The Eye & the Icon

What do we really see when we look at buildings familiar to us from the media? Students from the studio course at Aalto University’s Department of Architecture analyzed the relationship between architectural photography and the material, spatial and experiential reality of architecture. The exhibition presents the students’ reinterpretations of 15 well-known architectural sites in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The buildings selected for the analysis were designed in the 1980s and 1990s, and each of them received much media attention at the time they were completed, as well as the status of an acclaimed example of Finnish contemporary architecture.

The students participating in the exhibition are: Olga Juutistenaho, Inkeri Kankkunen, Elsa Karvanen, Lauri Kyrö, Jussi Littunen, Anna Markkula, Ella Nikulainen, Aino Salo, Netta Siljander, Aaro Timonen, Valentin Valotie, Iiro Virta, Yuxin Wu, Caspar Åkerblom and Petra Åström.

The studio course was directed by Professor Jenni Reuter, and the concept was formulated by Anni Vartola, senior lecturer in architecture theory at Aalto University. The buildings have been selected by the staff of the Museum of Finnish Architecture’s archives. The exhibition has been designed by architect and university teacher Tuomas Siitonen.