The Art of Simon Page, just fantastic. Check out his international year of astronomy set also.
Google street view now in Finland
Google Street View came to Finland this week, and the coverage looks really good, although there should really be a winter version as well as a summer one here.
Pixelache 2010
Pixelache’s 2010 Helsinki Programme is up on the internets and it’s the best one yet, it’s really developing into a fantastic kind of city laboratory and getting stronger every year, coming up a few more art and energy consumption crossovers like Nuage Vert, as well as other cool stuff like window farms.
Streets of Helsinki
An observant walker through the central streets of Helsinki may have noticed street signs with animal names and icons. These are the original names of the blocks that had died out but which have been reintroduced by the city.
The Nomeculture of a city is basic on one level in that it would be impossible to navigate without it. But it is also an ephemeral layer, it reveals history and cultural attitudes that become enshrined and hidden in named spaces.
History
Helsinki’s nomeculture started officially in 1820 when the street names were only in the Swedish Language, but by 1833 Russian Language signs in the Cyrillic alphabet began to appear alongside the Swedish Names, natural enough as Finland was then annexed into the Russian Empire. It was only in 1906 that the first Finnish language street names began to be added at first in Töölö. In 1945 a committee was established to name streets officially.
Block Names
In 1810 a Stokholm regulation required the numbering of all sites in blocks bordering on streets. Corner buildings had to have street signs added to the side of the walls, but with the additional requirement that the name of the block should be added. Apparently the names of the blocks in Stokholm in the centre are still well known. In Helsinki in 1820 when the names of the streets were ratified it seems they followed the Stokholm tradition and named the blocks also. Domestic and wild animals were used as well as names of flowers in old Helsinki whereas in the Uusimaa suburbs the names of fish and birds were used. But by 1910 Helsinkis blocks were no longer given names along with their street names, it seems this had died out from common usage. In the last few years Helsinki city has reintroduced the names of the traditional blocks at least back to the centre of the city with block names indicated alongside the street names.
In 2003 the position of Nomeclature designer was established in Helsinki City Planning Department, this person has responsibility for naming streets, districts, parks, marinas, schools, hospitals even bus stops.
Ode to Reading
Read voraciously, many books at a time. Only then will you hear the conversation taking place among them. (via)
The Nykänen Orchid
In counting down to the 2010 winter olympics the guardian posted an article about Matti Nykänen, one of Finlands’ greatest athletes. His record in ski jumping is awesome, but he is just as famous in Finland for his private life which is so colourful and disastrous that it almost eclipses his sporting achievements. Brits could easliy compare him to George Best, but that would be a little tough on Matti. Best was an alcoholic and playboy, but that’s just incomparable to Mattis’ CV. Try Alcoholic, pop star, stripper, attempted murderer, celebrity chef.
But how can a person who can achieve so much also be so self destructive and incompetent in other areas of life? A new theory of behavioural genetics might be of help to Matti. It’s called the Orchid hypothesis and it says that while most of us are born ‘dandelions’ in that we can take root almost anywhere and thrive, some are born ‘orchids’ and in many situations don’t thrive, but in ideal conditions can be truly remarkable.
In other words the things that helped to make Matti one of the best ski jumpers and athletes in history also may contribute to his inability to fit into society normally. Anyway Finns cherish Matti as an orchid already, if he were to become suddenly well adjusted we would have lost a well loved institution.
He also has a great turn of phrase able to utter delphic truths in the great sportsmen tradition.
- Tekemätöntä ei saa tekemättömäksi
What is not done, cannot be undone - Jokainen tsäänssi on mahdollisuus!
Every chance is an opportunity! - Huominen on aina tulevaisuutta.
Tomorrow is always the future. - Elämä on laiffii.
Living is life. - Se on ihan fifty-sixty miten käy.
The odds are fifty-sixty. - No pilluhan se on aina mielessä mutta hypätään nyt ensin!
Pussy is always on my mind, but I’ll jump first (when a reporter asked Matti what he has in his mind) - Rakkaus on kuin lankakerä ? se alkaa ja loppuu.
Love is like a ball of wool ? it starts and it ends.
(quotes via)
Posted in Architecture Tagged matti nykänen, olympics, orchid hypothesis, ski jumping, Sport Leave a comment
Longest Sea Bridge
China has just announced it began constructing the world’s longest sea bridge which will be 50km long. It is y shaped in plan and connects China, Hong Kong and Macau. Just for reference there has been much talk in Finland and indeed Estonia about a link between Helsinki and Tallinn, it was in the Helsinki2050 project brief for example. That would require a bridge approx 80km long.
Nordic Voices
Nordic Voices is a weblog about literature in the Nordic countries. NV links to an article in the guardian about Estonian literature being translated into English and you could run the same argument in Finland both for and against.
aj notebook
The new aj notebook is pretty cool for a desktop/coffeetable browse.
Roman Architecture
23 lectures on Roman Architecture, in case you wondered what a first year history of Architecture course would be like.
Helsinki World Design Capitol 2012
So Helsinki won the World Design Capitol 21012 competition today. There is already a website, twitter feed and facebook group to follow such being the norm nowadays. I’m happy but not that surprised that we won as the city is home to a vibrant if small design community and the changes in the city coming up over the next few years with the establishment of the Aalto university that is trying to meld design and business together and the masterplan of Helsinki 2050 which is trying to shape a city of the future made it a shoe in not least because this city is home to many talented designers.
But here is an idea lets try to make this award and designation more than just an excuse to sell some Aalto vases or Harri Koskinen block lamps (note to iitala never reject anything he designs again!). There is a chance with this award to invigorate the base of finnish design, startups and urbanists. Not just to advertise the top down framework Finland has created in the last few years, but create something from the bottom up.
Definitely networked urbanism has a part to play in this, but not centrally planned like songdo and not just a new way of organising activities but new ways of organising relationships within the city. Also maybe I’d like to add many other sorts of activism, whether its urban farming or community generation. This city has the right conditions to meld these things and shape city and design thinking globally that could, just maybe, put Helsinki in the centre of something and belie its geographical location. Here’s to dreaming the future!
Posted in Architecture Tagged Aalto university, helsinki, networked urbanism, world design capitol Leave a comment
Best place to live in Finland
A housing Website staged a survey to find the best place to live in Finland.
Karjasilta in Oulu won, it’s a relatively suburban area of detached houses from the 40′s and 50′s the runners up are below, I’m not sure but I think they are mostly of the same suburban character with the only exception being that of Arabianranta in Helsinki.
- 23.4% Karjasilta, Oulu
- 21.4% Koivuhaka, Kokkola
- 17.3% Lutakko, Jyväskylä
- 15.0% Sundsberg, Kirkkonummi
- 13.8% Tammela, Tampere
- 9.1% Arabianranta, Helsinki
New Pasila
Cino Zucchi Architects have updated their masterplan for Pasila redevelopment. It would add up to forty story 160m high skyscrapers to the Helsinki skyline, at the moment the highest buildings are about 100m high. Pasila was planned and built as an expansion of the centre of Helsinki, infact as early as Eliel Saarinens’ masterplan which identified it as a new location for a central railway station and expansion of the urban centre.
Anyone who knows Helsinki however knows that while it has many offices and housing, as a functioning part of urban Helsinki life the 70′s and 80′s development has pretty much failed. Judging by the scope of the Zucchi masterplan we will get some good buildings but not a significant improvement to the city.
(photo by Cino Zucchi Architects)
Newly Drawn
Nine up and coming Finnish Architecture practises have a book publication out called Newly Drawn – Emerging Finnish Architects (website).
The firms involved are; Hollmén Reuter Sandman, Verstas, NOW, Anttinen Oiva Architects, Lassila Hirvilammi, Avanto, ALA, AFKS and K2S. The link to buy the book is here.
Posted in Books Tagged AFKS, ala, Anttinen Oiva, Avanto, book, Finland, Hollmén Reuter Sandman, k2s, Lassila Hirvilammi, NOW, verstas Leave a comment
Ecosia
Save the worlds rainforests a search at a time with Ecosia. (via)
update: Lee in comments to this post said Ecosia is a scam. I’ve had a look at this (see article here and here). It seems Ecosia is a for profit organisation but looks quite legitimate and worthwhile to use. It is always worth checking these things out however, and there are plenty of other search engines out there which do much the same thing. eg. Ecosearch, Goodsearch, to name just two which we could all look at and utilise.
update 2: Read the comments to this post before you do anything else! There are plenty of big questions surrounding Ecosia once you start to look at them and as to whether its the sort of business you would want to support. Look carefully into these environmental search engines and if in doubt don’t use them. The best advice may be to make a donation to a good charity instead. WWF.