Tuesday 17 November 2009

Nuuksio

In the midst of nature: from Winter 2009

When you take your camera for a walk metsässä (in the forest), you don't always end up taking pictures of what you might expect.

So we are walking in Nuuksion Kansalaispuisto (Nuuksio National Park) where we are staying for the weekend - in a better than average lakeside mökki (cabin) - with Bore and her American friend 'Saab'. We figure we should go for a walk and enjoy the snow and light, both likely to fade; so we set off down the track hoping to link up to the 'proper' walking trails, talking about the climate here and in the northern states, buying flying squirrel poo on the internet, (mis)identifying animal tracks and (if you are Konna) trying to do penguin impressions... so generally enjoying walking in the woods.

After trying a couple of turns we end up following this car width track for about 30 minutes until we reach a dead end with a small hut and a big red phone mast. Well I guess that's what you get if you want good 3G mobile coverage, but still...

Winter 2009 photo album

Sunday 8 November 2009

Norsu huonessa

Sibeliustalon metsähalli: from Finland summer 08.


Actually I do have a couple of architecture related things to mention come to think about it. First is the Puuinfo Puupäivä in Lahti at the Sibelius Hall on Wednesday (11.11) which we are going to go along to. A good excuse to see the concert hall again if nothing else (see this old post for more). If I manage to understand any of it I will let you know!

Then next week is a (free) two day seminar series called 'Innovations: Architect and Engineer' organised by the Alvar Aalto Akatemia/Foundation and TKK. Speakers include Kenneth Frampton and Iain Ritchie, amongst others, so about three-quarters of the progamme will be in English.

After our visit to EMMA we also made a trip out to Otaneimi to use their arkkitehtuurin kirjasto their for some research Konna is doing for work. Then the next day I met up with a friend at my favourite cafe who happens to be studying at TKK at the moment, and we discussed how strange/repressive it must be for Finnish architecture students to study in Aalto designed buildings in part of the soon to be Alvar Aalto (super-)University; the elephant in the room if you like. Mind you apparently they still get frustrated about the quality/availability of seminar rooms just like any other architecture department I have heard of - but I bet they wouldn't swap with the this school in here... (and believe me these are flattering images if my memories of 1988-94 are to be trusted!)

outside/inside TKK: architecture tour 04/09.


Culture corner


Tapio Wirkkala: Utima Thule, 1967. via.

I suppose we are overdue an Architecture Corner - but not much going on that front so we'll have to cast our net a bit wider. Although only as far as Espoo it seems...

This week we visited EMMA (Espoo Museum of Modern Art) at WeeGee for an exhibition of the work of Finnish sculptor and product designer Tapio Wirkkala (1915-1985). He trod a strange path between sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract works and apparently unwilling to differentiate between his product work and sculptures. Much of his work - certainly his best known pieces - are in carved plywood (for which he used extremely high-quality birch plywood to his own specifications). 'Ultima Thule' (pictured above) which shares it's name with the Iittala glassware he also designed, is one of the centrepieces of the exhibition, although I actually liked the roughness of his studio doors more made from simple pieces of standard timber (unfortunately I couldn't find a picture on the web and we couldn't take photos). You can read more about him here and here.

Also in Espoo last night were RinneRadio (a jazz via hip-hop, electronica, straight fusion, dark dub, ambient, and Saami yoik singing experience since the late eighties) and Circo Aereo performing 'Ruostetta iholla' (rust on the skin). Featuring a RR backed choreographed acrobatic act with scaffolding, posture balls, planks, tyres, a trampoline and a suspended hoop... you can find video of their other shows on YouTube, but here is Ommatidi from RinneRadio.



Monday 2 November 2009

What to do?

Chirp chirp? From Around Helsinki - Autumn09


I know - I'll join the Twitter bandwagon. Then I can not post anything for ages on that too...

Well that was 5 minutes wasted, now what?

Furry friends

I was told a story yesterday about someone shutting their puppy in a room at work (let's just say it had been a bad boy), accidentally locking it in and that by the time they had found someone with the keys it had chewed through the office's internet connection cable...

This reminded me of the time I was on Skype with my mum a few months ago when she had just got a new kitten. She was saying how it had needle sharp teeth and liked to attack strings and cables when suddenly the sound cut out... then on the video link my mum showed me the two severed ends of the microphone lead... I don't know, some people will do anything to get out of a boring phone conversation.

Next week: Squirrels ate my homework