The architecture of Finland has a history spanning over 800 years,Richards, J.M. 800 Years of Finnish Architecture. London: David & Charles, 1978. and while up until the modern era the architecture was highly influenced by Sweden, there were also influences from Germany and Russia. From the early 19th century onwards influences came directly from further afield: first when itinerant foreign architects took up positions in the country and then when the Finnish architect profession became established.
Furthermore, Finnish architecture in turn has contributed significantly to several styles internationally, such as Jugendstil (or Art Nouveau), Nordic Classicism and Functionalism. In particular, the works of the country's most noted early modernist architect Eliel Saarinen have had significant worldwide influence. Even more renowned than Saarinen has been modernist architect Alvar Aalto, who is regarded as one of the major figures in the world history of modern architecture. In an article from 1922 titled "Motifs from past ages", Aalto discussed national and international influences in Finland, and as he saw it:
In a 2000 review article of twentieth century Finnish architecture, Frédéric Edelmann, arts critic of the French newspaper Le Monde, suggested that Finland has more great architects of the status of Alvar Aalto in proportion to the population than any other country in the world.Frédéric Edelman, article in Le Monde, Paris, September 19, 2000. Finland's most significant architectural achievements are related to modern architecture, mostly because the current building stock has less than 20% that dates back to before 1955, which relates significantly to the reconstruction following World War II and the process of urbanisation which only gathered pace after the war.Constructing the Finnish welfare state since 1945
1249 is the date normally given for the beginning of Swedish rule over the land now known as Finland (in Finnish, Suomi), and this rule continued until 1809, after which the Grand Duchy of Finland was established within the Russian Empire.Pentti Virrankoski, Suomen historia - Maa ja kansa kautta aikojen, SKS, Helsinki, 2012. Finland declared its full independence in 1917, during the Russian Revolution. These historical factors have had a significant impact on the history of architecture in Finland, along with the founding of towns and the building of castles and fortresses (in the numerous wars between Sweden and Russia fought in Finland), as well as the availability of building materials and craftsmanship and, later on, government policy on issues such as housing and public buildings. As an essentially forested region, timber has been the natural building material, while the hardness of the local stone (predominantly granite) initially made it difficult to work, and the manufacture of brick was rare before the mid-19th century.Riitta Nikula, Architecture and Landscape - The Building of Finland, Otava, Helsinki, 1993. The use of concrete took on a particular prominence with the rise of the welfare state in the 1960s, in particular in state-sanctioned housing with the dominance of prefabricated concrete elements.Jouni Kaipia (ed.), Tehdään betonista - Concrete in Finnish Architecture, Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, 1993. However, with recent concerns regarding sustainability in building construction there has been a gradual increase in the use of wood, and not merely as a finishing material but also for the main structure.
From early architecture to 1809 (including the Swedish colonial period)
The dominance of wood construction The vernacular architecture of Finland is generally characterised by the predominant use of wooden construction. The oldest known dwelling structure is the so-called kota, a goahti, hut or tent with a covering in fabric, peat, moss, or timber. The building type remained in use throughout Finland until the 19th century, and is still in use among the Sami people in Lapland. The sauna is also a traditional building type in Finland: the oldest known saunas in Finland were made from pits dug into a slope in the ground and primarily used as dwellings in the wintertime. The first Finnish saunas are what nowadays are called "smoke saunas". These differed from modern saunas in that they had no windows and were heated by heating up a pile of rocks (called kiuas) by burning large amounts of wood for about 6–8 hours, and then letting the smoke out through a hatch before entering to enjoy the sauna heat (called löyly).Harri Hautajärvi, "Suuntana Lappi", Sankaruus ja Arki - Suomen 50-luvun miljöö. Suomen rakennustaiteen Museo, Helsinki, 1994.
The tradition of wood construction - beyond the kota hut - has been common throughout the entire northern boreal coniferous zone since prehistoric times.Lars Pettersson, Finnish Wooden Church, Helsinki: Museum of Finnish Architecture, 1992. The central structural factor in its success was the corner joining - or "corner-timbering" - technique, whereby logs are laid horizontally in succession and notched at the ends to form tightly secure joints. The origins of the technique are uncertain; though it was used by the Romans in northern Europe in the first century BC, other possible older sources are said to be areas of present-day Russia, but also it is said to have been common among the Indo-Aryan peoples of Eastern Europe, the Near East, Iran and India.A.V. and Y.A. Opolovnikov, The Wooden Architecture of Russia: Houses, Fortifications, Churches, London, Thames & Hudson, 1989. Crucial in the development of the "corner-timbering" technique were the necessary tools, primarily an axe rather than a saw.Construction with logs was described by Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio in his architectural treatise De Architectura. He noted that in Pontus (modern-day Romania, former Roman Empire province Dacia) dwellings were constructed by laying logs horizontally over the top of each other and filling in the gaps with "chips and mud". Vitruvius, De Architectura (Ten Books on Architecture) Penguin, London, 2012. The resulting building type, a rectangular plan, originally comprising a single interior space and with a low-pitched saddle-back roof, is of the same origin as the megaron, the early Greek dwelling house. Its first use in Finland may have been as a storehouse, and later a sauna and then domestic house. The first examples of the "corner-timbering" technique would have used round logs, but a more developed form soon emerged, shaping logs with an axe to a square shape for a surer fit and better insulation. Hewing with an axe was seen as preferable to sawing because the axe-cut surfaces were better in abating water penetration.
According to historians, though the principles of wooden construction may have arrived in Finland from elsewhere, one particular innovation in wooden construction seems to be unique to Finland, the so-called block pillar church (tukipilarikirkko). Though ostensibly looking like a normal wooden church, the novelty involved the construction of hollow pillars from logs built into the exterior walls, making the walls themselves structurally unnecessary. The pillars are tied internally across the nave by large joists. Usually there were two, but occasionally three pillars on each longitudinal wall. The largest preserved block pillar church is at Tornio (1686). Other examples are the churches of Vörå (1627) and Tervola (1687).
In later developments, most particularly in urban contexts, the log frame was then further covered in a layer of wooden planks. It is hypothesised that it was only from the 16th century onwards that wooden houses were painted in the familiar red-ochre or punamulta, containing up to 95% iron oxide, often mixed with tar.Panu Kaila, "Keittomaali" (in Finnish), Helsinki, Museovirasto Rakennushistorian osasto, 2000. The balloon framing technique for timber construction popularized throughout North America only came to Finland in the 20th century. Finnish master builders had travelled to the US to see how the industrialisation of the timber-framing technique had developed and wrote about it positively in trade journals on their return. Some experiments were made in using the wooden frame, but initially it was not popular.Pekka Korvenmaa, "The Finnish Wooden House Transformed: American prefabrication, war-time housing and Alvar Aalto", Construction History, Vol. 6, 1990. One reason was the thin construction's poor climatic performance (improved in the 1930s with the addition of insulation): also significant was the relatively low price of both timber and labour in Finland. However, by the outbreak of the First World War, the industrialised timber construction system had become more widespread. Also a comparatively recent "import" to Finland is the use of wooden shingles for roofs, dating only from the early 19th century. Previous to that, the traditional system had been a so-called birch-bark roof (in Finnish, malkakatto), comprising a wooden slat base, overlaid with several layers of birch-bark and finished off with a layer of long timber poles by weighed down in places by the occasional boulder. Traditionally, the whole structure was unpainted.Netta Book et al. (eds), Murtovaara - Kruununmetsätorppa Valtimolla - A crown forest croft in Valtimo. Karjalaisen Kulttuurin Edistämissäätiö, Kuopio, 2008. The coating of shingles with tar was the modern appropriation of a material first produced in the Nordic countries during the Iron Age, a major export product, especially in sealing wooden boats.
The traditional timber house in Finland was generally of two types: i. Eastern Finland, influenced by Russian traditions. For example, in the Pertinotsa house (now in the Seurasaari Open Air Museum in Helsinki) the family's dwelling rooms are on the upper floors while the animal barns and storerooms are on the ground floor, with hay lofts above them; ii. Western Finland, influenced by Swedish traditions. For example, in the Antti farmstead, originally from the village of Säkylä (nowadays also in Seurasaari), the farmstead consisted of a group of individual log buildings placed around a central farmyard. Traditionally, the first building to be constructed in such a farmstead was the sauna, followed by the first or main room ("tupa") of the main house, where the family would cook, eat and sleep. In summertime they would cook outdoors, and some family members would even choose to sleep in the barns.Seurasaari - The Open-Air Museum. Museovirasto, Helsinki, 1996.
The development of wood construction to a more refined level occurred, however, in the construction of churches. The earliest examples were not designed by architects but rather by master builders, who also were responsible for their construction. One of the oldest known wooden church is that of Santamala, in Nousiainen (only archaeological remains existing), dating from the 12th century, with a simple rectangular ground plan of 11,5 x 15 metres. The oldest preserved wooden churches in Finland date back to the 17th century (e.g. Sodankylä Old Church, Lapland, 1689); none of the medieval churches are remaining as, like all wooden buildings, they were susceptible to fire. Indeed, only 16 wooden churches from the 17th century still exist - though it was not uncommon to demolish a wooden church to make way for a larger stone one.