The Alvar Aalto Symposium has a long history. The first such conference for architects and architecture enthusiasts was organized in Jyväskylä in central Finland in 1979. This year the symposium was held for the 13th time, and many participants from previous years, many expected from it, wanted to attend it.
The symposium, held every three years, has always been overseen by one chairman, and, oddly enough, they were all still men. The topics were different, but before this time they were more theoretical. You can find information about past symposia here; in addition, at the end of each such conference, a collection of essays by the participants was published.
Among the brightest speakers in the past were Göran Schildt, biographer and friend of Alvar Aalto, Peter Zumthor with his wonderful black and white slides, the fantastic architect Diebedo Francis Kere, who was born in Africa and studied in Berlin, the couple of Japanese architects Tezuka with his children, Alexander Brodsky, Jean Gang from Chicago, British Sarah Wiglesworth and many others. The symposium six years ago, which its chairman Sami Rintala gave the name “The Edge,” was particularly memorable - thanks in part to its friendly and open atmosphere. Three years ago, the architect Pekka Heikkinen also put together an excellent program.
This time the event received a one-word theme: "Do it!" (DO!), And the organizers included the Museum of Finnish Architecture (MFA). It is important to note that, until this year, the symposium was mainly carried out by the Aalto Academy, led by its director Esa Laaksonen.
The 13th Alvar Aalto Symposium was chaired by the architect Anssi Lassila (head of the OOPEAA bureau, whose wooden multi-storey residential complex was published by Archi.ru this May - ed.). His work has recently been actively promoted by the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The theme "Do it!" was divided into four chapters, which somewhat complicated the program: "Local", "Social", "Digital" and "Material".
At the city theater
This year, the symposium was held on 7-9 August at the Jyväskylä City Theater, designed by Alvar Aalto, as the usual venue is the main university building, also the Aalto building, which is currently being renovated. This caused some regrets because this university building, with its foyer, café and beautiful surroundings, close to two Aalto-designed museums, has always been an excellent conference venue. Lunch for the press was often served in the teacher's cafeteria, a lantern-like structure behind the main building.
The first session of the symposium, Local, was moderated by David Basulto from ArchDaily, and took place in the theater foyer, so the audience had to sit on hard chairs and stools. But don't worry about us: at least one lecture - by the Indian architect Rahul Mehrotra - was so outstanding that it made us forget about the uncomfortable seats.
Mehrotra presented examples of his work that helps socially vulnerable people maintain human dignity and even get involved in the daily life of corporations. For example, thanks to one of his projects, the employees who take care of landscaping on the facade of the office building are as involved in the office "life" as all kinds of managers. It would be great if Rahul Mehrotra was given more time to report: an hour and a half to get acquainted with his ideas was completely insufficient.
The work of Raul Pantaleo from the Italian bureau TAM Associati also made a great impression on the public. He presented projects for refugee camps and hospitals in disaster areas: architects, using a minimum of funds, added value to the simplest spaces and made them beautiful.
Oddly enough, the main speaker of the session was a Chinese architect: Liu Xiaodu from the Urbanus bureau presented a lecture on the "mega-city" in China.
On the second day, the meeting was held in the theater auditorium. So - to everyone's joy - we managed to solve the problem with sunlight, which prevented the presentation of slides in the foyer the day before. The social dimension of “Do!” Was the focus of the day, and talks began with Henrietta Wamberg from Gehl Architects, who became the first female architect on the podium of Alvar Aalto's 13th Symposium. Wamberg has presented designs by Ian Gale's bureau for New York's Times Square and the earthquake-devastated city of Christchurch in New Zealand, but the work is already well known to professionals. So, films about them were shown at the Venice Biennale in 2012.
Karin Smuts from South Africa presented her projects based on cooperation with local residents and aimed at improving their quality of life. She, too, would like to give more time, as her ideas are very useful for all participants in the symposium.
Norwegians Geir Brenneland and Olav Kristoffersen (Brendeland & Kristoffersen) showed their social complex Svartlamoen in Trondheim. This is a wooden collective housing type house with interesting and affordable solutions, where residents can lead any lifestyle they like and, if necessary, "rely" on their neighbors. With the rise in apartment prices in many cities, such experiments with "alternative" housing are especially relevant.
The digital section of the symposium was moderated by Marco Steinberg and the main speaker was Greg Lynn. His lecture focused on his digital work; among other things, he presented his own “digitally” designed high-speed yacht. He sees the future in carbon fiber and glue.
Danish architects from the WE Architecture studio Mark Jay and Julie Schmidt-Nielsen talked about their method of using digital technology to test different materials and spatial solutions for their projects. Their work seemed to me high quality, but, nevertheless, there was nothing fundamentally new in their report.
Finland was represented by Ero Lunden, a relatively young proponent of digital design, who creates wooden pavilions of various types.
Professor Lisa Iwamoto from the United States showed the audience her work - mainly for American corporations: they are quite elegant, but you cannot really call them digital.
The next section was devoted to "Material". It was moderated by the renowned Dutch curator and researcher Ole Bauman, who now works at the Shekou Design Museum in Shenzhen.
The first to speak was Patrick Thurston from Switzerland (Architekturbüro Patrick Thurston), whose approach is fundamentally different from the ideas of the speakers who preceded him. He said that he always wanted to work with his hands and start designing on a blank sheet of paper. His buildings are all very "local", all located in Switzerland, beautifully made and designed to last.
Among them is an enclosure for two brown bears, which were presented to the Berne Zoo in 2009 by the then President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and his wife. Thurston concluded his talk by emotionally saying, "By the way, I hate glue!" This phrase, which can be regarded as a commentary on the enthusiasm for this material in the "digital" section, caused a friendly laugh from the audience.
The presentation of the Finnish carpenter and joiner Kari Virtanen, who collaborated with Aalto, became a logical continuation of the Swiss report. He stands for real quality, working under the slogan "Don't do if you don't do well."
He was continued by another Finnish speaker, Matti Sanaksenaho Architects, who spoke about his approach to the material on the example of projects in his homeland and in China, as well as the pavilion for Expo 2008 in Seville, which he created together with young colleagues, which brought him fame.
The main character of the section, Brazilian Marcelo Ferraz, who worked with Lina Bo Bardi in the past, built not only the Rodin Museum in Salvador, the Bread Museum in Ilopolis and the Praça das Artes Performing Arts Center in São Paulo, but also the Villa Isabella house in Hanko in the very south. Finland.
I did not stay for the final discussion of the symposium, because my friends, Estonian architects asked to show them the Kuokkala church designed by Anssi Lassila, but above all - the buildings of Alvar Aalto: the municipal center in Syayunyatsalo and the experimental house on the Muuratsalo island. We headed there, and in Muuratsalo we understood our disappointment from the 13th symposium in Lake Päijänne - just where the Aalto family used to swim in the morning.
Next time, do better!
Unfortunately, this year's symposium had an unlucky serial number. Some listeners were dissatisfied with the level of individual lectures compared to the symposia of previous years. The first day was partially ruined by uncomfortable seats and bright sun, the theme had too many components, the audience was not allowed to ask questions, and not enough attention was paid to the actual motto “Do it!”: Whatever the organizers meant by it. Even a "book" with useful information and pages for notes arrived at the participants a day late. No press conference was organized: instead, the management of the symposium invited selected journalists on a tour of Finland with the speakers, where they could communicate, while the rest of the observers had very little opportunity to interview the speakers of interest or even establish with them contacts for future cooperation.
This situation is particularly frustrating compared to how well organized many of the past symposia in Jyväskylä. For example, one cannot but recall the architectural critic Marc Isitte from Sweden, who created a particularly friendly atmosphere as the moderator of the "inter-lecture" discussions.
Perhaps it would be correct to return to the old principle, when only the Academy and the Aalto Foundation are organizing the symposium. If the budget decreases - which is happening now almost everywhere - then it is better to invite fewer speakers, but at a higher level, and also give more time and opportunity for participants - both speakers and listeners - to communicate. This is precisely what the word "symposium" means.
If I were included among the “chosen ones” who went on an excursion around Finland with the speakers, organized by Archinfo.fi and Tiina Valpola, Archi.ru readers could get a couple of interesting interviews … Well, let's hope - next time all it will work out!
