The Pavilion

The Pavilion was a temporary event pavilion that served the public during the summer 2012 when Helsinki was the World Design Capital. More than 80 000 people visited the Pavilion, it’s cafe and the 185 design oriented events held in the Pavilion.

The Pavilion was the assignment for the Aalto University Wood Studio course/student competition that I attended in the spring 2011. I chose the course following my interest in wooden architecture and building. The winning proposal would be built which obviously made the project more interesting both as an opportunity and as a learning possibility. \nAs an assignment the Pavilion also offered a possibility to investigate and design a cultural outdoor space both being themes that I’m interested in. I find building’s relation to it’s surroundings very important both in it’s physical and functional manner. In this instance the two were so interlaced that they practically became one. The site, a parking lot, desperately needs facelifting, the Museums hope to liven up the area, get more customers and develop the concept of the museums into a more interactive and modern one. The Pavilion innately aimed to achieve and offer the same things the site and the museums craved for: an open and easy to approach urban public space with lively events and new ways of thinking about design and architecture.\nThat again meant that the task was not only to design a building but through the intervention of a temporary building there was a real effort to make the streetscape and the city more lively. Combining even small scale architecture into larger scale city development and allowing the citizens to take part in the change is something I find really fascinating.\nI continued the work with a written part of the Pavilion to complete my master’s thesis. Writing about the subject in the thesis and in various other instances has deepened my insights into the Pavilion and into architecture. It has laid a foundation of values and tools for my current and future work as an architect.