When the Russians controlled Finland they built a nationwide network of fortifications. Afraid of a Barbarossa style attack and capture of the then Capitol St. Petersburg. Helsinki was also fortified although most of these fortifications were never used. Now much is destroyed or ignored, while some houses have old fortifications running through their gardens.

Links

Krepost Sveaborg - A great site to find out about the Helsinki Fortifications in particular.

HS has taken some photos (list) of how they are now - zoom out on the map to about 10km and you will see what I mean.

Finland for Thought there are some good comments here too.

hugovk has some good photos.

Apart form being forward thinking to take this attitude, its of course a little controversial, how influential will the economics department be on the artists so to speak, and how well can they or should they integrate? I think there is probably a deeper underlying trend also and that is not only design as a key economic leader but that design and high technology are more and more integrated subconsciously into our daily lives and this is a common theme universally across disciplines.

1. Copenhagen

2. Munich

3. Tokyo

4. Zurich

5. Helsinki

6. Vienna

7. Stockholm

8. Vancouver

9. Melbourne

10. Paris

11. Sydney

12. Honolulu

13. Madrid

14. Berlin

15. Barcelona

16. Montreal

17. Fukuoka

18. Amsterdam

19. Minneapolis

20. Kyoto

The city has gone eurovision crazy, and its really taken over the whole centre. My favourite thing is the Saunabus which has been drafted in as part of the celebrations, and while I don’t think Finland will win again, they should get in the top 10. Personally I think this new rock music is getting away from the whole terrible schlockness of the event and that when next years is held with every county entering credible rock groups Finland should go back to eurovision basics (isn’t it just the best video you’ve ever seen!)

Above is Artek and Shigeru Ban’s pavillion for the Milan Triennale which uses a wood/plastic composite material partly recycled from UPM the giant Finnish paper manufacturer. A great interview with Ban and an indepth look at the design and construction of the building is at design boom.

Vonnegut’s writing career spanned more than half a century and saw him produce 14 novels…. as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays. He ranged from the conventional science fiction, Cat’s Cradle to the satirical Breakfast of Champions and the semi-autobiographical Slaughterhouse-Five, the catalyst for which was his own experience as a soldier with the US 106th Infantry Division and as a prisoner of war during world war two.

obituary ı interview

The Architect Shigeru Ban has developed an exhibition of some 14 Alvar Aalto projects which will be showing at the Barbican in London (22 Feb ‘07 - 13 May ‘07). I hope this exhibition can be brought to Finland too so I can see it. I’ll have to make do with the review by Johnathan Glancey which is excellent, and one paragraph stands out in particular;

As for the Finn himself, he was no saint. Fond of the bottle, something of a philanderer, and certainly no soldier, even at a time when Finland needed all hands to hold back Stalin’s hordes, he nevertheless helped give his country something of the character of responsible inventiveness that continues to drive its economy and society today. (JG)

It’s a bit shallow to see one person in terms of a personality of a whole nation but somehow very tempting in this case, its also illuminating that Aatos work is sufficiently deep that it can out as exemplarary of many different, and contemporary subjects that people choose to read into it. I would also say that Sigeru Ban may come to be seen as fitting into this quite exclusive category of Architects in the future.

Even in Finland we talk about “Wow” architecture. The buildings are expected to astonish the viewer. I’m convinced that this is exactly the type of work that Peter Zumthor creates, with a whole spectrum of emotional range. However the impression left by his works is a long-lasting one. In his works, Zumthor constantly reinvents the building and it is done without the sole purpose of wanting to create something new and dazzling. Paradoxically enough, the result always returns to the tradition, to the archetypes of building. Each building by Zumthor is like the one-metre Iridium Model, with which the architects of the world have to measure their own creations. ( Chairman of the jury Mikko Heikkinen)

He gave a talk in Helsinki as well which I missed!

Previous winners are Richard Leplastrier in 2004, Kengo Kuma in 2002, and Renzo Piano in 2000.

Updated: with Helsingin sanomat article & photo (Itä-uudenmaan pelastuslaitos) It doesn’t sound as bad as I first thought.

On Sunday there was a fire in Makasiinit at the centre of Helsinki (via dw). Check out the Flickr clusters.