News Archive

July 28 2010

Architectural student Heikki Muntola has won first prize in the Helsinki Townhouse competition with his proposal titled [tabula rasa] by a unanimous vote of the jury.

July 23 2010

Structures of creative Helsinki

Is Helsinki more creative than other cities, and what makes Helsinki creative? A new study reviews creative Helsinki from the perspective of the preferred locations of both artists and IT professionals in terms of living and working.

July 19 2010

The best of recent Finnish architecture

The summer exhibition at the Museum of Finnish Architecture presents some of the most notable Finnish architecture from 2008-09, continuing on a biennial Museum tradition now in the fourth edition. Finnish Architecture 0809 displays 25 projects that together offer a broad cross-section of current Finnish architecture, ranging from small to large projects – from summer houses and single-family homes to entire urban areas.

July 7 2010

Oiva Toikka in retrospect

One of the grand names of Finnish design, Oiva Toikka (born 1931) is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a designer for Iittala. In honour of the event, Design Museum in Helsinki has organized a major retrospective of Toikka’s work as its summer exhibition.

June 30 2010

Millennium Prize goes to inventor of dye-sensitized solar cells

Finland’s biennial Millennium Technology Prize has been awarded to Professor Michael Grätzel from Switzerland for his third generation, low cost, dye-sensitized solar cells.

The Millennium Technology Prize is a tribute to life-enhancing technological innovations. The prize awards technologies that have a positive impact on the quality of life and are based on humane values.

June 23 2010

Helsinki projects ashore in a container in London

The exhibition Helsinki Horizon 2030, produced by the Helsinki City Planning Department, was opened in London on Friday, 18 June. It is one of the many exhibitions in connection with the London Festival of Architecture.

June 18 2010

Open call for mobile developers to join World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

“Mobile technology can be an enabling factor in solving wicked problems,” said CEO Martti Malmivirta of the Eera business management consultancy at a MobileMonday event in Helsinki in early June. He made an open call for mobile technology and service developers to tap into the opportunities offered by World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 (WDC Helsinki 2012).

June 11 2010

Nuuksio Nature Centre to showcase Finnish nature and wood architecture

Nuuksio in Espoo will become home to a new forum of cultural and nature activities in 2012, the year of World Design Capital Helsinki. A new Nature Centre will offer a window to Finnish nature and showcase today’s ecological Finnish wood architecture at this wilderness site only 40 kilometres from the Helsinki City Centre.

June 9 2010

Project plan for Central Library revealed

Helsinki’s Töölönlahti Bay area will be home to a major Central Library, housed in a new building designed for the purpose. According to the new project plan, the library will open its doors in June 2017 and welcome 5,000 visitors daily.

June 3 2010

Foundation to manage World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

A new foundation will be established to manage the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project, according to a Helsinki City Council decision of June 2, 2010. The foundation will be named International Design Foundation (Kansainvälinen designsäätiö in Finnish, and Internationella Designstiftelsen in Swedish).