New reinforcements for Archinfo's projects and communications

This spring, Archinfo’s team shrank to its smallest size since the organisation’s early years, due to funding cuts, the completion of projects, and staff changes, but now autumn has brought some good news regarding our staff! 

In August, art historian Mari Forsberg joined our 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale project as project specialist, and in September we welcomed Elias Jurvanen, a media studies graduate, as communications coordinator. Our communications intern for the summer term, Emmi-Eerika Viita, concluded her internship in mid-September, marking a swift handover to our new intern, Nora Petersen, and with Francesco Raccanelli – who serves as project coordinator for the Venice project every other year – also starting work on the upcoming Biennale Architettura, the Archinfo office is suddenly full again.

New challenges for an experienced professional

Mari was already a familiar colleague to Archinfo from her long career at the Alvar Aalto Foundation, where she served as head of partnerships and, earlier as a producer. At Archinfo, Mari is in charge of the exhibition production process for the Venice Architecture Biennale, while also bringing her expertise and perspective to our other activities.

"Producing the Architecture Biennale exhibition is a motivating task, and I'm excited to be working with curator Kaisa Karvinen and the whole exhibition team. As a bonus, Italy is a country close to my heart as a travel destination," Mari recounts her thoughts on her new role.

"Alvar Aalto's pavilion building, designed in the 1950s, is very familiar to me, but so far I've mostly gotten to know Venice through its food culture. Alongside my actual work – exhibition production – I'm very much looking forward to getting acquainted with the city's squares, streets, buildings, people, and atmosphere."

The Venice Architecture Biennale exhibition is our biggest and most visible project, and the whole staff is involved in it in one way or another. However, we try to make room on Mari's desk for other things as well, since her expertise, such as her knowledge of Aalto and her experience in event production, is valuable across many areas of Archinfo's operations. This has already resulted in an article Mari wrote on the opportunities and obligations that come with World Heritage status for the sites in the Aalto Works series. Read the article here.

“An information centre operating at the heart of the architectural sector is a vantage point from which you can observe what is happening in the field. Architecture that promotes wellbeing and functional environments, as well as experimentation and strengthening participation and a sense of community, are important themes for me, and it would be great to be able to take these forward,” says Mari.

A project to make Finnish architecture known internationally

In late spring, Archinfo received funding for a year-and-a-half-long project to develop an operating model for increasing international awareness of Finnish architecture. As part of the project, we opened recruitment for a communications coordinator in early summer, and from an extensive pool of applicants, we chose Elias Jurvanen to take up the role.

Elias recently graduated with a Master of Arts in media studies, and came to Archinfo straight from his role as publicist for the Turku Animated Film Festival. His previous work experience also includes tasks at the Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy and a communications internship at the Ministry of Finance. As his first assignment at Archinfo, Elias wrote an article on this autumn's Love & Anarchy festival films that touch on architecture. Read the article here.

Also architecture has found its way into the culture and events specialist's life.

"I'm interested in the meanings attached to spaces, as well as the societal impacts of architecture, and I got to touch on this subject in my master's thesis, where I examined semiotic dimensions of urban environments. Over the years, I've gotten to follow the architecture field quite closely through my friends: tagging along with architects, I've found myself stumbling through the darkest corners of abandoned buildings, or visiting Steven Holl's Makuhari housing development on the Tokyo Bay," Elias says.

Spending time with friends who studied architecture has left its mark on Elias.

"I still catch myself, tongue in cheek, using the words spatial experience as I walk in through a doorway, or eyeing ceiling heights and sticking my finger into a suspiciously wide gap in a railing, without knowing exactly what I'm looking for down to the millimetre."

Alongside the international outreach project, Elias's duties include Archinfo's communications more broadly, which naturally also involves communicating about the Venice Architecture Biennale. His tasks will be varied, and his photography and video-editing skills will also be put to good use. So how does working at Archinfo look, after a few weeks, to a humanities graduate with a background in media studies?

"It feels genuinely exciting to get to take my own interests and skills forward as part of the Archinfo team. The role is broader than what I'm used to, and I get to put my visual eye to use in new and more varied ways. Working on the Venice Architecture Biennale is also an exciting opportunity, and it brings a whole new scale to my experience in the events field," Elias says.

A new perspective on the profession

Archinfo has had a communications trainee almost every year since 2018, and in several years, even two. Nora Petersen, who is studying architecture at Aalto University, is our thirteenth trainee in this line.

For a master's-level student, Nora already has considerable work experience in the field of architecture. She has, indeed, chosen a less typical path from what the current system encouraging rapid graduation promotes. What has working in various architectural roles – from building history surveys to construction and urban planning, and from exhibition graphics to communications – brought to a young professional still searching for her professional identity?

"What motivates me most in architecture is the potential for societal impact. I believe that the sustainability of the built environment needs to be developed systematically, as a whole, while also strengthening people's and communities' sense of involvement in their own environment. I have wanted to get as broad a picture as possible of what an architect's work can involve, and at Archinfo I get a view into the field right from the heart of Finnish architecture," Nora describes.

Nora is able to fit her part-time, six-month communications internship around her master's studies. So what does she expect from her time at Archinfo?

"Above all, I'm hoping to learn how the core issues of architecture and the built environment are communicated to people outside the field as well. The built environment is present in all our lives, from the moment we switch on the coffee pot in the morning to the moment we lay our heads on the pillow at night. Architecture's influence is often so interesting precisely because it's almost invisible. It slips into the different situations of our lives and weaves together people, places, and activity."

Nora also feels that discussion around architecture is often needlessly hard to follow.

"Architecture is often discussed in a way that's overly professional or academic, as if architects were only speaking to other architects. At Archinfo, I want to see how we might talk about the important questions in our field in a way that reaches people outside it as well. At the same time, it would be interesting to think about whether, through communications, also people within the field could broaden their perspective on what all architecture can be."

So there's plenty of work ahead – for Nora, Elias, and Mari, as well as for Archinfo's six-person team as a whole. You can find contact details and introductions for the whole staff at this link.