Helsinki Design Week starts soon – see our architecture picks!

This year, the main event venue at Paasivuorenkatu 3 will be the festival’s central stage. The event, set in an old bank hall owned by the Main Partner Antilooppi, promises engaging discussions, exchanges of ideas, and interactions. Event partner Marimekko will ensure that the space of the old bank hall transforms into a comprehensive experience.

The main event venues also include Aalto University’s new Marsio building and Habitare at Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre.

In accordance with the annual theme ‘Underneath’, the event will dive deep into creative processes and highlight the most interesting phenomena in the creative fields at three main venues and around the city with dozens of events.

Main event venue: Paasivuorenkatu 3

Architecture-themed day at HDW: AD-Museum’s discussion and keynote + House of an architect evening
12.9. 16:00
Paasivuorenkatu 3

The first phase of the design competition for the new museum of architecture and design ends on 29th August, 2024. On Thursday, September 12, we will launch an online gallery showcasing the submissions from this phase, followed by talks and presentations related to the new museum. The event, taking place on the main stage of Helsinki Design Week will include compelling insights from members of the museum’s international advisory group and other experts.

The day will culminate in a keynote by Paola Antonelli, MoMA’s senior curator of architecture and design, on museums as agents of change.

The architecture-themed day will end with an inspiring “House of an Architect” evening, where architects will talk about their favorite residential buildings.

Read more through this link.

On the map. To the map.
14.9. 16–17
Paasivuorenkatu 3

Helsinki is full of unique and fascinating architecture and design, with 120 special gems highlighted on a new map created in collaboration between Archinfo, Finnish Design Info, and the City of Helsinki. The “Helsinki Architecture & Design Highlights” map will be published in September 2024. In a panel discussion, we will talk with three design experts about Helsinki as a city of architecture and design: What is on the map now? What should be on the map more? How can we elevate Helsinki and Finnish design on the world map?

The panellists include Helsinki design director Hanna Harris, creative director and chairwoman of the board of Hakola Hannaleena Hakola and landscape architect Janne Saario. The discussion will be in Finnish.

Read more through this link.

Main event venue: Marsio, Aalto University

Designs for a Cooler Planet
6.9.–3.10.
Otakaari 2

See Aalto University’s prototypes of novel materials, textiles, health technology and solutions; you’ll learn how we can foster biodiversity, get a glimpse of space and get to know what cyber security really means. The projects on display encompass a range of developmental stages, from speculative concepts and prototypes to pilots and commercially viable solutions. Things that you cannot yet find from Google.

The Designs for a Cooler Planet festival is one of the three main events of Helsinki Design Week. The festival celebrates innovative and collaborative designs aimed at addressing the impossible sustainability challenges we face.

Read more through this link.

Main event venue: Habitare

Habitare
11.–15.9.
Messuaukio 1

The leading furniture, design and interior event in the Nordics Habitare offers inspiration and experiences for five days.

The Habitare 2024 theme is Layers. This theme treasures the layered and lived-in feel of homes, spaces and objects. It reminds us of the cyclicity of design, the revival of styles, and how the old and the new exist side by side every moment.

Habitare Pro is an inspirational experience dedicated to professionals and design enthusiasts, offering a unique platform to network, and meet the international design community in Helsinki.

Read more through this link.

Lectures and discussions

Forum Box’s architecture lecture series: Juhani Pallasmaa
5.9. 18–19
Galleria Forum Box, Ruoholahdenranta 3 A

Renowned Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa will give a talk titled Hitchchock’s Hidden Paintings at Gallery Forum Box. Alfred Hitchcock hid works of art in his films even more thoroughly than his well-known cameos. Although the director didn’t directly talk about it, he was constantly inspired by visual artists: “I would compare myself to an abstract painter” – after all, he was originally a graphic artist.

The Forum Box space used to be a cold storage room until the artists of the cooperative renovated it for gallery use in 1998–99. The renovation was designed by Juhani Pallasmaa. The lecture will be given in English.

Read more through this link.

Forum Box’s architecture lecture series: Dennis Alan Winters
11.9. 18–19
Galleria Forum Box, Ruoholahdenranta 3 A

Canadian Landscape Architect Dennis Alan Winters will give a lecture titled The Spiritual Nature of Space at Gallery Forum Box. The lecture will be given in English.

Dennis Alan Winters, a Buddhist and a designer of places of refuge for spiritual renewal, invites you to explore questions of space and spirituality: “What is it about Space that makes me feel so alive? Undermines grief? Clears despair and heals the hurt? How can I know what Space is and what it is not, and the mechanism by which Space enriches the profound and everyday ways of thoughts & doings?”

Read more through this link.

RaivioBumann 10-talk: Jan Kattein (Jan Kattein Architects, UK)
11.9. 17–18.30
Online + RaivioBumann and Parkly Studio, Mechelininkatu 23

Dr Jan Kattein, DipArch, MArch, PhD, FIPM is a writer, lecturer and a registered architect in the UK and the Netherlands. His practice is recognized internationally as a leading placemaking and participatory design practices with award-winning projects that are celebrated for their spatial- and civic accomplishments. To address environmental and social challenges, JKA have developed pioneering solutions that embrace circularity through their design, construction and legacy. Jan will present a selection of public projects and speak about his expanded understanding of the role of the architect. The lecture will be given in English.

Read more and register through this link.

Design Diplomacy
11.–13.9.
Helsinki

Design Diplomacy series will produce unique, intimate conversations in embassy residencies around Helsinki. During the event a design professional from the hosting country is to meet a Finnish designer over a card game. Visitors will have an opportunity to experience carefully guarded interiors and unique conversations as in each situation the interlocutors meet for the first time.

Participating countries include Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, and Estonia. The discussions will be held in English.

Read more and register through this link.

New visions in Slovak and Finnish Architecture – panel discussion
12.9. 16:00
Embassy of the Slovak Republic, Vähäniityntie 5

Welcome to our panel discussion about emerging trends in architecture from the depths of Slovak and Finnish academic institutions and the future gamechangers, i.e. the students of architecture. Exchange of thoughts and perspectives will be followed by networking in an artful environment of the Embassy in Kulosaari, Helsinki.

The event is part of a series of panel discussions that were organized by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic during Helsinki Design Week in the past years. It is a great opportunity to exchange views on design and architecture and promote new talents and emerging trends. The event will be held in English.

Read more through this link.

Workshops, walking tours and guided visits

Workshops, guided visits and exhibitions at the Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design Museum
6.–15.9.
Kasarmikatu 24 / Korkeavuorenkatu 23

The Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture will host an extensive array of events throughout the HDW festival. The main summer and autumn exhibition, FIX: Care and Repair, will be open for the duration of the event week. The programme includes public guided tours in Finnish and English, the closing event of the Alusta Pavilion, drop-in workshops and much more.

Read more through this link.

FIX: Architectural Walk
Polished Pearls and Oiled Mechanisms – Care and Repair in Urban Spaces
10.–13.9. 17–18.30
Kasarmikatu 24

On this architecture walk, we will explore Helsinki city centre from the perspectives of care and repair. The tour will cover current infrastructure projects in the city centre as well as landmark sites that have undergone extensive renovation or changes in use.

Tuesday and Thursday tours will be held in English, Wednesday and Friday tours in Finnish.

Read more through this link.

New Urban Nature Workshop
12.9.
Kaasutehtaankatu 1, Building 8

How does a seed germinate, grow roots, and then sprout towards the light? What is it like to be a plant in the city? In Sprawling we immerse ourselves in the world of plants through collective physical exercises: germination, growth, and sprawling.

The PilotGreen project, coordinated by the City of Helsinki’s innovation company Forum Virium Helsinki, is piloting new urban nature solutions in Suvilahti in the summer of 2024. We are organizing a workshop around these experiments, inviting participants to observe urban nature from a new perspective.

Read more through this link.

Green city LEGO Workshop
14.9.
Helsinki City Museum, Aleksanterinkatu 16

In Green city LEGO® -workshop you can build the green city of the future. Could there be more urban nature in Helsinki? How do green areas affect the comfort of an urban environment? Could there be a forest in the middle of the city?

The workshop is a part of the Helsinki City Museum’s Places & Hoods – See Helsinki Anew exhibition program. The workshop is implemented together with Arkki ry, the architecture school for children and young people.

Read more through this link.

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You can find the full programme of Helsinki Design Week through this link.