ROUSSA CASSEL » Finland

Nötö Island

Roussa — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:02:17 +0000

I spent the week with a group of students from the University on Nötö Island, in the Turku Archipelago, measuring and documenting a wooden chuch. The church was constructed in 1756 and the paintings were completed in 1771. When we return to the school in Otaneimi we will complete some detailed drawings and a model in the woodshop.

The Island of Nötö only has 9 year round residents who maintain the church and the beautiful graveyard covered with wildflowers. The church was built by a group of seaman whose ship went down and they built the church in gratitute of their survival. You may notice the ceiling of the ship resembles the construction of a ships hull.

We also took a ferry to an island called Utö on the southernmost border of Finland to look at an old lighthouse church. Three of us missed the ferry back that evening and had to sleep on the rocks by the shore. Unfortunately the ferry didn’t come again for 2 days so we were essentially marooned on the island. However, after the first night of camping out we met an awesome young finnish couple that found us a place to stay and invited us to a grill at their house that evening. JP translates books on philosophy from english to finnish and Tiina is a teacher and works at a very small gallery that was created inside of a root cellar. They keep a blog about their life on the island (www.integralisland.blogspot.com)

Fashion in HKY

Roussa — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:54:33 +0000

Finnish people in the metropolian area of Helsinki are so fashionable! Everyone seems to have a unique and indefinable look and the variety of hairstyles is impressive. Sonia Rykiel, Japanese Lolita (gothic, cute and punk) and metal are all big here. The best styles I’ve seen are a mix of thrift, hand-me-downs and a sprinkle of H&M, as seen on Hel-Looks (See my favorites below). Inspired, I went off in search of some threads of my own. The most popular thrift stores here are the UFF chain and there is also a great flea market that is open in the evenings in the summer in Hietalahti Square.

Architecture in Helsinki

Roussa — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:22:26 +0000

After taking a flight directly from Seattle to Copenhagen (only 9 hours!) via the arctic jet stream over Canada and Iceland, I flew into Helsinki and navigated by metro to the apartment the school had arranged for us to sublet for the 2 months we will be here. In a region called Voosari, our apartment building is one of many high-rise flats located throughout the ‘burb’ on the Metro line. The housing is reasonably dense but surrounded by parks and pedestrian walks with very nice bike sheds and a sauna in every apartment.

Housing complexes where I live in Voosari

We met for classes the very next morning at the Helsinki University of Technology on a campus in Otaneimi that was designed by Alvar Aalto. Many of the buildings are quite stunning, down to the very small details like door handles and light fixtures all designed by Aalto. Over the last few days we have visited many works of Architecture, including a number of chapels. In Finland, the predominant religion is Lutheran and a good deal of public money goes to building beautiful churches, even though I have learned the Finns rarely attend church. In fact, during the summer when most Finns are on holiday at their summer cabins, there are almost no services held. Most of the designs are won through competition, and so the chapels are designed by the countries best architects and some by up and coming young architects as well. Here are some of the highlights:

Juha Leiviska, Myyrmaki Church

Siren & Siren, Otaniemi Chapel

Moi (Hello from Finland)

Roussa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:56:52 +0000

I have arrived in Helsinki, Finland for an 8 week program at Teknillinen korkeakoulu (Helsinki University of Technology) for Architectural studies. Please feel free to follow me and leave comments if you will!

My address in Finland is:

Pohjavedenkatu 4a #18

00980, Helsinki