Haltia Finnish Nature Center in Espoo, Finland
proj.: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, 2013
Photo: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio
Edit: So how can you characterize contemporary architecture?
Rainer: Reading and describing contemporary architecture is always quite a puzzling task. Each generation of architects sets its own rules and criteria by which it creates. The most important thing is to define our goals. It is imperative that we answer the questions why and why we are designers, what are our tasks. As we search for answers, we must remember that we are artists who should protect our individualism. At the same time, we should be able to adapt our knowledge and ideas to the criteria relevant to the emerging, new society. In the current situation, I am absolutely sure, this means establishing principles to help find answers to the biggest and most important challenge of our time - climate change. We need to start thinking about this issue in terms of architecture: what we need and what we can give up, how much and what materials we should use for a new building.
We also need to consider whether it is necessary to start work on a new building, project, or even a neighborhood or entire city. We need to expand our knowledge of materials science: production methods, ecology, we should better understand the idea of energy efficiency and so on. All this should become part of architectural studies. The concept of "sustainability" should be considered through the prism of architecture in the broadest sense. One of our tasks is to humanize not only the materials themselves, but also the process of building construction. Before we start introducing any new principles into the world of architecture, we need to think them through and develop them well.
Finnish Nature Center Haltia in Espoo, Finland
proj.: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, 2013
Photo credit: Alex Davidson
Edit: In recent years, the Pritzker Prize has been awarded to designers dealing with social issues (Alejandro Aravena), vernacular architecture (Balkrishna Doshi) or excellent craftsmen (Grafton Architects). Can we surmise that the days of iconic architecture are coming to an end?
Rainer: The question of whether we should move away from a certain type of surprising architecture (wow-architecture) has been present in the debate for several years. Because on the one hand, when creating such buildings, do we not accidentally forget about real human needs? On the other hand, it is important to remember that such special objects make up the history of architecture, and are a reflection of our lives and our culture. In the future, too, we will need unique objects. Perhaps in some time this distinguishing factor will not be the forms and shapes of solids alone. Perhaps the determinant of uniqueness will be related to materials or solutions that are still unknown to us.
Changes in architecture occur relatively slowly, but the first signs of them can already be observed. The recently dominant architectural style is coming to an end, and the standards set by young designers are shaping an architecture that is much more modest and humble in expression. We therefore need to better understand the foundations of architecture, and at the same time, as architects, we should interact - hand in hand - with society. We must remember that with our profession we serve it, not ourselves. I also hope that the characteristic figure of the demiurge architect, the hero architect - still prevalent in the media - will finally be forgotten. More and more alternative silhouettes of designers are appearing, thanks in part to female architects creating great examples of contemporary architecture. However, we still need more new attitudes and role models possible against the individuality of starchitects. I would like us to talk less about styles in the future. It would be much more interesting to consider how we should work together to solve the environmental problems of the modern world, what are the trends in the approach to architecture, what questions and challenges await us in the future.
Edit: Architects are increasingly becoming mediators, researchers, educators, activists. Who is the contemporary designer?
Rainer: When I decided to study architecture in my middle school days - inspired by my art teacher, who noticed my individual drawing style - I was convinced that the construction sector was among the least interesting. However, I decided to start studying architecture. One of the main reasons was the discovery and deep conviction that architecture belongs to the art world much more than to the construction sector, which I disliked at the time. Although this way of thinking seems a bit naive to me now, I still think it is very important for us architects to remember that we are also artists - I would like to emphasize this clearly. Of course, we need to have great soft skills that allow us to communicate, manage a team, manage projects. However, in this long and complicated process, there must always be at least one person who can manage architecture brilliantly from the point of view of art.
Time is moving faster and faster today, we have less and less time to think, to think architecture and about architecture. We have to take care of the project budget, schedules, technical solutions, analyze all possible technologies and processes that may be involved in the project. Our practice of architecture is dominated by everyday and mundane matters. We don't have enough time to develop it in the full sense. Knowing the technical aspects is as important as being able to translate them into human life. I think that today we suffer from a lack of time to think about our development in the field of architecture.
Lost Shtetl museum and memorial, Šeduva, Lithuania (under construction)
proj.: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects
Edit: Buckminster Fuller said: "We are all astronauts on a spaceship called Earth." What task on that ship falls to architects?
Rainer: One of our tasks is to support politicians and the public in creating a more comfortable living environment, which we will leave for future generations and which should be in better shape than when we found it. When Buckminster Fuller first presented his ideas in the 1960s, we were dealing with the first climate crisis. We saw for the first time that natural resources were not inexhaustible, and that their consumption on a massive scale was destroying the planet. Fuller and the architects associated with him were right to call for us to think about these processes more broadly - not just locally, but globally. If we want to respond to contemporary problems, we need to understand that we cannot work alone in our individual professional bubbles. We should participate more often in public debates and discussions - including political ones at the local and international levels. This process must also be initiated at universities.
Of course, gaining knowledge about the history and theory of architecture is very important, but we should attach equal importance to setting new directions for future architecture and its makers. Universities should have developed strategies on how and what to teach young architects so that such development is possible. Although architecture belongs to the world of art, it is also part of science and technology. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to understanding the mechanisms that govern the environment, how planet Earth works. At the same time, we need to be able to communicate all these important issues to politicians and decision-makers. As architects - but at the same time artists - we should be able to broaden our profile and be able to present our views to a wider audience.
Lost Shtetl - museum and memorial, Šeduva, Lithuania (under construction)
proj.: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects
Edyta: For decades we have been fascinated by the idea of the city. Nowadays there is a growing interest in the countryside and the interdependence between it and the city. Can we predict what the future holds for villages and what role they can play in finding solutions to climate change?
Rainer: I was born in the countryside and spent my childhood and youth there, so the lifestyle associated with it is close to my heart. That's probably why observing the changes taking place in its landscape puts me in a pessimistic mood. Nearly eighty percent of Finland's villages are abandoned, their residents moving to cities in the southern part of the country. This process began in Finland - but also in other European countries - after World War II. Let's not forget that modern cities are populated by people coming from small towns and settlements - which in this context is another interesting thread. The question of how to manage small towns and villages in the future is now a very important issue - including at the political level.
Although we are not yet quite sure where to start working on this issue and which direction will be the right one, finding a solution to this problem is a very urgent matter. Today, the countryside is becoming a leisure space, losing its agrarian character. The farming profession is becoming more and more industrialized, so that the standards of living associated with it are going away, and with them the characteristic way of organizing and transforming the landscape. The tendency to work in the city and live outside it, surrounded by nature, is still extremely strong. The interdependence between the two organisms can therefore be looked at both from the perspective of the typology of housing arrangements and from the perspective of the organization of transportation. Especially the latter is interesting and important. We should better understand traffic and its generators, how it happens and how it is organized. Living in one place and working in another remote center generates a huge number of trips made mainly by private car. We should therefore rethink how to manage transportation from an energy efficiency perspective, so that the system can be more sustainable and less energy-intensive. On the surface only, this issue may seem trivial, but if we consider the number of daily trips in and out of the city and the deplorable state of public transportation, the problem gains in importance and its solution becomes extremely urgent from an ecological perspective.
Edyta: What are the biggest challenges the countryside will face in the near future?
Rainer: As an architect, I think the biggest challenge today is isolated villages and homes. In Scandinavia, life in the countryside is not seen as valuable, almost everyone wants to live in the city. I am overwhelmed with sadness when, traveling in my hometown and in other areas of Finland, I see land that no one cultivates, abandoned. I fear that it will remain that way forever. I also see abandoned houses, slowly, along with the craftsmen who can make them, the details disappear. By losing what was developed by our ancestors, we are separating ourselves from what was a very important part of our identity and history. Analyzing this phenomenon would probably help us find a way to protect our planet. No matter how difficult it may prove to be, I hope and believe that we can save the countryside. Finding new avenues for business development - not just tourism, which plays a key role in Lapland, for example - may be one opportunity. I would like to save the rural landscape from oblivion.
Edyta: Thank you for the interview.
interviewed: Edyta Skiba
Illustrations provided courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.
