Tate Brock_FSAI '25 Book_“Pohjoinen Kesä” by Tate Brock

TATE BROCK FSAI ‘25 POHJOINEN KESä

“As a lark I learned to wander, wander as a lonely song-bird, through the forests and the fenlands quietly o’er hill and heather; walked in pain about the marshes, learned the songs of winds and waters, learned the music of the ocean, and the echoes of the woodlands.” - Kalevala, Epilogue, Rune L

“Sainpa, kiuru, kiertämähän, lintu kurja, kulkemahan, vieno, maita vieremähän, vaivainen, vaeltamahan, joka tuulen tuntemahan, ärjynnän älyämähän, vilussa värisemähän, pakkasessa parkumahan.” - Kalevala, Epilogi, Runo L

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FIRST DAY REFLECTION

BUILDING PRECEDENTS

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

TRAVELS

STUDIO PROJECT [LITHIC MATERIALS]

LAST DAY REFLECTION

01.1

TRANSIT

01.2

URBAN EXPLORATION

02.1

CONTEXT

02.2

MATERIALITY AND DAYLIGHT [ESSAY]

03.1

PHOTOS

03.2

TECHNICAL DRAWINGS

03.3

MODEL

04.1

FINLAND

04.2

SWEDEN

04.3

NORWAY

04.4

ESTONIA

04.5

COLLECTED POSTCARDS

05.1

ABSTRACT DRAWINGS

05.2

COLLAGES

05.3

SECTION DRAWINGS

06.1

HANDS ON APPROACH

AIRPORT ESCALATOR FINNAIR FLIGHT

01.1

FIRST DAY REFLECTION

TRANSIT I arrived in Helsinki groggy and half-frozen, spat out of a plane like a half-baked croissant into the Nordic morning. Then came the escalator - no, the escalator. It drops into the earth; we’re talking deep - absurdly deep. Long enough to give you time to reflect on the impending culture shock, or at least to question your shoe choices. At the bottom? The airport train, which slid into the station with the quiet confidence of a country that knows how to move people. No squeals, no delays, no announcements screamed through static. Just sleek, punctual inevitability. I barely had time to sip my coffee before we were slicing through forests and industrial sprawl toward the center of the city. Out on the street again, trams glide along the cobblestones with the kind of casual grace that makes other cities look like clumsy toddlers trying to play grown-up. There’s a particular rhythm to Finnish transit - it hums like a well-oiled machine, but with none of the soul-deadening sterility you’d expect from such efficiency. You don’t ride transit in Finland - you surrender to it. And honestly? That’s not a bad thing.

01.1

FIRST DAY REFLECTION

URBAN EXPLORATION HUMAN FIGURES ARCHITECTURAL MOMENTS

01.2

FIRST DAY REFLECTION

02.1

BUILDING PRECEDENTS

PRECEDENT 1 ೠ Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters ೘ Alvar Aalto ೔ 1959 - 1962 ಶ Mixed-Use Office Building ಴ Helsinki, Finland

FACADE WINDOW GRID SKYLIGHTS ROOF TERRACE

02.1

BUILDING PRECEDENTS

02.1

BUILDING PRECEDENTS

PRECEDENT 2 ೠ Katajanokan Laituri ೘ Anttinen Oiva Architects (AOA) ೔ 2021 - 2024 ಶ Stora-Enso Hq + Solo Sokos Pier 4 Hotel ಴ Helsinki, Finland

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CENTRAL ATRIUM SKYLIGHT FACADE ROOF GARDEN

02.1

BUILDING PRECEDENTS

MATERIALITY & DAYLIGHT Finnish architecture doesn’t shout - it listens. It’s built on a deep, almost stubborn respect for place. The materials come from the land, and light is treated like a sacred element. It’s not always about flashy, attention-grabbing design, but about knowing where you are and letting that shape what you build. For centuries, timber construction has prevailed as one of the primary functional and aesthetic expressions of Finnish structures. It is deeply intertwined with the nation’s cultural identity and regional sensibilities. Timber construction has historically been the common man’s weapon of choice. The abundance of forests in Finland have made wood one of the primary vernacular building materials for rural dwellings, barns, and communal structures like churches. From the ancient shelters of the Sámi to the timber-heavy villages that came later, regional necessities like wood and access to daylight have formed a rough and beautiful patchwork of buildings. These timber structures speak to a harmonious relationship with nature and emphasize the regional intuition paired with local craftsmanship present in Finnish architecture (2). This vernacular approach to construction laid the foundation for a broader architectural language that celebrated timber and daylight’s performative and experiential versatility. 16

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

As Finland transitioned into the 20th century, the use of timber evolved alongside the rise of modernist architecture (2). Architects like Alvar Aalto began to explore timber’s potential in more refined and innovative ways. Aalto’s designs set the precedent for a contemporary architecture that’s about seeking a human connection to the natural world - not through grand gestures, but through creating thoughtful relationships between texture, light, and space. It’s the kind of design 17

that not only looks good, but also creates a strong sense of place and brings a touch of refinement to everyday life. The architecture speaks to how the simplicity of life’s everyday activities can be beautiful, if you bother to notice. Timber has come a long way from its vernacular roots: tough, unpretentious, and full of character. Attitudes towards its use shifted as we gained knowledge on how we cut, shape, and build with it. Aalto used this material as a medium for exploring form and space-making and is a reminder that sometimes the old materials (when treated right) still have the most to say in a modern context. Alvar Aalto’s design for the Enso-Gutzeit (now known as Stora Enso) timber company’s Head Office in Helsinki - jokingly referred to as the ‘sugar cube’ - speaks to both modernist design principles and sensitivity to the surrounding context. Completed in 1962, the building occupies a prominent position on Helsinki’s southern harbor, directly opposite the Uspenski Cathedral and adjacent to Market Square. Its white, regular, Carrara marble facade could be considered an exotic material choice, but the building establishes a subtle dialogue with the North Esplanade’s neoclassical architecture through color, scale, and rhythm (1). Inside, Aalto uses wood not just as surface, but to 18

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

define key interior spaces like the main foyer and conference rooms. The interior wooden slats soften edges and break from the rigid geometry made by the structure’s facade and column grid. The precisely corrugated, joined, and gently curved wooden surfaces Aalto incorporated show a level of care that is more often associated with furniture making than large-scale construction (5). These wooden elements are able to shape acoustics, diffused light, and define surfaces in interesting ways that show Aalto’s clearly articulated space-making tactics and continuity between architecture and interior design (5). Aalto predominantly used native wood species like birch throughout the interiors of his buildings (5). These species are numerous in Finland, renewable, and traditionally used in Finnish vernacular architecture, so Aalto’s decision to incorporate them is both practical and symbolic. The curved wooden elements were created by running thin panels of corrugated wood along curved profiles, and this process is reminiscent to the lamination and machine bending fabrication process of his furniture pieces that populate the interior spaces (6). Aalto frequently applied this method in his work, and the technique’s use in the former Enso-Gutzeit building’s interior stands as an example of modern Finnish craft. 19

Natural light is brought in carefully from skylights for the subterranean levels, and large wood framed windows warm the light that passes into the upper-level office spaces. The copper-clad field of skylights on street level subtly emerge from the ground and cascade daylight into the basement levels. Aalto’s use of skylights demonstrates his careful attention to lighting as both a functional design element and a way to improve user comfort and experience. The ‘sugar cube’ might strike the average person as just another rectangular building among Helsinki 20

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

Harbor’s collection of buildings, but Aalto’s ability to engage light and material are where the magic is. The primary difference between the historic and contemporary buildings is in the extent of wood’s use. Aalto’s 1960’s headquarter building is a concrete column grid construction with wooden details. Stora Enso’s new head office, designed by Anttinen Oiva Architects and constructed in 2024, is Finland’s largest wooden structure and is made almost entirely of prefabricated timber products (3). The timber company’s commitment to sustainability and its connection to the forestry industry was the primary design driver for their new building. Thousands of laminated timber pieces make up the structural and aesthetic components of the building: columns, floors, load bearing walls, decorative elements, interior finishes, etc…(4). Both the new and old Stora Enso Headquarters dignify themselves with a stark white exteriors, but the new headquarter building is noticeably different than its neighbors. While exploring the site, one is immediately struck by the massing of the new headquarters building - a more playful and loose design that almost evokes the silhouette of a rocket ship in plan. Though Katajanokan Laituri’s height is unified with it’s neighboring structures 21

(including the Aalto-designed former headquarters building that sits just a few lots away), its facade is pulled in and undulated to create a manipulated rectilinear form. A barcode-like array of white slats line the exterior and turn corners with the structure’s facade undulations. When you walk inside the lobby, it makes an interior gesture that stops you in your tracks. The language of wood is continued through raw cross-laminated timber slats that are arrayed across the ceiling. The curve of the wood transitions the ceiling from horizontal to vertical as it radially wraps upward towards a large central atrium space. This fluid transition and pinstriped appearance accentuate the height of the lobby and the large skylight looming above. The skylight acts like a contemporary oculus by drawing attention upward to the softly illuminated interior. A circular bench made of rounded wood is positioned under the hood of the atrium, and it invites you to sit and enjoy the materiality, sense of verticality, light, and space making the designers achieved through the playful simplicity curved birch forms (4).

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

When I finally visited the building in person and worked up the nerve to speak with a few employees, our conversations led me to notice something interesting: like Aalto’s work, the new Stora Enso building features a roof that isn’t just for the basic function of covering the interior - it’s meant to be used and occupied. I caught a busboy leaving the ground floor café, and he explained that there was a bar and garden on the roof. He guided me to the elevators, which I rode to the top floor in hopes of finding an unlocked door to the rooftop space. I visited the building at midday and realized that the doors were locked to outside guests but ran into a hotel guest - a sharply dressed couple - who were just stepping out of the doorway that separates public from private. I explained my position as an architecture student studying the building and asked if she could use her room key to scan me into the rooftop. I think some level of confusion and courtesy worked to my favor, and she agreed to open the door that leads up to the roof. AOA’s Katajanokan Laituri continues the idea of an occupiable rooftop by including a small bar and rooftop garden that offers visitors a place to gather and enjoy the view of Helsinki harbor. A significant difference between the building’s rooftops is that the majority of Katajanokan Laituri’s roof is greenspace.

The roof garden is a subtle mix of low vegetation, wildflowers, and patches of moss, where seabirds hang around pecking at the ground. It immediately called to mind the landscape of the Finnish archipelago: natural stone, scattered ground cover, and the sea breeze. Within the green space, glazed volumes from the tops of the large skylights that bring daylight into the lower levels of the building protrude from the ground. This gesture - articulating the atrium voids - shows how daylighting is a visible part of the rooftop design and integrated into the building as a whole. In contrast, Aalto’s roof does not include skylights - highlighting a more enclosed and controlled lighting approach in comparison to a more contemporary shift towards openness and natural light integration. The rooftop of the former Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters is designed as an occupiable space that includes a restaurant and terrace - reflecting the modernist principle of an occupiable roof. The roof’s programming and surface treatments serve practical criteria when considering how occupants may use the space, but sustainability and green space are not prominent characteristics of Aalto’s roof design. Most of the natural light that enters the above-ground 24

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

parts of the Enso-Gutzeit building are mostly tied to the large facade windows rather than from above. Together, the former Enso-Gutzeit headquarters and the new Stora Enso building trace a lineage of Finnish architecture that is rooted in material intelligence and geographic rationality. Both projects, though separated by more than six decades, demonstrate how wood and light can be used as more than tools of construction or aesthetics, but as instruments for shaping space and user experience. Aalto’s work shows how subtle craftsmanship and thoughtful daylighting can elevate a rigid and administratively geared design into something intimate feeling and timeless (1). The new headquarters builds on that legacy by scaling up both timber’s structural role and its expressive capacity while maintaining a deep awareness of its environmental and regional context. As timber construction continues to evolve through new technologies and a consideration for environmental stewardship, these buildings stand as reminders that progress and tradition can be collapsed into similar ways of thinking and designing. They suggest that the future of Finnish architecture lies in continuing to listen to landscape, light, and the materials that have always been there. 25

WORKS CITED (1) “Enso-Gutzeit Headquarters Building 1959–62 - Alvar Aalto Foundation: Alvar Aalto -Säätiö En.” Alvar Aalto Foundation | Alvar Aalto -säätiö EN, November 26, 2024. https://www.alvaraalto.fi/en/ architecture/enso-gutzeit-headquarters-building-1959-62/.

(2) Ilgın, Hüseyin Emre, and Markku Karjalainen. “Massive Wood Construction in Finland: Past, Present, and Future.” IntechOpen, June 1, 2022. https://www. intechopen.com/chapters/81864.

(3) “Katajanokan Laituri | Stora Enso Head Office.” Stora Enso. Accessed June 17, 2025.https://references.buildingsolutions.storaenso.com/en/projects/office/ finland/katajanokan-laituri---stora-enso-finnish-headquarters.

02.2

BUILDING PRECEDENT

(4) “Katajanokan Laituri.” Architecture Today - The independent architecture magazine, September 26, 2024. https:// architecturetoday.co.uk/katajanokan-laituri-helsinki-anttinen-oiva-architects-clt-lvl/.

(5) Souza, Eduardo. “Alvar Aalto and the Use of Timber: From Stools to Ceilings and Structures.” ArchDaily, May 4, 2021. https://www.archdaily.com/960708/ alvar-aalto-and-the-use-of-timberfrom-stools-to-ceilings-and-structures.

(6) Vilja. “KIISTELTY JA KIITELTY SOKERIPALA.” Web log. Muotoseikka\ (blog), June 20, 2019. https://muotoseikka.com/ kiistelty-ja-kiitelty-stora-enson-paakonttori/.

CONCRETE OVERHANG REAR BUILDING SCOPE MAIN ENTERANCE

03.1

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

SITE POINT CLOUD

03.1

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

Drawing: Ava Peavy Drawing: Sophie Essig

03.2

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

Drawing: Sophie Essig

03.2

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

CNC MODEL BASE WALL FITTING SITE SKETCH TOOLING PROCESS

03.3

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

03.3

BUILDING DOCUMENTATION [URDSGJALLER]

DINING HALL CORNER WINDOW UUSI SAUNA PATH SAUNA DOCK

04.1

TRAVELS - KILJAVA, FINLAND

LAMP REFLECTION DUSK PL�TTYS DINING HALL SKETCH AALTO CHAIR + DANDELION

04.1

TRAVELS - KILJAVA, FINLAND

PULPIT PORVOON TUOMIOKIRKKO BELLTOWER WALL ALTAR

04.1

TRAVELS - PORVOO, FINLAND

MIDSOMMARST�NG CAKE CONTEST MOUNTAIN BLUETS ISLAND COTTAGE

04.2

TRAVELS - RINDÖ, SWEDEN

SM�RG�SBORD SM� GRODORNA DAISYS MIDSOMMARST�NG

04.2

TRAVELS - RINDÖ, SWEDEN

OPERAHUSET AKERSHUS FORTRESS DEICHMAN BJ�RVIKA AKERSHUS CASTLE

04.3

TRAVELS - OSLO, NORWAY

AURLANDSFJORD DRAGESTIL KJOSFOSSEN FL�MSBANA

04.3

TRAVELS - FLÅM, NORWAY

BRYGGEN WHARF SYDNESMAUET ENHJ�RNINGSG�RDEN BERGEN STASJON

04.3

TRAVELS - BERGEN, NORWAY

FAMILY MEAL HELLEMANN TOWER MAARJAM�E MEMORIAL PARK ST. CATHERINE’S MONASTERY MAARJAM�E MEMORIAL OBELISK

04.4

TRAVELS - TALLINN, ESTONIA

04.5

TRAVELS - COLLECTED POSTCARDS

04.5

TRAVELS - COLLECTED POSTCARDS

04.5

TRAVELS - COLLECTED POSTCARDS

”Assemblage” ”Churn” ”Bond” ”White Hot Core”

05.1

STUDIO PROJECT - LITHIC MATERIAL FOCUS

”Fracture” ”Aggregate” ”Strata” ”Tool”

05.1

STUDIO PROJECT - LITHIC MATERIAL FOCUS

05.2

STUDIO PROJECT [LITHIC MATERIALS]

05.3

STUDIO PROJECT [LITHIC MATERIALS]

06.1

LAST DAY REFLECTION

A HANDS-ON APPROACH One of the most transformative lessons I’ve learned - both for my academic growth and future practice - is the vital importance of working physically to create architecture. Engaging in model-making, hand drawing, collaging, material exploration, and full- or smallscale measuring and sizing has shown me that architecture is inherently physical. As architects, we shape real objects and spaces intended to be experienced: walked through, lived in, touched, and sensed. No digital tool can replicate the sensory and spatial understanding that comes from hands-on exploration. I now see digital design not as the starting point of creation, but as a powerful tool to refine and communicate ideas that originate through physical processes. It serves to calculate, represent, and formalize concepts - not to replace the intuitive, tactile work that gives architecture its soul. This experience has helped me recognize the limitations I imposed on myself by relying too heavily on digital methods. Letting go of that mindset has reconnected me with the essence of architecture and reminded me of the humility required to truly engage with the built world.