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Aarno Ruusuvuori

Helsinki, Finland
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Aarno Emil Ruusuvuori (January 14th 1925- February 22nd 1992) was a Finnish architect, professor and director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture. He studied at Helsinki University of Technology, completing his studies in 1951. Ruusuvuori worked in several architectural offices from 1947 to 1952, when he established an office of his own. He was the editor of the Finnish Architectural Review in 1956-57 and taught at Helsinki University of Technology since 1960, as Professor of Architecture in 1963-66. He was a director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture in 1975-78 and 1983-88 and State Art Professor in 1978-83.

Aarno Ruusuvuori was a strict modernist, who became known for his reduced concrete buildings which he oftendesigned in a Brutalist style. He was one of the central architects in Finland during the 1960s. He made an international breakthrough with the Hyvinkaa Church and Parish Centre in 1961. His Huutoniemi Church and Parish Centre were built in Vaasa in 1964 and Tapiola Church and Parish Centre in Espoo the following year.

He designed such famous industrial buildings as the Weilin & Goos printing house in Espoo and the now demolished Marimekko printing house in Helsinki. The Weilin & Goos building, constructed in two stages in 1964 and 1967, now mainly serves as a museum. Ruusuvuori's oeuvre also includes offices and public buildings, for instance the renovation and partial restoration of the Helsinki City Hall block, a lengthy work started in 1970 and finished in 1988. For his work on the Helsinki City Hall he created a lot of controversy during the early 1970s. Ruusuvuori preserved the main festival hall, but demolished many of the interiors, preserving only their facades. This saga, together with many other developments where historical buildings were demolished was captured in an influential book by architects Vilhelm Helander and Mikael Sundman, titled "Kenen Helsinki?" ("Whose Helsinki?").

Besides concrete, Ruusuvuori also used wood as princicpal building material. His Marisauna, made of prefabricated units in 1968, is one of his experimental wooden structures.

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Helsinki, Finland
  1. Museum of Finnish Architecture
    www.mfa.fi
  2. Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
sveneggers, August 12th, 2016
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