Finland revisited

"Two years ago we returned to Finland after a 36-year absence, this time with a group of 18 Carleton architectural students for a four-month study term. Many things had changed, but the Finns' attachment to nature and their incorporation of it into their design had not.

"The country's material prosperity had noticeably increased, there was widespread automobile ownership – even we had a car this time. Most Finns, including very small children, carried the cell phone, a ubiquitous piece of equipment. And the effects of American globalisation had made their mark – McDonald's and American television programs were evidence of this intrusion.

"We arrived in the light, in early August and left in the dark in early December. We had the good fortune this time, through the kindness of several Finns, to live and teach in September in Central Finland in Säynätsalo Town Hall, a commission won in public competition by Aalto in 1950.

"Earlene and I lived in the guest rooms and the students had their studios in the now empty retail spaces of this mixed-use building. Our studios, directly under the magnificent Council Chamber, were furnished with Aalto chairs and tables plus surplus tables from the nearby plywood factory.

"The building had been recently renovated and it still remained one of the favourite pilgrimage sites of Aalto's work by visiting foreign architects and students from around the world.

"To my knowledge, Carleton is the only School of Architecture to have studied in this icon of Finnish architecture. The Town Hall remains for me one of Aalto's best works, as it exhibits amongst other things a quality of timelessness, which is a mark of good architecture. My opening lecture to the students was held in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall, a simple cube with filtered light and elegant wooden butterfly trusses supporting the roof.

"Our field trips in Central Finland covered visits to Aalto's Villa Mairea, his Seinäjoki Cultural Centre, and the Three Crosses Church in Vuoksenniska, as well as Leiviskä's St John's Church in Kuopio. We also visited one of the more recent projects, the Sibelius Concert Hall in Lahti by the office of Artto, Palo, Rossi and Tikka. In this remarkable building, we had the good fortune to attend a concert of contemporary Nordic music.

"The building, which houses a world-class symphony orchestra, noted for its recordings of Sibelius, stands at the edge of Vesijärvi Lake, north of Lahti city centre. The building grows out of a former glass factory building through a three-storey foyer of timber tree-form structures and completes itself in the concert hall, which is a glass enclosed structure surrounding a plywood box with magnificent acoustics. At night the foyer is a place of magic light that reflects and reverberates on the water.

"The following two months in Helsinki we were kindly given the use of the empty transformer room of the Helsinki Energy Company for studios. A Carleton alumnus, Heikki Kokkonen, was instrumental in our securing the use of this space. The original building had been wrapped in the 1960s with an Aalto addition. We simply couldn't get away from Aalto even if we had the inclination to do so.

"We were right in the city centre, ten minutes' walk from Saarinen's railway station that the students came through every day to and from their rooms in the north end of the city. This journey each day took them past Kiasma, Steven Holl's exciting, if not controversial, museum of modern art, located near the station and Aalto's Finlandia Hall."

Architecture for an enlightened public

"Finally, I would like to touch briefly on the social, political, and cultural climate that fosters Finland's excellence in architecture and industrial design.

"A week ago, architect Douglas Cardinal spoke at the opening of a new building on Carleton campus. He spoke of the architect's need for an enlightened patron if works of architectural merit are to be nurtured and realized. He also hinted that such patrons were in short supply in Canada.

"Finnish architects have enjoyed for over 100 years the patronage of an enlightened public, which through successive governments has established a policy of open public competitions for most publicly funded buildings. These competitions are juried by architects and members of the public. Säynätsalo Town Hall was one such building sponsored by an open competition, as are many of the works mentioned above.

"It is truly remarkable that Finland, with a population of five million people – less than the combined population of Canada's two major cities, Montreal and Toronto – continues its excellence in architecture and design. In this age of super powers, where power is based on population size, economic wealth, and military strength, I think of Finland as an influential model of excellence in design, a more appealing form of national power.

"Recently, the Finnish government has instituted a policy of public support for architecture and the education of architects, recognizing that architecture is one of its national treasures. This policy is based on the premise that architecture, a major cultural enterprise, is an important contributor to national well-being, one of whose goals should be to create a well-built environment as a basic right for every citizen."

By Heikki Kokkonen and Gil Sutton