Firms Support Multiculturalism?

In many Finnish architecture firms, international professionals often face career ceilings at junior positions, regardless of their level of experience, writes Gülcan Ozan.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

What Can an Architect Learn from the Working Cultures Abroad?

In Finland, the process of execution of design project is highly standardised and bound by law. In India, there is a lot of back and forth between the worksite and the design table, which compensates for the lack of standardisation, compares Sudar Oli Gunasekaran.

Opinion Piece — 1.5.2024

How Can I Support My International Colleagues?

As individual practitioners, we can play a role in making our profession more inclusive, writes Arvind Ramachandran.

Editorial — 1.5.2024

Closing Borders

There is only a handful of buildings designed by foreign architects in Finland since the country achieved independence. On the other hand, Finland has also lagged behind its neighbours in the area of exporting design know-how.

Opinion Piece — 1.4.2024

What Does the Finlandia Prize Shortlist Reveal About the Current State of Finnish Architecture?

Four new-builds and one refurbishment project are in the running for this year’s Finlandia Prize for Architecture. When it comes to architectural expression, two distinct styles are readily visible.

Editorial — 1.4.2024

A Decade of No Colour

Colour is an inseparable characteristic of architecture that has its distinct, long and diverse traditions independent of the developments in fine arts.

Column — 1.4.2024

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.

Opinion Piece — 1.4.2024

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.

Editorial — 1.3.2024

Open the Box!

The Finnish Architectural Review has followed theatre construction since the early years of our publication, writes Kristo Vesikansa. Instead of the generic facilities provided by the black box, many of today’s theatre-makers are intrigued by staging performances in other existing spaces, which then become an integral element of the dramatic piece itself.

Editorial — 1.2.2024

Intelligence Matters

It has been estimated that, by streamlining the design process, AI will make a large proportion of architects obsolete. We should not rush to take the current guesstimates too seriously, yet it would be wise to reflect on how much of an architect’s work can actually only be managed by the human mind, writes the Editor-in-Chief Kristo Vesikansa.