Juhani Pallasmaa
Juhani Uolevi Pallasmaa (born September 14, 1936, Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a Finnish architect and former professor of Architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology. Pallasmaa is a former Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture (1978-1983). He runs his own architect's office - Arkkitehtitoimisto Juhani Pallasmaa KY - in Helsinki. He is also Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
His exhibitions of Finnish architecture, planning and visual arts have been displayed in more that thirty countries and he has written numerous articles on cultural philosophy, environmental psychology and theories of architecture and the arts. His articles are often featured in ARK (The Finnish Architectural Review).
Among Pallasmaa's many books on architectural theory is "The Eyes of the Skin - Architecture and the Senses", a book that has become a classic of architectural theory and is required reading on courses in many schools of architecture around the world.
A selection of essays written by Pallasmaa, from the early years to more recent ones, has been translated into English and collated together in the book "Encounters - Architectural Essays" (Helsinki, 2005), edited by Peter MacKeith. The book was shortlisted for the RIBA 2005 International Book Award.
Pallasmaa is a member of the International Academy of Architecture and honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
A selection of architectural works designed by Juhani Pallasmaa
In terms of architectural production, the work Juhani Pallasmaa has undergone a shift during his career. His early career is characterised by concerns with rationalism, standardization and prefabrication. This was partly due to the influence of his mentor Professor Aulis Blomstedt, who was very much concerned with proportional systems and standardization. However, the key models were both Japanese architecture and the refined abstractions of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In Finland this is referred to as "constructivism", and at that time, the late 1950s and 1960s, stood in oppostion to the work of Alvar Aalto, who was increasingly seen in his home country as an idiosyncratic individualist. But the interest in Japan also contained the seeds for Pallasmaa's later concerns; materiality and a phenemenology of experience. It was after returning from teaching in Africa that Pallasmaa turned away from pure constructivism, and took up his concerns with psychology, culture, and phenomenology. His concern for details and small works such as exhibition design has sometimes earned him the label "jewel-box architect". 2006 saw the completion of his largest ever work, the Kamppi Center, incorporating the main bus station, a shopping centre and housing in central Helsinki, though the work was split up into different sections involving various architects.
- Kamppi Centre, Helsinki, 2003-2006.
- Snow Show, Lapland (with Rachel Whiteread), 2004.
- Bank of Finland Museum, Helsinki, 2003.
- Pedestrian and cycle bridge, Viikki Eco-village, Helsinki, 2002.
- Itä Keskus Shopping Centre, Helsinki; major extension, glass covered boulevard (interior, bridge and kiosk structures, street furniture, advertizing systems) 1989-91.
- Ruoholahti Residential Area, Helsinki: design of outdoor spaces (canal, parks, bridges, materials, lighting, street furniture, etc.), 1990-91.
- Institut Finlandais (Finnish Institute), 60, Rue des Ecoles, Paris, 1986-91.
- Helsinki Telephone Association, phone booth design, 1987.
- Helsinki Old Market Hall, Helsinki, renovation 1986.
- Art Museum, Rovaniemi, renovation 1984-86.
- Moduli 225 (with Kristian Gullichsen), model industrial summer house, 1969-1971.
"I see the task of architecture as the defence of the authenticity of human experience" (Juhani Pallasmaa, Encounters)
References
- Juhani Pallasmaa, Encounters. Architectural Essays. Edited by Peter MacKeith. Rakennustieto: Helsinki, 2005.
- Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin. Architecture and the Senses. John Wiley: New York, 2005.
- Juhani Pallasmaa, The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema. Rakennustieto: Helsinki, 2001.
External links
- PALLASMAA Juhani Uolevi International Who's Who. accessed September 1, 2006.