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People — 1.4.2024

Colour and Materials Designer Anni Rantasalo: What Is More Important Than Colour Is How the Paint Is Produced And What Ingredients It Contains

For colour and materials designer Anni Rantasalo, colour comes from materials. “Colours actually play a surprisingly small role in my day-to-day work”, master painter and colour and materials designer Anni Rantasalo says.

Research — 1.4.2024

Short Syllabus in Colour Research

The research-based colour design is weakly known in Finland. Colour researcher Saara Pyykkö shares her insights on what an architect should know about colour.

Essay — 1.4.2024

Layers of Intention

Painted architecture evolves with changing ideals. How might we learn to read the sediments of history hidden in the layers of colour?

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.

Book — 1.4.2024

About Style, With Style

19th-century writings add to the reinterpretations of modern architecture. For example, a call for contemporary architecture that embodies a new era in a fashion that stands out from previous design styles has been reiterated the mid-19th century, all the way up to the present.

Book — 1.4.2024

The First European Women Architects

The double biography on two women architects opens up a window into the work of architects and gender equality in late 19th and early 20th century society and architectural practice.

Book — 1.4.2024

A City Seen Through Colour

Aziza Lo's visual maps not only document the colours of neighborhoods but also experiencing them.

Case Study — 1.3.2024

A Key to Modern Architecture

In the 1970s, architect Pentti Piha was involved in developing and bringing to Finland the so-called black box stage, which performing artists are nowadays critical of. Through this critique, we can reevaluate the legacy of modernist architecture even more broadly.

Essay — 1.3.2024

Dreaming of Socially Accessible Cultural Venues

What might a truly inclusive cultural venue for all look like?

Essay — 1.3.2024

Optical Vacuum

For decades, the theatre space has remained in the background in the mainstream cinematic experience. Different kinds of experiences are available at film festivals.

Essay — 1.3.2024

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?

Case Study — 1.3.2024

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.

Phenomena — 1.3.2024

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 — 1.3.2024

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 — 1.3.2024

The Big Picture of Urban Policies

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