Wigley poster 

Architect Juan Herreros, Madrid: own works.  Monday 3rd November, public lecture at 14:00, A1, Otakaari 1X, old dept. of architecture.

Herreros poster

Welcome!

Professor Marc Treib gives two public lectures at Aalto University Department of Architecture

- LIMITS OF SUSTAINABILITY, on Monday, 20 October at 5 pm,

- IN PRAISE OF MASTER PLAN, on Tuesday, 21 October at 9 am,

The events take place in Otaniemi, at Aalto University Department of Architecture's former premises; address Otakaari 1X, lecture hall A2. The entrance via the former Department of Land Survey, ("Wing M") Marc Treib is Professor of Architecture Emeritus, from University of California Berkeley. He is internationally one of the most prominent authors and critics in the field of landscape architecture. In his writings he has investigated the significance of the landscape architecture in field of arts and especially its relationship with architecture. He has widely published on the modernism of landscape architecture e.g. on the legacy of Garrett Eckbo and Thomas Church. He has received several awards including the ASLA (American Association of Landscape Architects) award in 2003. Treib has twice been in Finland as a Fulbright scholar.

Treib visits the Aalto University Landscape Architecture degree programme, moderating a two-day workshop in a studio course that aims to find models for the landscape development on the Otaniemi Campus where the contradictory demands of protection and development meet. The lectures are part of the workshop, but open to the public.

Welcome!

Light Houses: On the Nordic Common Ground An Exhibition at the 13TH INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION in LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

PHILIP TIDWELL / Aalto University, Department of Architecture + PETER B. MACKEITH / Washington University in St. Louis

Philip Tidwell earned his Master of Architecture Degree in Princeton University and teaches Wooden Architecture at the Department of Architecture in Aalto University.

See more at:

http://acsa-arch.org/programs-events/awards/archives/2014-awards-press-release#sthash.wxTN5BGi.dpuf

The ACSA Creative Achievement Award recognizes a specific creative achievement in teaching, design, scholarship, research, or service that advances architectural education.

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a nonprofit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education in the United States and Canada.

The project for the Master Class course in architecture originated from a prize from the Asko Foundation won by the architectural working group of Saija Hollmén, Jenni Reuter and Helena Sandman.

The reason why the group received the Asko Avonius prize in the autumn of 2013 was the group's praiseworthy work with architecture adapted to culture and among communities in the developing countries.

‘In the aftermath of getting the prize we discussed the possibility of holding a Master Class course for architectural students.

During the course we would learn about a foreign culture and the same kind of participatory planning that we apply in our work,’ Saija Hollmén says.

The idea developed into a plan for a Kigali Master Class course, for which the Department of Architecture got funding from the board of the Asko Foundation.

The goal of the course on construction planning was to use the methods of participatory planning to study the possibilities for architecture to improve the quality of life in developing countries.

Field trip to thought-provoking Rwanda

At the beginning of the course, a two-week field trip was arranged to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

The students acquainted themselves with local conditions and visualised their own planning tasks together with local residents.

‘We learned about Rwandan history, politics, construction, urban planning and research at lectures in Kigali.

With the help of local architecture students we interviewed village residents and investigated what they might need for the improvement of their quality of life,’ says architecture student Pyry Kantonen.

‘In the interviews we tried to read between the lines and find common ground and problems for which we would seek solutions.

The most educational experience was, nevertheless, to walk around in the city, eat in local restaurants, and spend time with local students with whom we made friends.

The image that we get about Africa from the media is quite one-sided, and not necessarily even up-to-date.

For instance, in Rwanda we were surprised by the clean streets, the safety and the ease with which everything worked - we had not expected those based on previous information.

The trip was an eye-opening experience,’ Kantonen says.

Peter Rich's infectious energy

The construction design part of the course took place in Finland.

One of the instructors was South African architect Peter Rich, whose previous experiences in Rwanda had also been a factor in the selection of the target country.

Rich was in Kigali and guided the students over a period of several weeks in Otaniemi.

Rich's deep understanding of the African concept of space and African culture was definitely a high point of the course.

‘Peter was full of energy and had an appropriate amount of creative madness, which inspired us to work in a liberated manner.

With the help of his Rwandan contacts he organised wonderful lectures and visits in Kigali for us.

We immediately got the feeling that we are involved in a real project with meaning, not just an ordinary course at school,’ Pyry Kantonen says.

‘Peter Rich's down-to-earth attitude, his infallible architectural instinct, and his dedication to teaching brought depth and energy to the course.

We are privileged to have had an architect, who has won international awards, teaching such an intensive course for Aalto students,’ notes Saija Hollmén.

An exhibition on the results of the course will be compiled for display at the Artek store on Pohjois-Esplanadi in Helsinki between 25.4.- 10.5. 2014.The exhibition will present content of the course in photographs and drawings, and two areas that were targets of the planning. Each student will also produce a scale model of his or her design.

In addition, a short documentary shot by Pyry Kantonen in both Rwanda and Finland will be presented.

The trailer is available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b8ASy0W5BY&feature=youtu.be

 The project can be followed on line http://masterclass.lumihub.com/

You can follow the Class online in:

http://masterclass.askonsaatio.fi

http://energyefficiency.aalto.fi/en/current/news/view/2013-06-10/