1/2021 Crisis

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic serves to remind us that an unexpected crisis has the power to put us on a completely different course from what we had been expecting. In addition to that, we are currently dealing with advancing climate crisis and many other crises, all of which have effects on architecture.

The articles in the issue bring forth the diversity of crises and their consequences. The Covid-19 pandemic has limited access to urban space but, at the same time, social activism and new forms of spatial occupation have emerged. Sara Kärpänen interviewed three experts on the subject. The editors of the soon-to-be-published pamphlet Kenen kaupunki? discuss the sore spots of city planning in Helsinki, while researchers from Tampere University and Aalto University propose some ideas and concepts for designing a more resilient built environment that can help prevent future crises from unfolding.

The issue also presents a series of designs from the past year. Could they offer some indications of where we might be headed and what the post-pandemic built environment will look like? The buildings featured in the issue all represent high-quality everyday architecture. Thoughtfully conceived kindergartens, educational buildings, homes and supported living facilities remind us of architecture’s most fundamental purpose; providing shelter when the familiar settings in which we spend our lives suddenly start to seem frightening, dangerous even.

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