HANDS THAT DRAW THE FUTURE

21.1.2012
I am curating an exhibion called Tulevan Perinne that opens June 15th at Taidehalli for the centennial of Ornamo, the Finnish Association of Designers.

A HOUSE, AN ATELIER

17.1.2012
We submitted the permit set for a house with a painter’s atelier in Myllypuro, construction will start later this spring.

THE CITY GAME

17.1.2012
Together with Martti Kalliala and Hedwig Heinsmann we made a proposal called “The City Game” for the Sibbesborg sustainable city competition and were awarded a Honorable Mention. See our proposal here.

ON-SITE DIALOGUE

15.12.2011
Earlier this autumn, together with Nene, we went to the site of Kulttuurisauna with filmmaker Antti Seppänen to record some thoughts and ideas on the upcoming building.

MANIFESTOS & NATIONAL PROJECTS

15.12.2011
I had a performance at the opening ceremony of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Architecture and Urbanism Biennale. It was nice, as the organisers (City of Shenzhen) had built an impressive skyline behind the stage during the last years. The setting infused the texts with some added flavour, as “Masterplans don’t work, this city is never finished” echoed from the skyscrapers under construction…

Also Solution Finland: The Welfare Game was presented at the biennale exhibition. Both the book and the wall graphics here are designed by the enigmatic Zak Kyes. The word in the equation eclipsed by the exhibition visitor is “people”, so it accidentally almost makes sense…

KULTTUURISAUNA

2.11.2011
Together with Nene Tsuboi, we are designing and constructing a new public sauna that we will run ourselves in Hakaniemenranta waterfront, Helsinki. You can follow this project at kulttuurisauna.fi. The sauna will open in summer 2012.

DELTAMARIN HQ

2.11.2011
A triangular, 4500 m2 headquarters office building for Deltamarin, a naval architecture and engineering firm in Turku. The open floorplan allows for interconnected teamwork and constant proximity of the surrounding nature. Each of the facades is perforated with openings of different scale, to enhance daylight conditions and create shade from direct sunlight. In the center, a triangular courtyard with a collection of volumes that house the vertical connections and support spaces. The scheme was designed in collaboration with architect Petri Herrala.

SOLUTION FINLAND: THE WELFARE GAME

28.10.2011
Finally off to the printers!
“To be published in December 2011 the title Solution Finland: The Welfare Game by architect Martti Kalliala with writer and curator Jenna Sutela and architect Tuomas Toivonen, addresses the Nordic country’s numerous predicaments. The three authors propose eight and a half solutions to their native country’s quandaries, ranging from the practical (rescuing ailing public space through climatization and the introduction of the Winter Garden City), to the absurd (dividing the country into two interlocking sub-nations: City and Wilderness) and the earnest, if far-reaching (the repurposing of the country to host the world’s nuclear waste). Solution Finland elucidates the northern country’s modern history as a nation under construction, proposing that its identity remain a malleable myth, in which designing a more tenable future is the conduit for crucial adaptation.”

GLOBAL WORKPLACE

1.11.2011
A workplace concept for a global company designed in collaboration with Lauri Johansson. The office floor as urbanism, a terrain of different spaces and moods suitable for different kinds of work. Policy recommendations for office locations, layouts, furnishings, materials, lighting, work culture…

renderings by Studio Lumart

HILLS CONSTRUCTION

2.11.2011
Suurpelto Hills comprises of 17 atrium houses tailor-designed and built for their inhabitants, who finance the construction of their own homes. Phase I site work has begun, and the first houses will be completed in spring ‘12.


Suurpelto Hills rakennusvaihe I on alkanut. Rakennusvaiheen II rakennuspaikkojen myynti on käynnissä. Lisätietoja projektista:
suurpeltohills( )nowoffice.org, Marko Morelius (044-757-7575, klo 18:00-20:00) tai Samu Ilmarinen (0400-446-346).

IV : LES PYRAMIDES

1.10.2011
Des yeux qui ne voient pas…. LES PYRAMIDES
A t-shirt design for Helsinki World Design Capital 2012, on show (and sale!) at Museum of Art and Design in New York among other places. It’s an hommage to LC and refers to an imaginary chapter in “Towards a New Architecture”. Check it out here.

LECTURE FORMAT AT AA

6.7.2011
As part of the FORMAT series, I was invited by Shumon Basar to participate in Lecture Format at the Architectural Association, together with Mark Cousins and Victoria Camblin. You can watch the entire session here.

STORA ENSO HQ

11.3.2011
The new office spaces for Stora Enso designed by NOW in collaboration with Lauri Johansson are ready. Special attention and sensitivity were necessary, as the offices are located in the HQ building designed by Alvar Aalto in 1961. While respecting the original parts, spatial logic and identity of the building, our task was to re-introduce an open office layout, yet create a contemporary atmosphere and working environment. There are still a few finishing touches to add next week, such as a wooden Dymaxion World map showing the company’s locations around the world.

CNN at NOW

21.2.2011
CNN came to visit and interviewed me for quite a while. They used a few bits in Future Cities: Expanding Helsinki’s Horizon. See it here.

EL PAIS & WALL STREET JOURNAL

7.12.2010
Here’s a piece in El Pais in Spanish about architects reaching to other mediums to get their message accross, Tuomas and Bjarke Ingels interviewed. The Wall Street Journal piece on Urbanism in the House, where the legendary Tom Silverman listens to the record and thinks there’s too much message, can be read here.

URBANISM IN THE HOUSE

TORNI

15.7.2010
Two years ago we made a film about one our favorite buildings, Torni (Jung & Jung 1931).

Finland’s first skyscraper, Hotel Torni, was completed in 1931, the same year as New York’s Empire State Building. Torni’s architects envisioned the manhattanist hotel as a beacon for international guests that would arrive by airships and moor their Zeppelins to its spire. Torni (which means “Tower”) established itself metropolitan hub of hedonism, where the international fashion and culinary trends first appeared, where cocktail-drinks were introduced to Helsinki, and where the nation’s intelligenzia and cultural avant-garde gathered to meet and vision the optimistic future. Its silhouette gained a an ominous new dimension, as the hotel was converted to headquarters for the post-war soviet surveillance commission and espionage. during this brief period, the manhattanist landmark took on the role of a Moscow skyscraper, as a belvedere for Stalin’s eyes to overlook the capital.

TT at V&A

I had a musical lecture with a visual narrative prepared by Åbäke at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s amazing Victorian auditorium on June 25th as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

Lakeside House wins HIŠE award 2010

15.5.2010
NOW’s Lakeside House received the HIŠE award for sustainable excellence in private housing in Lubljana, Slovenia on May 15th!