What to Do with Alvar Aalto?
In Finland the influence of the Alvar Aalto has been very strong. It is not easy to say, what to do with Alvar Aalto and his buildings? Let’s take three cases: Library in Vyborg was built just before the Second World War. The former Finnish town was after the war one part of the Soviet Union. During the soviet era the building was in very bad condition. During the last 20 years it has been renovated. Now it looks like it was in the 30es. Some details remind the soviet renovations. Should we have a building like this in his earlier presentation or should we see also the history of the building? Sunila area in Kotka was built by one wood company in the middle of the 20th century. In the 60es the company sold the buildings. The flats are small, in the flats there are toilets but not showers. The situation especially in the 70es was miserable. In the last decades the Pro Sunila society has developed the area and the flats (for example two small flats together as a big one with bigger showers etc.). How we can develop an area? Nano laboratory building in Otaniemi was built in 60es as wood laboratory of the Helsinki University of Technology. There are many very fine architectural details in the building. For about eight years ago the building was renovated as nano laboratory. How to renovate a laboratory building, when you should in the same time use renovation, conservation and build high tech laboratory?