Getting organised with a new notebook 29.07.2017 – Posted in: Inspiration

How do you visualise the annual cycle in your head? I perceive the progress of time as a spiral. The new year begins in August; then it gradually gravitates down to the silence of domestic cosiness of the dark Christmas time. Around February, the loop starts climbing towards the spring. The high summer marks the high peak and a standstill. Consequently for me, these last days of July mark the beginning of a new annual…

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Books build history 20.06.2017 – Posted in: Inspiration

The Nordic branch of art libraries network Arlis had their annual conference in Helsinki last week, and I was invited to give a speech at the event. What could be more rewarding an audience than a roomful of librarians to talk about old books and the meaning of libraries! The conference focused on library customers, and I was asked to tell about how I used libraries when I worked a few years ago on my…

Kaupungin piirteet, Stadens prägel, Outlining A City

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New book about Helsinki: Outlining a City 01.06.2017 – Posted in: Inspiration

The Pro Helsingfors Foundation has just published a fantastic new book about Helsinki: Kaupungin piirteet – Stadens prägel – Outlining a City. It is published by a small quality publisher AtlasArt and the editor is my distinguished colleague Juha Ilonen, architect, photographer, designer, educator, and author of several Helsinki books such as his intriguing urban study The Other Helsinki: The Reverse Face of Architecture in the City (2014). The hefty new book is outstanding both in…

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From Helsinki with love 12.05.2017 – Posted in: Inspiration

Mother Nature seems to have forgotten Finland altogether. The last few weeks have been exceptionally cold – so cold that our famous weatherman recently burst into laughter in the middle of his daily forecast. Well, that’s Finnish spring for you, dear friends. Welcome to Helsinki, the city of warm hats, scarves and mittens in May. Should you seriously consider a visit to Helsinki, or should you be one of those fascinating freaks who collect guidebooks,…

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Pens, pens, architect’s pens 01.04.2017 – Posted in: News

Ask an architect about an architect’s pens and get lectured about precision and flow, thinness and blackness, price and durability. For someone who scribbles and dabbles notes and sketches for projects whenever in need, a pen is not just a pen, but a vehicle for thoughts and ideas. For those of you who are hard to please on the pen front, I am glad to give you four great alternatives that have just been updated…

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Inspiration from New York 21.02.2017 – Posted in: Inspiration

I just returned home from a few days trip to New York, and although I should hastily update our shop shelves with our new acquisitions, I thought to first share some books & architecture related inspiration. The purpose of my trip was to give a paper at the 105th annual conference of the College Art Association, which is the largest professional association for visual artists and art historians in the US. What an awesome event…

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Focus Marc Aulén and The Helsinki Book 21.11.2016 – Posted in: Inspiration

The Helsinki Book is a brand new guidebook to the cool capital of Finland. Anni had a quick chat with the author, Marc Aulén, about the book and his relationship with Helsinki. Please also check out the Helsinki Book web pages for more information about this great new opus. Marc, I’ve understood that you were not born in Helsinki. What brought you here in the first place? — My father used to work for Ford…

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The wisdom of architecture 15.10.2016 – Posted in: Inspiration

In my work as an architecture critic and theory teacher, I have come across many ideas about architecture that have no relevance whatsoever in what I personally perceive and experience. On many occasions, such ideas seem to stem from addressing architecture from the perspective of philosophy, literature theory, social sciences, or from another similar extra-architectural discipline. The great architectural theory boom that we have witnessed to sweep over architecture since the 1980s has created some…

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Happy Monday from the grassroot level 03.10.2016 – Posted in: News

I’m celebrating the most beautiful autumn ever in my lifetime in Helsinki. And yes, I’m also celebrating one huge milestone in the development of our online architecture bookstore here at bookm-ark.live. The shop is now live, and my team and I are all over the moon as we really like the look and feel of it. I hope you like it as well, and that we can together develop this into your number one, trustworthy…

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Mass intertwining 02.09.2016 – Posted in: Inspiration

The last few weeks have been an exciting time for our start-up business. Our new (hopefully soon-to-be-opened) web shop for second-hand architecture books has received an overwhelmingly warm reception among all prospective business partners with whom I’ve met recently. This is just great! Lesson number 1: Trust your instincts, listen to your intuition. I thought I knew this already, but still: it’s been an exceptionally uplifting month. It’s as if our tiny shop would have…

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