The Alvar Aalto Symposium – a forum for international architecture since 1979

Architect, Professor Juhani Pallasmaa will moderate a panel discussion on 12.8.2021 considering how the Alvar Aalto Symposiums have anticipated future developments in architecture, as well as reflected the architectural debate of their time.

The first Alvar Aalto Symposium was held in Jyväskylä in 1979, with more than 400 participants from 14 different countries. Internationality, and the artistic, social and technical potential of modern architecture have from the beginning been central themes of the symposiums. Star speakers in the sciences and arts, from Kenneth Frampton to Georg Henrik von Wright and Kaija Saariaho, as well designers, both domestic and international stars of architecture, such as Alvaro Siza, Charles Correa, Herman Hertzberger, Kazuyo Sejima, Gert Wingårdh and Shigeru Ban, just to name a few, have already made the symposium an established event. To many of the participants, just as important has been the global networking and the exchange of opinions surrounded by Alvar Aalto’s architecture in summertime Jyväskylä.

Providing the introduction for the discussion of industrial construction, urban planning and future visions are the symposium’s speakers: architect Xu Tiantian (DnA_Design and Architecture, China), architect Thomas Bonde-Hansen (Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Denmark), architect, Professor Ute Schneider (KCAP Architects&Planners, Rotterdam/Zürich/Shanghai), and architect Tuomas Kivinen (Virkkunen & Co, Finland). Beniamino de Liguori Carino, secretary general of the Adriano Olivetti Foundation, and architect Pippo Ciorra of the MAXXI MUSEUM will tell success story of Adriano Olivetti’s company. Film Programmer at the National Audiovisual Institute KAVI, Antti Alanen, will talk about Alvar Aalto as a film aficionado, who became the chairman of the first Finnish film club called Projektio.

New technology and renewable biomaterials from Finnish forests

The future visions of the forest industry will be presented by Sebastián Hernández Maetschl, Building Development Manager of Stora Enso’s Wood Products division, and Ville Hietalahti, Senior Vice President of Stora Enso’s Enterprise Risk Management and Real Estate Finland. Designer Pirjo Kääriäinen, Associate Professor in Design and Materialities at the Aalto University, will talk about the biomaterial innovation boom in Finland; for example, how wood-based raw materials, such as cellulose, can replace oil-based raw materials and also create future markets.

Architect Charlotte Skene Catling (Skene Catling de la Peña, UK) and Adam Lowe, adjunct professor at Columbia University (USA) and founder of the Factum Foundation (Spain) will tell about the AALTOSIILO art project, and the research centre for industrial heritage which is being realised in the Aalto-designed silo building from 1931 in Toppila in Oulu. The hydropower cultural heritage project VekuVaku highlights the hydropower plants along the Oulujoki and the Luleå rivers and their communities; building researcher Samuli Paitsola will talk about the works of Alvar Aalto and Aarne Ervi along the Oulujoki river.

The symposium moderators are architect Professor Antti Ahlava from the Architecture Department at Aalto University, chairman of Docomomo Suomi Finland Petteri Kummala PhD from the Finnish Museum of Architecture and architect Tommi Lindh, CEO of Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Virtual broadcasts of the two-day English-language 15th Alvar Aalto Symposium can be followed around the world. The event is organized by the Alvar Aalto Academy in cooperation with the City of Jyväskylä and other partners.

Book your virtual ticket now here.
Tickets: virtual 2-day Early Bird ticket 88€ until 30.6.2021, later 110€  / students 20€.
The price of the virtual ticket includes for instance, virtual tours of Alvar Aalto’s sites.

A limited number of tickets are on sale online for the live broadcast in Jyväskylä as well as the accompanying programme, for instance, guided tours of Aalto’s works in Jyväskylä.

Further information:
Nina Heikkonen, Programme Manager
Alvar Aalto Foundation
+358 44 500 1257
nina.heikkonen@alvaraalto.fi

Aila Svenskberg, Communications, PRESS
Alvar Aalto Foundation
+358 40 659 1930
aila.svenskberg@alvaraalto.fi