Alvar Aalto Design Seminars 1995-2007

etukansi

foreword

Alvar Aalto Academy was founded in 1999. It has since then triennially arranged major events in architecture and design in Finland: Alvar Aalto Symposium (2000, 2003 and 2006); Alvar Aalto Design Seminar (2001, 2004 and 2007) and Alvar Aalto Meeting for Architecture Research (2002, 2005). The latter will be continued in summer 2008 under the theme “building, designing, thinking”.

The architecture-focused Aalto symposium is the oldest of the three, the last one being the tenth in succession. All the events have been significant and popular from the very beginning, and their structure has largely remained similar over the years.

Yet the content of the five Design seminars (the two first were entitled Design for Architecture) has changed considerably from the first to the fifth: the events have grown bigger every time, and while the first two mostly focused on interior architecture, the later three have been clearly targeted at wider design audiences. The kind support of the City of Jyväskylä and the Ministry of Education have made all the events possible. The future of the Design events looks very promising indeed, as the event has established itself not only among professionals, but also everyone interested in our common environment.

Esa Laaksonen

interview with Simo Heikkilä

HOW DID THE ALVAR AALTO DESIGN SEMINAR COME ABOUT? YOU WERE THE CHAIR OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE FIRST THREE SEMINARS? We were sitting with Markku Lahti, the director of the Alvar Aalto Museum, in the museum cafe and discussing if it would be possible to organise a seminar with exhibitions focusing on interior architecture and design, to complement the Alvar Aalto Symposium. The event would honour the spirit of Aalto’s design philosophy and be organised at three-year intervals between the architecture symposia.

The new seminar would also have a distinct pedagogic orientation. The implementation of the seminar exhibition would link, and have the Finnish design schools collaborate, with the lecturers.

The preparations for the first ”Design for Architecture” symposium were began in 1994, a year before the first seminar. The interior design elements designed by the lecturers were compiled into an exhibition which Finnish students erected.

I was landed with the chairmanship of the first seminars partly because I had established connections to a relatively extensive international network of designers who could be invited to give lectures. Having personal contacts with colleagues has also been a prerequisite for the success of the subsequent seminars.

Our seminar has achieved an internationally established status, and I believe through its themes and outstanding lecturers it has also meant a great deal to Finnish design and design education on the whole.

HAVE THE ORIGINAL IDEAS FOR THE SEMINAR BEEN REALISED BY THE SUBSEQUENT EVENTS? Thinking about the pedagogic angle, the institutions and students have been involved in the later seminars. Networking has been realised, for example, through getting former lecturers come and teach in Finland later on. The collegial bond created through the seminars has also produced other forms of concrete collaboration. Such collegial networking has benefited Finnish design on the whole.

THE THEME OF SUSTAINABILITY CROPS UP IN VARIOUS SEMINARS. DO YOU SEE A CHANGE OR TREND IN THE WAY ECOLOGICAL ISSUES HAVE BEEN APPROACHED OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEMINARS? Speakers have often presented ecological thoughts and minimalism has been favoured by many.

This is something where the organisers have also wanted to make a stand. The same perspective has also been visible in the architecture symposium. It is crucial that speakers are not chosen mainly based on how prolific, trendy or famous they are. An affinity between the lecturers is desirable, and often the seminar theme has worked as a suitable bridge.

Lecturers on a boat trip to Muuratsalo Experimental House

WHAT CAN A DESIGN SEMINAR OFFER TODAY? The key thing in the seminar is to choose what to emphasise, it is important to be critical about what is going on in the world. We have made an effort to invite speakers that have something substantial to say to designers. The task of design is to produce everyday functional objects with a low ecological footprint for ordinary people. The master-apprentice tradition has been one of the basic ideas behind the seminar; it has been realised with varying success and should be stressed even more.

ANY SINGLE INCIDENT OR PARTICIPANT STUCK IN YOUR MIND OVER THE YEARS? One of the finest lectures was the one given by the late Maarten van Severen in the seminar Skin and Soul in 2001. Finding him was hard enough, and when he came to Finland he walked with the aid of crutches. And then there was a hitch with his computer. In the end, everything went fine and he stayed on for an extra day in Finland. This was the beginning of a friendship between us, and the seminar also sparked his constant interest in Finland.

Another unforgettable name is Enric Miralles (Design for Architecture 1995 exhibition), who designed a piece of furniture for a children’s library that Finnish design students then built for the seminar exhibition. He was so impressed with the result that he invited the entire crew to visit his offices in Barcelona at his expense!

Lecturers visiting Muuratsalo Experimental House

Design for Architecture 18 – 20 August 1995 theme

The aim of the Design for Architecture seminar was to bring together architects and designers. The theme was conceived to explore the interrelationships between a building and the interior design elements in the building and the significance of interior design details for the quality of the building, or, in other words, how to elevate the quality through design. At the core of this emphasis on quality was a need to establish contacts among design and craft professionals. organizing commitee Simo Heikkilä Markku Lahti Tuomo Siitonen Barbro Kulvik Project Secretary

Sirpa Vehkala Marjo Holma

lecturers Thomas Sandel / Sweden Anne Stenros / Finland Mikko Heikkinen / Finland Yrjö Kukkapuro / Finland Susumu Shingu / Japan Mike Waddington / UK Enric Miralles / Spain

Seminar graphics

Nicholas Grimshaw, Design for Architecture exhibition

Aimo Katajamäki

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exhibition related to seminar

Design for Architecture

Alvar Aalto Museum, 18 Aug 1995 - 10 Sep 1995 Design Forum, Helsinki, 13 Sep 1995 - 8 Oct 1995 Several designers and architects were invited to the exhibition to present their latest works. The majority were made by Finnish students at craft and design institutes as projects based on designers’ drawings. The exhibition included various interior design components from furniture to pillars. The exhibition architecture was designed by Simo Heikkilä.

Invited participants: Günther Behnisch Pierluigi Cerri Cubo - architects Knut-Erik Dahl G.W.S.K. Studio Granda Nicholas Grimshaw Knud Holscher Klaus Kada Heikkinen-Komonen Daniel Libeskind Enric Miralles

Molden & Nielsen Steffen Orum Nielsen Gustava Peichl Jorge Pensi Dominique Perrault Umberto Riva Thomas Sandel Afra & Tobia Scarpa Axel Schultes Snöhettan Kai Wartiainen

Design for Architecture exhibition

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1 / Afra & Tobia Scarpa, 2 / SNØHETTA/HAMZA Consortium 3 / Thomas Sandell 4 / Enric Miralles 5 / Dominique Perrault 6 / Jorge Pensi

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Empty?-Tyhjä?

14 - 16 Aug 1998 theme

The point of departure for the Tyhjä? - Empty? seminar was to explore the concept of emptiness, for example, the different cultural conceptions of empty space, emptiness as concrete spaces and boundaries or design as part of this. The perspective of emptiness blurs the already indefinite boundary between architecture and design. organizing commitee Simo Heikkilä / Chair of the Seminar Hannu Kähönen Markku Lahti Tapio Periäinen Project Secretary

Marjo Holma Seminar graphics

lecturers Gijs Bakker / the Netherlands Shigeru Ban / Japan Kaj Kalin / Finland Stefan Lindfors / Finland Thomas Sandell / Sweden Tapio Periäinen / Finland Denis Santachiara / Italy Shigeru Uchida / Japan

Lecturers visiting Muuratsalo Experimental House

Aimo Katajamäki

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exhibition related to seminar

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Tyhjä? - Empty?

Jyväskylä Art Museum, 15 Aug - 20 Sep 1998 (organised by Alvar Aalto museum) In step with the seminar theme, the exhibition set out to show empty objects and spaces. The theme was illustrated through everyday objects, space installations and new objects designed with emptiness as the main motif. A select group of designers around the world was invited to the exhibition and asked to suggest objects of their design, currently in production, that would suit the theme. The exhibition was displayed at the Jyväskylä Art Museum’s premises for temporary exhibitions.

Exhibition architecture: Studio Simo Heikkilä and Leena-Maija Rossi.

Invited participants: Sari Anttonen Åke Axelsson Droog Design Gijs Bakker Konstantin Grcic Pentti Hakala Pekka Harni Richard Hutten Fujiwo Ishimoto Hella Jongerius Jouko Järvisalo Yrjö Kukkapuro Stefan Lindfors Ingo Maurer Jasper Morrison Timo Salli Thomas Sandell Denis Santachiara

Finn Sködt Rune Snellman Ilkka Suppanen Snowcrash Janna Syvänoja Karin Tyrefors Shigeru Uchida Valvomo Architects Yrjö Wiherheimo Merja Winqvist

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1 / Fujiwo Ishimoto, Tyhjä? - Empty? exhibition 1998 3 / Shigeru Uchida, Tea Room, Tyhjä? - Empty? exhibition 1998 2 / 4 / 5 / Tyhjä? - Empty? exhibition 1998

Skin and Soul 10 - 11 Aug 2001 theme

The seminar focused on the relationship between surface and content in architecture, design and art. The premise was the view that surface is becoming more significant: natural materials have been replaced with imitations, the surfaces of objects and buildings can be changed or they can be transparent. The seminar saw a group of lecturers discuss how important the relationship between surface and content was in their design philosophies. organizing commitee Simo Heikkilä / Chair of the Seminar Kimmo Friman Markku Kosonen Esa Laaksonen Yrjö Sotamaa Project Secretary

Marjo Holma

lecturers Konstantin Grcic / Germany Kengo Kuma / Japan Cecilie Manz / Denmark Kas Oosterhuis and Ilona Lénárd / the Netherlands Maarten van Severen / Belgium Ilkka Suppanen / Finland James Irvine / UK

Seminar graphics

Complex Skin, Hidden Soul exhibition

Aimo Katajamäki

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exhibition related to seminar

Skin and Soul Exhibition

Exhibition space in Jyväskylä city centre, 11 Aug - 9 Sep 2001 Fourteen internationally acclaimed architects, designers and artists were invited to offer their interpretations of the seminar theme, the relationship between surface and content, in the Skin and Soul exhibition. The participants approached the theme based on their design principles, bringing out different and thought-provoking views on the subject. Some of the exhibits were produced in Finnish craft and design schools.

Invited participants: Kari Cavén Konstantin Grcic Alfredo Häberli Hisae Igarashi James Irvine

Pasi Järvinen Marja Kanervo Harri Koskinen Kengo Kuma Cecilie Manz

Sarlotta Narjus Kas Oosterhuis and Ilona Lénárd Maarten van Severen Ilkka Suppanen

Complex Skin, Hidden Soul

Alvar Aalto Museum Studio, 11 Aug - 25 Oct 2001 The exhibition acted as a thematic prologue to the seminar and analysed our everyday objects or the materials we encounter by organising them into categories: objects and images, patina, form remnants, imitations of materials and structures, transparency and futile objects. The exhibition was curated by Pekka Harni, Simo Heikkilä and Teija Isohauta.

Wood Studio

Museum of Central Finland, 11 Aug - 2 Sep 2001 A group of industrial design students were assigned to find new uses for aircraft plywood, a traditional material in the aircraft and furniture industry. In this joint project of the University of Art and Design Helsinki, the City of Helsinki and UPM, the students created entirely new products.

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230 V

Jyväskylä city centre, 11 Aug - 9 Sep 2001 Alvar Aalto Academy and Jyväskylä Energy organised an invited competition for the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo members to honour the association’s 90th anniversary. The exhibition saw 17 electricity cabinets get a new cover. This aimed to inspire discussion on the designers’ opportunities to improve the quality of the urban environment.

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1 / Skin and Soul exhibition 3 / Wood Studio exhibition 5 / Complex Skin, Hidden Soul exhibition

Choices 27 - 28 Aug 2004 theme

Designers are constantly making choices, either consciously or subconsciously. The seminar explored the effects of designers’ choices, the alternatives designers have and the contributing factors or restrictions. These choices influence people and the environment; the sustainability of production methods or the material of the product are far-reaching choices. seminar commitee Sari Anttonen / Chair of the Seminar Simo Heikkilä Esa Laaksonen Sarlotta Narjus Ilkka Suppanen Project Secretary

Mari Kovanen Merja Vainio

lecturers Paola Antonelli / Italy/USA Matali Crasset / France Harri Koskinen / Finland Jasper Morrison / UK Patricia Urquiola / Spain/Italy Anna von Schewen / Sweden Inaki Ábalos / Spain Gaetano Pesce / Italy/USA

Seminar graphics

Aimo Katajamäki

Harri Koskinen

Choices exhibition at the Museum of Central Finland

exhibition related to seminar

Choices

Museum of Central Finland, 28 Aug - 26 Sep 2004 The exhibition supporting the seminar theme consisted of choices made by designers: each of the invited lecturers chose six products they had designed for the Choices exhibition. The participants were asked to provide a heading for the ensemble formed by the works and a brief description of the motives. The exhibition architecture was designed by Sari Anttonen. participants: Paola Antonelli Matali Crasset Harri Koskinen Jasper Morrison

Patricia Urquiola Anna von Schewen Inaki Ă balos Gaetano Pesce Matali Crasset, Sari Anttonen and Ilkka Suppanen

Choices exhibition at the Museum of Central Finland

It’s a Beautiful Day 31 Aug - 1 Sep 2007 theme

The fifth design seminar wanted to encourage discussion on what designers can do and whether they can shape the future when it comes to today’s big questions such as climate change, business ethics and technological advances. The magnitude of these questions tempts us to adopt the role of a bystander, but do designers have the means through their own actions to influence what tomorrow will look like? In addition to the keynote lectures, brief presentations were given by selected designers educated in Finland. Both the lecturers and seminar audience were invited to join discussions on the seminar theme in the Lobby Bar events.

seminar graphics

Aimo Katajamäki lecturers Adriaan Beukers / the Netherlands Ronan Bouroullec / France Louise Campbell / Denmark Dai Fujiwara / Japan Miguel Fluxa / Spain Hella Jongerius / the Netherlands

Made in Finland -speakers:

Mikko Paakkanen Arihiro Miyake Nathalie Lahdenmäki Antti Hinkula and Teemu Suviala / Syrup Helsinki Paola Suhonen / IVANAHelsinki Sami Rintala lobby bar moderator:

Mark Isitt

Interview in Lobby bar

seminar board Ilkka Suppanen / Chair of the Seminar Sari Anttonen Simo Heikkilä Esa Laaksonen Tomi Summanen Merja Vainio

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exhibition related to seminar

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It’s a Beautiful Day

Museum of Central Finland, 31 Aug - 30 Sep 2007 A selection of currently produced pieces by the keynote lecturers was exhibited. The exhibition architecture was designed by Ilkka Suppanen. participants: Adriaan Beukers Ronan Bouroullec Louise Campbell

Dai Fujiwara / Issey Miyake Miguel Fluxa / Camper Hella Jongerius / the Netherlands

Made in Finland

Studio, Alvar Aalto Museum, 31 Aug - 7 Oct 2007 The speakers under the theme Made in Finland had some of their prototypes and currently produced objects exhibited. The exhibition architecture was designed by Ilkka Suppanen.

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Mikko Paakkanen Arihiro Miyake Nathalie Lahdenmäki Antti Hinkula and Teemu Suviala / Syrup Helsinki Paola Suhonen / IVANAHelsinki Sami Rintala

Bench for Campus

Jyväskylä University campus, 31 Aug – 31 Oct 2007

The exhibition featured 12 benches designed for the campus area by students of the University of Art and Design Helsinki Wood Studio. The prototypes were created in collaboration with students from the Ingman College of Crafts and Design, and the local inhabitants had the chance of test-sitting the benches and voting for their favourite. The work was mentored by Simo Heikkilä, Karola Sahi and Matti Salo.

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Lobby Bar

The lobby and entrance of the University of Jyväskylä main building, 31 Aug - 1 Sep 2007 The University of Art and Design Helsinki students designed a relaxed seminar lounge in the lobby of the University of Jyväskylä main building and outside the entrance. The aim was to create a more informal environment than a lecture hall for the lecturer interviews and audience discussions. The design covered all details from coffee trays to dustbins. The work was mentored by Ilkka Suppanen, Timo Sairi and Martin Relander.

6 1 / Exhibition at the Museum of Central Finland 2 / Miguel Fluxa

3 / Adriaan Beukersista

4 / Cups and plates in the Lobby bar 5 / Bench for Campus 6 / Dai Fujiwara & Louise Campbell

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editor: Esa Laaksonen assistant editor: Tomi Summanen Cover and layout: Aimo Katajamäki photos: Olli-Pekka Orpo © Alvar Aalto Academy Maija Holma, Rune Snellman, Pekka Helin © Alvar Aalto Museum publisher: Alvar Aalto Academy Alvar Aalto Foundation ISBN 978-952-5371-38-3 www.alvaraalto.fi www.alvaraalto.fi/designseminar