Under the spell of "aurinko"


A group of architecture students from McGill University
in Montreal visited Finland on the last leg of their Scandinavian tour. Having spent the first half of their
trip in Denmark and Sweden, they came by ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki on June 3 and spent the next ten days visiting architectural and related sites in Helsinki, along the west coast and in central Finland. The groups's focus was on modern architecture, especially the works
of Alvar Aalto.

The Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago states in his novel ''The Stone Raft '':

"Writing is extremely difficult, it is an enormous responsibility, you need only think of the exhausting work involved in setting out events in chronological order, first this one, then that, or, if more conducive to the desired effect, today's event before yesterday's episode, and other no less risky acrobatics, presenting the past as if it were something new, or the present as a continuous process with neither beginning nor end, but, however hard writers might try, there is one feat they cannot achieve, and that is to put into writing, in the same tense, two events that have occurred simultaneously. Some believe the difficulty can be solved by dividing the page into two columns, side by side, but this proposal is too simple, because the one will have been written first and the other afterwards, nor may we forget that the reader will have to read this one first and then the other one, or vice versa. The people who come off best are the opera singers, each with his or her own part to sing, three, four, five, six in all among the tenors, basses, sopranos, and baritones, all singing different words..."

José Saramago, The Stone Raft, pp. 5-6.


The narrative that follows, describing the experiences of ten travelers in Finland, the land of the midnight sun, attempts, perhaps at its best, to be like an opera, a place where many voices might be heard simultaneously, at least in the imagination of the reader, since it is impossible (as Saramago has pointed out) to describe things that occurred simultaneously as would be the case here. Thus, we must begin with an apology for the multiple stitches that will appear throughout the text as we move from voice to voice, from event to event, from description to description, and from image to image.

It all began with our arrival in Helsinki, on a blue-sky morning on June 3, 2002.

"I believe it was named Mariella...the ship that delivered us, a little seasick, to Helsinki to begin the final leg of our trip. The bright morning sun and warm weather helped us to recover quickly from the previous night of fun. And then it was off to explore the city, and a beautiful one it is. What it may lack in the classical architecture of other cities we had visited, it more than made up for with its wonderful modern buildings..." Colin Szasz

Just two or three days after our arrival to Finland I wrote the final entries in our Internet journal. The intensity of our travel and visits to architecture continued to gain momentum in Finland. We wanted to experience everything and we moved fast, so it became impossible to keep up with the writing and also to find the appropriate library without the customary waiting list to access the Internet. Here are the Internet entries:

Saturday, June 1. It has been almost a week since we posted an entry. We have done a lot of mileage and have seen quite an array of marvelous sites. Internet outlets have not been that easy to use due to time constraints. We are all doing just fine. Tomorrow we will embark in the afternoon to sail off to Helsinki, where we will arrive on Monday. More from Finland.

Wednesday, June 5. The arrival to Finland went as planned. Heikki was waiting for us at the ferry terminal and led us to the Hostel, initiating thus the visit to Helsinki since he took us on the panoramic route. This was followed by an extraordinary visit to the Kiasma Museum by Steven Holl. Local architect Vesa Honkonen, who supervised the construction of the museum, conducted this very enticing tour. Our thanks to Erik Hietaniemi who coordinated the visit. After a fast lunch we toured parts of downtown Helsinki led by architect Heikki Kokkonen, our local contact, counselor, and friend in Helsinki, and Gunnar Wederhorn, who gave us later in the afternoon a splendid lecture on the development of Tapiola. Yesterday, June 4, we began activities at 9:00 as has become customary. We visited Tapiola and the Helsinki University of Technology at Otaniemi, led by Gunnar and Heikki. We also had the opportunity of visiting additional and more recent urban developments between Espoo and Helsinki. After a fast lunch in Dipoli, the Student Center designed by Pietila in Otaniemi, we finished our tour with a visit to the university's main building, designed by Alvar Aalto, and a visit to the University Church by the Sirens, which are both, at different scales, true "tours de force." The afternoon, or what was left of it, was free. Today's activities included a visit to Aalto's Hall of Culture, the architectural outdoor museum on the island of Seurasaari, followed by a guided tour of Aalto's studio. The afternoon has been declared free. Tomorrow at 9:30, we will initiate our tour of major architectural sites in Finland. (Thirty extra minutes will be granted to try out the traditional sauna.)

I believe that journeys and narratives have several things in common. They begin and end following a time sequence. However, the sequential character of a narrative may be altered in any way according to the whim of the writer. The journey, on the other hand, inexorably unfolds and what happened...happened.

"Departing from Helsinki, our loop around southern Finland seems a bit of a blur, visiting so many wonderful sites and towns, seeing so much 'Aalto', Fiskars (the scissors town), a few great lakes for swimming, the traditional log cabin surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes, saunas everywhere.... I could go on forever." Colin Szasz

Undoubtedly, one of the most memorable encounters during our road trip was Hvitträsk. I recall Heikki's advice when we were planning our movements throughout Finland: "You must go to the architectural outdoor museum in Seurasaari and you must visit Hvitträsk to better understand Finnish architecture."

He was right on both counts. Hvitträsk is an extraordinary domestic complex—today a museum—located in the middle of the forest and high on a bluff that overlooks a lake. Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen built the complex in 1901-1903. Stone, logs, and shingles were the main materials used in the design and construction of the main building, designed in National Romantic style. For the student and professional of architecture, as well as for any amateur, Hvitträsk is a prerequisite to Finnish architecture that will dazzle them.

"In Finland, the practice of building seems rarely beneath the level of an art form. It must be an aspect of Finnish culture, for we are unaccustomed to such a committed approach to habitation." Brian Scott

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Related links

• McGill University
• Internet journal
• Alvar Aalto
• Helsinki University of Technology
• Kiasma
• Hvitträsk

December 02

• 30th anniversary
• Leonard Cohen files

• Chairman's update
• Jack Walters –
starting from scratch
• Finnish-Canadian
Grand Festival