Hala Finlandia

The most honorable place among concert and congress centers in Finland is undoubtedly occupied by the Finlandia Hall, which is Aalto's last realization in Helsinki. Although Finlandia is among the largest projects in the city, it is merely a fraction of the unfulfilled vision that accounted for the development of a large part of the Töölö Bay. Although Aalto's urban design for a new center of Helsinki was ultimately not fully realized, this unfulfilled project is key to understanding Finlandia.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Helsinki was granted the status of the capital of the newly established Grand Duchy of Finland. During this period, architect Carl Ludvig Engel designed a magnificent square (now known as Senate Square), the sides of which are still flanked by the cathedral, the senatorial palace, and the university. Alvar Aalto believed that independent Finland deserved a new main square with a new city center close to the parliament, symbolizing this status gained in 1917. Coincidentally, in front of the parliament lay a railway depot that could be relocated anywhere else. Aalto came up with the idea, originally proposed in 1917 by Eliel Saarinen, that this area should serve as a new traffic route named Vapaudenkatu (Freedom Street) leading from the northern suburbs directly into the heart of the city.
Aalto envisioned large fan-shaped terraces arranged over three levels, with the highest point dominated by an equestrian statue of Field Marshal C.G. Emil Mannerheim. The square would open into the Töölö Bay and on one side would be flanked by the concert hall, to which later would be added an opera house, an art museum, a city library, and possibly other public buildings set within the greenery of Hesperia Park.
Freedom Street would be built on columns above the northern railway line, and a magnificent urban scenery would open up to those arriving by car, mirroring the waters of the Töölö Bay, similar to views we are accustomed to seeing at Venetian palaces. The fan-shaped square would greet people with wide arms, while the parliament and the railway station would border it on the sides.
At the request of the city hall, Aalto drew up the first designs for the new center in 1961 and based on feedback, he further refined it in 1964 and 1971. The hall was built between 1967 and 1971, and the first concert took place on December 2, 1971. Design for the congress center began in 1970, even before the main building was completed, with construction taking place between 1973 and 1975. The first event held here was a conference on security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE), where thirty-two top representatives from many countries gathered. After the successful completion of the first phase of this bold urban project, Aalto believed that nothing stood in the way of completing his grand design to build a new center in Helsinki.
In Finlandia, one can find many ideas that Aalto experimented with throughout his lifelong work, particularly for monumental buildings. The form is not dictated solely by practical use or its associated structural solution. Finlandia is, on the contrary, a decoratively conceived composition of cubic forms creating a multifaceted whole, yet none of these masses is purely decorative. Aalto remained faithful to the ideas of functionalism but expanded them by always seeking a practical reason for his expressive forms. The main idea of Finlandia, with an angled tower rising from a massive horizontal base, was to enhance the acoustics of the hall by placing the resonant area at the top of the hall. Due to the suspended ceiling, the audience will not see this fact, but will be able to perceive sound known from high cathedrals. It's a pity that this attempt proved to be not entirely successful in practice. Partial consolation, however, can be the visual monumentality of the exterior.
There are several reasons why Aalto used marble for both the exterior and interior cladding of his building. For him, marble was an important connection to Mediterranean culture, which he sought to bring to Finland.
The interior is a typical example of many of Aalto's signs and motifs. The large asymmetric hall almost lacks any right angle. Its form is closely tied to natural harmony and influenced by acoustic requirements. In a sense, it is a simplified variant of Aalto's magnificent opera hall in the German city of Essen. Between the large hall for 1,700 people and the small auditorium for 340 listeners lies an entrance foyer, which acts as an open landscape lacking any cohesive form, yet is surrounded by significant elements, in which Aalto was a true master. The foyer further continues into the congress wing, whose most distinctive architectural feature is the façade divided into small concave segments. Here, too, the author's motive was ambiguous: on one hand, Aalto wished to preserve several trees growing on the original site, and at the same time, he wanted to break the uniformity of a flat wall.
Every piece of furniture, lighting, or flooring was specially designed for Finlandia down to the last detail and reflects the architect's years of experience. All materials and colors speak in muted natural tones, which aligns perfectly with Aalto's belief that architecture should serve as a backdrop for human activities. Grandeur should not attract attention, nor should vivid colors, but rather the performing artists and the audience. However, something is also expected from the visitors. Guests at Finlandia do not have to dress the same as the audience of traditional operas or theaters, but they should be natural and open like the environment around them.

Experience of the Tour
The Finlandia Hall has become the only realization of a grand urban plan for the redevelopment of Töölö Bay. Over three decades of its existence, the hall has experienced several expansions and modifications. The southern congress center was completed a year before Aalto's death, and to the north, the hall expanded during the 1990s. The hall quickly received monument protection as well as a new outer shell. The cladding made of three-centimeter-thick Carrara marble began to warp and create an interesting textile pattern on the façade, which Aalto did not originally desire. The panels were probably too thin and struggled with the adverse Nordic weather. The replacement of the shell was completed nine years ago. There was also consideration for a replacement for the gray Finnish granite, but ultimately, thicker Carrara marble was used, which was additionally attached from the back to concrete slabs. Today, the cladding is once again cheerfully warping. Enso-Gutzeit, another Aalto building in Helsinki, is currently under scaffolding, where it is having its cladding replaced with the same material as Finlandia had.
The terrace square and the surrounding park are dominated by the white marble cladding of the façade in contrast to black granite. Inside on the ground floor, walls and columns are clad in black and white ceramic strips, evoking the Finnish winter landscape, where a snow-covered forest is interspersed with dark tree trunks (or just the black and white bark of ubiquitous birches). From the entrance, a comfortable staircase leads up to the main promenade, from which there is a beautiful view of the bay through a glass wall. Originally, the foyer was to be entered from the lake, and the entrance from the city was planned as a temporary solution only until three platforms of the new center of Helsinki could be completed on the banks of Töölö. The foyer has a gray carpet, and the walls are adorned with light marble. During performances, people will bring color and life to this gray place through their clothing and movement. Three additional rooms are associated with the foyer, which can be adapted to immediate needs with the help of sliding partitions.
The main hall, with its marble-clad balconies and cobalt-colored bending wooden sculptures, accommodates 1,700 listeners. In the smaller hall for chamber music, there are 340 seats. The acoustics of the large hall cannot be compared much with Essen or Scharoun. Its expanding floor plan with a high ceiling is more suitable for various conferences and modern music concerts. The foyer connects the southern side of the main building with the congress wing completed in 1975, thus creating a single functional whole. The new congress wing contains two new halls (450-900 seats), which can be interconnected.
Inside, curves can be seen in many places. Aalto in Finnish means wave, and these waves manifest in the load-bearing walls, the wardrobe counter, steel rods for climbing plants, or wooden cladding. Aalto approached wood in an interesting way: first he "disassembled" it through the fibers, moved it according to his vision, and then reassembled it. Another interesting motif is the entrance doors to the halls, which are covered with horsehair for acoustic purposes (but possibly also as a musical reference). Among places that are not ordinarily accessible are the VIP section with a separate entrance, backstage, and a private box.