Finnish flags were flying on the 3rd of February – Architecture and design days gathered thousands of participants from all over Finland
Linda Peltola / Archinfo
The flag-flying day on February 3rd, launched last year in honor of Finnish architecture and design and Aino and Alvar Aalto, once again received a warm reception. The architecture and design days gathered participants in sixty events across Finland and online.
The Ministry of the Interior once again recommended a general flag-flying day in honor of Finnish architecture and design on Alvar Aalto's birthday on February 3rd. The day was celebrated for the first time last year and its visibility was even greater this time. Flags were hoisted in public offices and institutions, but also several residential properties and condominiums throughout Finland participated in the celebration.
The medias of the Finnish cities around the country joyfully reported on the day of the Finnish architecture and design. In addition, for instance, the LAB University of Applied Sciences announced their participation in the day by flying the flags at campuses in Lahti and Lappeenranta and also stated that for them, as educators in the field of design, it was important to participate in celebrating Finnish architecture and design.
Behind the flag-flying day, in addition to Archinfo, were the Alvar Aalto Foundation, the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Finnish Association of Architects SAFA, the Association of Finnish Architects’ Offices ATL, the Building Information Foundation (RTS), the Finnish Association of Landscape Architects MARK, Ornamo, and Finnish Association of Interior Architects SIO, Design museum and EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art.
The architecture and design days got a new series of main events at Helsinki City Hall
ArcDesign was celebrated this year for the second time ever on 1st to 5th February. This year's coverage included a number of events across Finland, which were enthusiastically attended on site and remotely: events were organized both as physical meetings and as online events. All in all, thousands of architecture and design lovers participated in the festival.
The new series of main events at Helsinki City Hall also received an enthusiastic reception, which gathered a large audience to listen both on-site and remotely - the main events were followed by a total of around 800 listeners. The multi-faceted series was organized in a wonderful setting at the city hall with a warm atmosphere, and the listeners who were participating on site, enthusiastically joined the discussions.
The event week also marked the 125th anniversary of Alvar Aalto. The day of celebration was reflected in the main program, as people gathered at the city hall for a birthday cake to watch the presentations on the future perspectives of the new Aalto2 museum center and the Paimio Sanatorium.
In the ‘Quality of Living’ main discussion at Helsinki City Hall, the thoughts of three designers of the living environment were heard from the perspectives of architecture, interior architecture and landscape architecture. The designers were told about the central themes guiding the future of the built environment: accessibility, nature's carrying capacity and planetary well-being. More than 200 people followed the main discussion on quality of living.
Read more about the Quality of Living main discussion (link).
