I write in margins

Viime viikkoina olen lenkkeillyt ahkeraan ympäri Turkua. Olen mennyt alueille ja kujille, joita en ole aikaisemmin kolunnut ja olen törmännyt toinen toistaan hienompiin turkulaisiin rakennuksiin. Mutta olen havainnut fiilisteleväni rakennuksia, joille ei arkkitehtuuripalkintoja ole myönnetty ja jotka eivät arkkitehtuurikirjojen kansia koristaisi. Tämä on ylistyslaulu rumuuden estetiikalle. Arkkitehtuurille, jota yleisimmin pidämme kaupunkikuvan rumistuksena. Mutta arkkitehtuuri on tarpeeksi rumaa, siitä tulee kaunista. Aloin miettiä tätä erityisesti, kun viime viikonloppuna kolusin yliopistomäkeä. Oikaisin lenkilläni kohdassa, josta en ollut aikaisemmin kulkenut. Rakennus sijaitsee yliopistonmäellä Turussa ja sen nimi on Juslenia. Sen on piirtänyt arkkitehti Aarne Ehojoki ja Turun yliopisto on päättänyt purkaa rakennuksen suurimman osan kansaa hurratessa vieressä. Juslenia, Turun yliopistonmäki. Arkkitehti Aarne Ehojoki. Itse kommentoin rakennusta Facebookiin jakamassani kuv...

MTV uudisti kanaviensa ilmeen. Ilme otetaan käyttöön 4.11.2013. Uuden ilmeen suunnitteli lontoolainen suunnittelutoimisto DixonBax, joka kertoo luonnostelleensa sen käsin. Logon moderni muotokieli johdattaa katseen ympyrän keskelle. Ympyrän, joka on heijastuma MTV:n vanhan pöllölogon silmästä. Uusi logo on myös kutsu yleisölle tulla nauttimaan MTV:n tarjoamista elämyksistä. Toimitusjohtaja Heikki Rotkon mukaan uudistuksessa seurataan tiiviisti mediankäytön muutoksia ja suomalaisten mielipiteitä mediasta. Sosiaalisella medialla on tässä keskeinen rooli ja erityisesti ajankohtaisohjelmissa sosiaalisen median tuoma yhteisöllisyys kytkettäisiin aivan uudenlaisella tavalla mukaan ohjelmiin. Sen verran vilkkaasti uusi logo on netissä liikkunut, että MTV:tä voi jo nyt onnitella siitä, että he onnistuivat kytkemään sosiaalisen median mukaansa jo logon julkistusvaiheessa. Logon "tulla nauttimaan elämyksistä" -visio asettautuu uuteen valoon, kun pohdinnan keskiöön nousee, onko lo...

T-Sairaala, TYKS, Finland , a set on Flickr. Architect: Mikael Paatela , Year of completion 2013. A visit to a new T-Hospital in Turku was an exciting experience for someone who appeciates lean and functional architecture. A week ago I visited first time in the new T-hospital in Turku. A hospital which would replace among other things one of the signal buildings of the Finnish architecture: Alvar Aalto 's Paimio Sanatory (video). Paimio has been in active hospital use since 1930's and now, almost 80 years later, it was replaced with the new modern hospital building. But how does the new building comparison with an old one drawn by one of the icons in the modern architecture? Comparison, of course, is just for fun since you can't really make a comparison between these two buildings. One central part of Paimio's great design is how the place is situated in the middle of the nature and how Aalto's architecture brings the surrounding nature as part of the b...

Today, before heading to the office I went to the carspotting. Gumball3000 2013 supercars arrived this morning (the 20th May, 2013) to the Turku harbour in order to drive further to Helsinki. This created an opportunity to spot them from the roadside of E18. Perhaps one of the most special car today was Mercedes McLaren Stirling Moss (photo below) of which there are only 75 cars produced totally. Wikipedia writes: The SLR Stirling Moss is a limited edition (75 vehicles) of the series, which uses a speedster styling that does not include roof or windscreen. The design is inspired by the 300 SLR race car, and was by Korean designer Yoon Il-hun. Mercedes McLaren Stirling Moss Another special one was - also stopped by the gas station I was - Swedish pro-skier Jon Olsson's Rebellion R2K. Based on an Ultima GT-R, this thing has a twin-turbo R8 V10 engine in the back... but no air conditioning! Rebellion R2K based on Ultima GT-R, in Gumball3000 's YouTube channel And...

In 2010 Finland's National Brand Committee lead by former Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila presented its paper to a former Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. The committee stated proudly that Finland was the forerunner of democracy since Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for parliament. But something was left out from the report. Something which was part of the Finnish Social Policy in many decades of the 20th Century. In many countries this would be called slavery. And this is something which is quieted story of the Finnish history. A modern time slavery. Finnish historician Jouko Halmekoski writes about the modern slave market which was the fact in Finland as late as in the 1950's. He interviewed 25 persons who had been auctioned away by the local government in order to save money in sustaining the children. The lowest bidders won the custody of the child for one years period. Ironically the auction was held in the 29...

Yesterday evening I published a photo from my local pub in Facebook. It was a photo from a sign announcing a new drink called StarWars (Tähtien Sota in Finnish) made up by Hugo's bartender. Ja llu, a.k.a Jaloviina is Finland's Jack Daniels. Known as a drink for rockers, poets and bohemians. A real classic. Jaloviina won Finnish hearts in 1932 when the Prohibition was abolished in Finland after 13 years in practice. Jaloviina (noble spirits, free translation) is cognac blended with grain spirit. Blending ratio is expressed with the stars. One star Jaloviina's blending ratio is 1/4 of cognac, two stars' (came back to the market this year due to 80th Anniversary) 1/2 of cognac. So, the loving relationship and the cultural roots of the plausible succesful image sharing were existing. I published the photo in my Facebook account yesterday around 8 PM. Now, 19 hours later it has become viral. Through my account it has 550 shares, and when some people adopted my phot...