A new day dawns in Helsinki and greeted by cloudless blue skies and sharp (low) sun. Beautiful.
First to the House of Culture (Aalto-1952-1958). Arriving the pavement was crowded with kids and parents arriving for 1. Children's Concert. 2. Exotic Spider Exhibition. The place was heaving.
Commissioned by the Helsinki Communist Party and the built by the (left of center) hands of that proletariat in the 1950s, this is an exemplar of community space. The programme is crowded and diverse, the children's concert giving way to Nordic thrash then a folk concert.
That include a use for the handrail, probably not imagined by Aalto.....
And the handrails prevail.....
And onto Finlandia..
Seemingly cleaved from a single block of ice
With all the dexterity the Aalto could muster....
And tomorrow? Oslo beckons.....
First to the House of Culture (Aalto-1952-1958). Arriving the pavement was crowded with kids and parents arriving for 1. Children's Concert. 2. Exotic Spider Exhibition. The place was heaving.
Commissioned by the Helsinki Communist Party and the built by the (left of center) hands of that proletariat in the 1950s, this is an exemplar of community space. The programme is crowded and diverse, the children's concert giving way to Nordic thrash then a folk concert.
The architecture exhibits real fin(n)esse (see what I did there?) in tectonic resolution; passing beams, layering of entry and a transverse colonnade that fuses the three elements of the parti.
The element of the theatre is a fantastically articulated fluid form exhibiting occasional extrusions that provide a counterpoint.
And where geometries meet, the junction is given expression....
Internally the buggies are coralled...
The acts unfold.....
That include a use for the handrail, probably not imagined by Aalto.....
And in the restaurant, I met the chef who introduced me to 'Aalto's brick', the tectonic
solution to the curved facade.....
And the handrails prevail.....
And onto Finlandia..
Seemingly cleaved from a single block of ice
With all the dexterity the Aalto could muster....
And tomorrow? Oslo beckons.....
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