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.

Project Review

Three Little Coloured Blocks

Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo The Kirjailijakortteli city block, located in Helsinki’s Meilahti district, is comprised of three residential buildings that play with colours and materials. Located in the centre of three streets, Mannerheiminite, Topeliuksenkatu and Stenbäckinkatu, there is a wedge-shaped plot.

Project Review

A First Step in Housing

Photo: Mika Huisman The student apartments in Korttelikylä are spacious, light-filled and well-functioning. Student housing is often associated with images of ghettos and social problems due to the high concentration of residents and a socioeconomic homogeneity.

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

The People’s Theatre

In the 1930s, P.E. Blomstedt designed a theatre in Hakaniemi, Helsinki. Reading between the lines of an illustration drawing reveals the world view behind the design and the designer.

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.

Book

Parallel Cities

At times, the visions for the future made by urban planners are so enthralling that they continue to coexist as a parallel reality of sorts alongside the real, built city. This is what happened in Hirtshals, a Danish town with a population of some 5,500.

Book

The Big Picture of Urban Policies

Global phenomena with long-term effects are often forgotten when talking about the processes of urban transformation.

Book

Spaces Made Differently

The book with a special name celebrates Raumlaborberlin, a Berlin-based architect collective, and its 25 years of existence.