Project Review

The Difficult Art of Restraint

The renovation of Finlandia Hall has sought to preserve the building’s 1970s atmosphere while avoiding the creation of a new temporal layer. Even subtle changes nevertheless pose a risk to the original architecture.

Project Review

New Lease of Life for an Architectural Gem

Myyrmäki Church, considered Juha Leiviskä’s magnus opus, underwent a major renovation in which the ambience in the most central spaces was preserved.

Article

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?

Article

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 The deciding factor is whether the owner can see beyond an outdated mass of construction.

Article

The Other Side of Neighbourhood Shopping Centres

By tearing down old neighbourhood shopping centres, we are losing not only high-quality architecture but also services, extraordinary culture and tax euros, argues Juhana Heikonen.

Article

The Tools of the Master of Light

In Juha Leiviskä’s architecture, the light goes through changes and reflects the passage of time. This impression is created by more systematic design principles than is often thought.

Article

From Power Plant to Cultural Institution?

The design competition for the new museum of architecture and design is to be settled in September, outlining a new museum building in Helsinki’s South Harbour. Valtteri Hautsalo presents an alternative to these plans and demonstrates how the museum could be set up together with Helsinki Art Museum in the former Hanasaari power plant.

Exhibition

Quantitative and Qualitative Intelligence in Venice

The 19th Architecture Biennale seeks answers to the climate crisis based on different types of intelligence. Locality is strongly present in the national pavilions.

Book

A Hundred Years of Ukrainian Serial Production

What is Ukrainian housing architecture like? The book by Kateryna Malaia and Philipp Meuser presents the finest in the country’s residential construction from the past hundred years.