Fay Jones School Hosts 'Annual Rings' Exhibition of Finnish Wood Architecture

Michelle Parks

"Annual Rings 1994-2014: A New Generation of Wood Architecture," an exhibition of contemporary Finnish architecture, is on display through April 15 in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery in Vol Walker Hall.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - "Annual Rings 1994-2014: A New Generation of Wood Architecture," an exhibition of contemporary Finnish architecture, is on display through April 15 in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery in Vol Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.

An opening reception will be held at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, March 2. Keijo Karjalainen, cultural attaché for the Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C., will open the exhibition.

"Annual Rings" has been produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Wood Program at Aalto University, both in Helsinki, Finland. The exhibition describes the vitality of Finnish wood architecture over the past two decades and also celebrates the Wood Program's 20th anniversary.

Finland is a nation priding itself on its long-established woodworking traditions and widespread appreciation for quality craftsmanship. But the last 20 years have seen particularly remarkable development in Finnish wood construction. Since 1994, the government and the wood building industry have invested strongly in research, development and education related to wood architecture and construction. The Finnish Wood Award, inaugurated in 1994, has now been awarded 16 times, and educational programs devoted to wood architecture now receive widespread recognition. Alongside these efforts, and with some help from them, wood architecture in Finland has again become vital and recognized throughout the world.

The "Annual Rings" exhibition presents this recent development in two parts. The first set of projects on view this spring is selected from professional production over the past two decades. The second group, arriving in fall 2015, focuses on the Wood Program at Aalto University and the work produced by students in its design/build curriculum since 1994.

"These demonstrations of contemporary wood architecture in Finland are innovative and inspiring in two ways," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School. "First, for the students of the school, these designs by young Finnish architects provide models of professional ambition and achievement. But, as importantly, the emphasis on wood design and innovation relates directly to the heritage, industry and potentials of this natural resource for Arkansas and the region."

Today's up-and-coming generation of Finnish architects combines age-old traditions with wholly new techniques of building with wood.

The 14 professional works here have been selected to illustrate the recent renaissance of wooden architecture in Finland. Starting from the late 1990s, and continuing to the present moment, the projects demonstrate the wide range of scales and forms in which wood has been put to use. The works have been selected not only for their architectural quality but also for the experimental nature of their execution. From offices and housing to public buildings and churches, the projects shown here demonstration new techniques in wood building while also reinterpreting traditional methods. The buildings, many of them the result of public competitions, reveal the possibilities of wooden architecture while also speaking to the important role that wood plays in Finnish art and culture.

Curators of the exhibition are Pekka Heikkinen, professor in wood architecture at Aalto University; architect Philip Tidwell; and Juulia Kauste, director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture in Helsinki. The exhibition design is by Philip Tidwell and Pekka Heikkinen.

This exhibition was co-produced by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and the Museum of Finnish Architecture with support from Lakea Oy, Metsä Wood, Puuinfo and Suomen Tuulileijona LLC.

The exhibition gallery is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.