Studio Suomi: Finland Summer Abroad
Date: May 26 through August 13, 2022
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Location: Helsinki, Finland
This collection of photographs highlights some of the amazing sights and experiences from my 2022 summer abroad trip to Helsinki, Finland. Accompanied by twenty-one classmates and seven faculty throughout the trip, Finland 2022 brought together amazing educational experiences and a true sense of explorative travel. With our various architectural courses being based out of Aalto University, located just outside of Helsinki in the town of Espoo, Helsinki's exceptional public transit system allowed for unlimited exploration and fostered a sense of connectedness between parts of the city.
Regarding studio and class work, our first task asked us to measure, diagram, and then create hand drawings for an existing piece of architecture near Helsinki. After completing the drawings, a physical model was created for both buildings. The buildings used in this exercise were Lars Sonck's Villa Ainola and Alvar Aalto's Villa Kokkonen. The next phase of the studio looked at the experiential and theoretical, asking us to design interventions that would embrace Helsinki's extensive underground infrastructure. The group also took a historical course focusing on Finnish architecture and a photography course, which asked us to take photographs throughout our summer that would eventually be combined into a photo book. A free travel week was also worked into the trip, and I traveled to both Stuttgart and Munich, Germany.
A brief reflection from my photo book, Studio Suomi, highlighting my first steps into central Helsinki:
"New places, new people, new sounds, new smells, the new city truly puts one in a temporary state of delirium. However, I always find this state of delirium exciting and truly immersive. Walking through streets that I have never seen before and hearing languages that make no sense to my ears represent moments of both rełection and intense observation. As a keen observer of the environment around me, the new city represents more than just a new place; it represents a carefree opportunity to just be present within an environment. With a jetlagged mind, the new city represents a pure first take at a place. My first day in Helsinki was extremely important and represented a milestone that all abroad students must welcome: embracing a new home city. However, after leaving behind the initial travel logistics and anxieties of our nearly twenty-four-hour trip, Helsinki quickly became the most welcoming home. After taking my first metro ride from the airport to Helsinki’s fantastic Central Train Station, the Helsingin Päärautatieasema, we all temporarily stowed away our bags and started exploring the city. The crowded streets, yells and chatter of hundreds of pedestrians, and the massive urban scale of central Helsinki were some of the first things that caught my attention. As we traveled through the City Center shopping mall, adjacent to the Central Station, and past city-wide destinations such as the Artek Store and Helsinki Cathedral, the scale and overall feel of Helsinki and Finland still didn’t make sense to me. But, it didn’t need to. The following three months of exploration, growth, work, and discovery would more than succeed in showing me why Finland, specifically Helsinki, is a truly unforgettable place."
