By Craig D. Brandt, FAIA
Human-Centered Modernism: Finnish Architecture of Culture, Craft, and Care
AIA Knowledge Communities are an opportunity for you to experience learning in an immersive way – in place. When you explore a city or region in a deep and meaningful way, you find out there is a sense of tradition and cohesion as well as new ideas. This is what we try to find in our programs. Several of our committee members participated in a Design Study Group in Finland this August with Peter MacKeith, AIA and in collaboration with the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. Watch the video of the amazing projects.
Photo: Study Tour participants with Peter MacKeith AIA, at Villa Mairea designed by Alvar Aalto
This study tour offered a rare and immersive journey through the architectural landscape of Finland—where modernism is more than appearance - as a sustained cultural ethic of design for people, place, and purpose. Spanning civic buildings, religious spaces, university campuses, and domestic environments our journey allowed us to speak to leading contemporary Finnish architects like JKMM, ALA Architects, and OOPEAA whose projects embody sensitivity to site, material, light, and the rituals of everyday life.
Photo: Kuokkala Church and Housing tour with Anssi Lassila , OOPEAA Architects, and Oodi /Helsinki Central Library, tour with Antti Nousjoki, ALA Architects
Photo: Housing Tours with Pentti Kareoja, ARK-house Architects, Töölöntulli housing block, and Meander Housing, in collaboration with Steven Holl.
Across the tour, themes of social responsibility, environmental responsiveness, craft, and spiritual depth recur—whether in the monumental quiet of a town hall designed by Eliel Saarinin or the human-scaled detail of a washbasin or canopy by Alvar Aalto. With a balance of technical insight and poetic clarity, we experienced how architecture in Finland has continually shaped and reflected a national identity rooted in well-being, resilience, and the beauty of restraint.
Photo: Discussion with Juhani Pallasmaa at his office Helsinki, Vernacular Building and Craft Tour at Seurasaari, and COD Current and Past Chairs at Temppeliaukio Church, Helsinki
We hope these images from our journey inspire our AIA colleagues to explore these places and hopefully you can join us on our tours and programs!