WASTELANDS MONOGRAPH by Wastelands

WASTELANDS MONOGRAPH

photo (c) Wastelands

CONTENTS: 6-7 Introduction 8-11 The Beginning of Wastelands 12-13 Organization 14-15 Finance 16-21 Facilities 22 Moving Around 23 Website & Magazine 24-25 Food 26-33 Programme 34-109 Workshops 112-113 Media Coverage 114 Sponsors

Introduction Wastelands: XXXII European Architecture Students Assembly was a multinational architecture festival held in a former power plant area called Suvilahti, located in the eastern downtown of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The two-week event was part of the official World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 -programme, taking place from 16th to 29th of July 2012. The event brought up to 500 future architects to Helsinki, representing over 50 different nationalities and nearly 250 schools of architecture around Europe and beyond. The participants focused on investigating the enormous potential of various empty, insufficiently used and neglected urban in-between zones in the built environment. The two-week long festival including workshops, lectures, excursions and exhibitions managed to create a unique setting for international networking — transforming the city visibly into a young architects’ experimental research laboratory. Wastelands was the 32nd consecutive architecture festival utilizing the European Architecture Students Assembly -concept which had been advancing annually from country to country since 1981 in various locations around Europe. In the year 2012 the event was organized by a registered non-profit organization founded by a group of Finnish students of architecture and design. The festival’s main venue was a decommissioned energy production site being developed into a cultural centre, providing a perfect set-up for the organizers, participants and the citizens of Helsinki to explore the potential of urban backyards, wasted spaces and barren areas; the theme of the event — Wastelands.

photo (c) Wastelands

THE BEGINNING OF WASTELANDS Norwegian mountains, late autumn 2009.

of the city of Manchester was a stately reference project, meaning that the same could, in principle, equally be arranged in downtown Helsinki.

A telephone call to Helsinki, Finland — dialed from a train ascending over the striking mountain ranges along the Norwegian Oslo-Bergen railroad — had just ended. The phone conversation confirmed a potentiality to occupy an entire power plant area in downtown Helsinki consisting of nine massive buildings and two hollow gasometers for two weeks, a couple of years further in the future. This moment was an igniting blast-off for a project that would eventually lead to half a thousand human beings from all over the planet mooching around between the worn walls and buildings of an old power production site in the eastern downtown of Helsinki. A few years earlier, in 2007, a mixed trio of prospective Finnish architects traveled to Elefsina — an industrial suburb of Athens, Greece — to check up what was going on in this massive 15 days long get-together of hundreds of architecture and design students from all around Europe. The overall experience and the impact of the event was so strong that the trio obliged and dragged along a group of seven friends to a similar meeting in the summer of 2008 held partially in Dublin, Ireland and partially in Letterfrack — a remote village on the weather-beaten shores of Atlantic in the western coast of the country. The same phenomenon persisted on various far-out journeys to the divided Mediterranean city of Nicosia in Cyprus, in the mountainous valleys of Valcamonica in Italy, in the highlands of Liechtenstein and eventually leading the pack to the English city of Manchester. First week of August 2010, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Late August 2010, Helsinki, Finland. An urgent meeting was convened instantly after returning back to the homeland from the ventures in Manchester, arranged on the flat and dusty sand fields stretching over the Suvilahti power plant zone. The purpose of the meet-up was to verify each individual’s personal engagement for the project, and to conclude the ultimate concept of the event. The dockland areas next to Suvilahti represented an extraordinary global phenomenon, still unheard-of in the history of the capital of Finland. Enormous ranges of rugged land — formerly occupied by commercial and industrial ports — had just been vacated and opened up for new city life along the shores of central Helsinki. A particularly interesting aspect was the long term transition period of these waterfronts and wastelands into full-blown urban spaces and city districts, showing how life would spread to those areas, and the temporary use and potential of such grounds. Suvilahti in itself was a perfect textbook-example of a previously non-utilized urban wasteland going through its transformation phase into a blooming cultural centre. Visions of these urban deserts and in-between zones were refined and merged into what would become the main theme and the name of the event — Wastelands, being at any rate a thought-provoking word in itself, reflecting the overall concept and the festival location perfectly.

After establishing a somewhat distinctive status among the future generation of European architects, the Finnish delegates had repeatedly been persuaded and suggested that an event of some scale, at some point, should definitely be organized in the intangible land of the never-setting sun, the hundreds of thousands of lakes and the last individuals of the wild beast-like men. Manchester was the spot where all the fuzzy ideas and loosely bouncing plots thickened and wrapped up together, leading to a definitive resolution that a massive art/architecture festival of dozens of workshops and hundreds of multinational attendees needed be hosted in Helsinki. The location was already thoroughly considered, solid and well fixed. Suvilahti would provide the absolute ideal set-up for an event of such dimensions. Witnessing an event production operation of similar scale and environs being managed in the urban context

The newly established Wastelands production team and its graphic design troops — Pekka Ijäs, Eero Alho and Lotta Jalava — negotiated a permission to use a font titled Voimala as the main headliner typeface partially framing the visual identity for the project. A Helsinki-based designer Juuso Koponen had drawn the typeface inspired by e.g. the works of early 20th century art-deco poster artists such as A. M. Cassandre. The font had suitably been named after the building # 1 (Voimala) in Suvilahti, the word voimala literally meaning a power plant in English. The primary visual identity of Wastelands was designed around the theme and the word itself. The outcome was a series of extremely minimalistic black and white graphic elements. The basic form of the Wastelands logo was simply a blank square, while the more often used variations either had a smaller square, an equilateral triangle or a circle chopped off from the bottom, making the logo appear as

September 2010, Helsinki, Finland.

an abstract version of the letter w, the initial of the name of the event. Straight out once the definitive visual identity of the event was fixed, an artistic pilot preview film presenting Wastelands and its concept was shot, cut, animated and edited. The film combined graphic animations with footage filmed by the Wastelands production team and clips from a documentary film Hanasaari A depicting the demolition of an old coal-fired power plant adjacent to Suvilahti. The 10-minute Wastelands film was to be shown in a three-day-long seminar in Copenhagen, Denmark, during which the host city for an event utilizing the European Architecture Students Assembly -concept in the summer of 2012 would be selected. November 2010, Copenhagen, Denmark. Four members of the Wastelands production team had traveled to Copenhagen through an unparalleled blizzard stirring up the Baltic Sea and the northern parts of Scandinavia. The quartet presented the concept of Wastelands for the hundred international representatives by merely showing a 10-minute-long subtitled video with full volume playing a repetitive desert doom type of a soundtrack, looking smooth and staying quiet while wearing custom made white t-shirts with scissor-cut sleeves, big o-necks and unsuitably too large black Wastelands logos painted on the front. After a prolonged period of waiting for the decision, Wastelands was at last announced to be the event that a wandering mass of half a thousand up-and-coming architects and artists would occupy in 2012. Once again the Wastelands-team headed back northeast to Helsinki, now pushing all sorts of big and unstoppable wheels into motion. From this moment on Wastelands began acquiring heavyweight backup from various cultural foundations and was shortly included in the official Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 -programme. Turn of the years 2010-2011, Helsinki, Finland. The new year had marked the beginning of a new epoch, consisting mainly of drinking coffee and swapping ideas with countless cultural operators, local prime movers and instigators in various meetings, events and spontaneous encounters around Helsinkian cafés and offices. During the infinite hours of meet-ups and brainwork, the first actual outlines for Wastelands and its contents started shaping up. All the extensive coffee-drinking, long and inspiring talks and hanging out resulted indirectly in e.g. setting up a Wastelands headquarters/gallery in a massive freight

container in the middle of Lasipalatsi Square in Helsinki, the realization of a Wastelands tattoo shop and arranging several shows by various bands during the event in July 2012. Shores of the Gulf of Cádiz, Spain, late summer 2011. The majority of Wastelands producers were on a mutual journey in the ancient barrios of Cádiz, a Spanish city and a port near the southwestern end of Europe, taking part in yet another two-week get-together filled with design-oriented lectures, festivities and workshops. The old power-trio — Eero Alho, Pekka Ijäs and Ville Mellin — had been shoveling cement for ten days in the scorch of the subtropical sun with the terrestrial African winds blowing Moroccan spices and sands from the Saharan deserts across Bab el-Zakat — the Strait of Gibraltar — to the bronzed and dirty faces of these gentlemen. While in these Iberian regions, the trio — along with the rest of the Wastelands organizers — had negotiated a deal to buy a container full of power tools from the Spaniards to be used in the workshops in Helsinki the following summer. After signing a number of documents a repository for the massive tool box needed to be arranged, and the tools would then be packed up and shipped through the continent back to Finland. Helsinki, Finland, October 2011. A hundred black and white t-shirts had been spread out to dry across the wooden floors of a huge attic studio in a 19th century red brick sawmill, located at the Punavuori docklands southwest from Helsinki city center. A prominently oversized Wastelands-logo had been painted on all of the t-shirts with big necklines and all the ribbings cut off with scissors. A week later the project would officially be published at a grand launch night held in the massive cathedral-like main power plant building in Suvilahti. Practically all of Wastelands’ potential partners and ladies and gentlemen of action had been invited to the project’s kickoff event. The programme for the night consisted mainly of talks and feeding on assorted autumn vegetables accompanied by various refreshments and whole black roasted boars sliced and served up by samurai-like chefs in their white overalls. The repertory of pep talk manifestos and addresses were being delivered to the guests by the Wastelands organizers and the managing director of the cultural centre of Suvilahti, in addition to a speech by a special guest star — a British architect Chris Maloney — who was one of the prime movers organizing the 2010 edition of a similar event in the center of Manchester.

The dawn of 2012, Helsinki, Finland. An impulsive spur of a moment had just driven two of the Wastelands producers, Eero Alho and Pekka Ijäs, inside a hallway of a nationwide timber industry supra-organization. Wearing outfits pieced out of e.g. second-hand Hungarian army forces’ micro-sized sports shorts and sleeveless Wastelands rags as shirts, the duo helped themselves to the workroom of the chief executive officer of the organization in question. Introducing the concept of Wastelands and the straightforward approach shortly resulted in a generous sponsoring partnership agreement. The new afore-stated fundraising tactic worked out fluently, yet the early months of 2012 elapsed scouring business meetings wearing black ties and sleek guises, carrying briefcases and being hungry for various deals and forms of corporate co-operation. Earlier — at the dawn of the year — after hours, weeks and months of programming nearly artificial-intelligencelike codes and parameters and going through prolonged artistic planning sessions with a local designer/architect Jyrki Vanamo, the ultimate version of the Wastelands online web platform was opened up. The website was designed to serve as a primary information channel portraying the forthcoming Wastelands-workshops, the upcoming timetables, contents of the event itself and international spin-off design competitions arranged by the Wastelands producers. One of the contests was about designing a series of street furniture for the City of Helsinki, later to be built and located on the southern shorelines of the city, on a seafront strip in the district of Hernesaari. Another large scale contest brief was to design a new intimate performance stage for Flow Festival, an annual urban Helsinki-based event merging music, world-renowned performers and art with city culture. The Wastelands-stage eventually materialized as one of the most prominent and acclaimed new elements of the Flow Festival that year, gaining significant visibility and universal media attention.

arranged during the hot summer days was a one-issue publication titled Wastelands Magazine. The magazine was a dashing compilation of novels and articles dealing with Wastelands-related topics and the up-and-coming workshops, designed and crafted by a number of Wastelands’ affiliates. Additionally, another colleague-duo of the Wastelands-producers sorted out an eventuality to transform an old tram into a festival-train that would be roaming around the rails and the streets of Helsinki for three afternoons during the first week of Wastelands. The Wastelands-tram was designed as a mobile venue hosting state of the art lectures and shows by a variety of performers, such as a one-man show by an original Irish bear-resembling gentleman Bláthmhac Ó Muirí, playing mesmerizing uilleann-pipe folklore tunes on the tram strolling on the tracks between the city boroughs of Töölö and Kallio. A few weeks later the desolate asphalt fields of Suvilahti power plant were going to be packed and swarming with young artists from all the inhabited continents around the globe, and the years-long project would culminate in an event without a parallel in the entire world. The final moments before Wastelands were flashing by while constructing the festival site, driving around the Helsinki metropolitan area with trucks, transporting power tools and materials and building the infrastructure for the event. The zero hour was near, this was the beginning of Wastelands — imaginably the most stunning occasion occurring in cosmos during the two last weeks of July 2012. In addition to all the people mentioned in the inscription Wastelands was also brought to existence with the input of the event producers Emmi Jääskeläinen and Janne Melajoki, production assistant Ansku Löfgren and a countless number of other irreplaceable people.

Summer 2012, Helsinki, Finland. The Wastelands headquarters had just been relocated from Viiskulma — an artistic, record-store-packed southern Helsinki landmark intersection — to a former, empty bus parking space in the middle of a plaza right in the center of downtown Helsinki. After having occupied a Viiskulma aquarium-like gallery space for four past months, the main office was now operating inside a gargantuan open plan freight container in the most predominant public spot in the capital city. One of the infinite number of errands and details 11

photo (c) Wastelands

Organization Wastelands was mainly organized by a compact line-up consisting of Finnish students of architecture and design. The group gradually evolved from a loose cluster of several individuals into a flexible working team. At first the organization had no formal structure nor hierarchy, but eventually an executive team of six main organizers was formed, grouping up into a legally registered non-profit association. Since Wastelands was mostly a voluntary project, it was always clear that the organizing team would have to be efficient while remaining flexible in terms of human resources. The main organizers needed to rely completely on people’s enthusiasm towards the project, and to balance productivity — getting things done — with informality — allowing people to hop on and off over time. Instead of assigning certain roles for team members (apart from the clearly defined responsibilities such as graphic design, communications, accounting etc.), general tasks that needed attention were agreed on and divided. Some of the duties naturally turned out to be more wanted than others, but this never became a significant issue or a challenge among the organizing group. Weekly meetings served face-to-face communication in addition to the discussions through social media groups and e-mail threads. As the project progressed, it became obvious that the team needed a co-working space. Working in the same physical space was more motivating, inspiring and enjoyable — and above all clearly more effective. The overall organizing group consisted not only of the six main producers, but also several individuals that were occasionally less involved in the project, still showing no hesitation jumping in to help out whenever needed. The effort and contribution of those people can not be over-emphasized, especially shortly before and during the event itself.

Finance The total budget for organizing Wastelands in its full scale equaled to a sum of nearly half a million euros. The figure comprises the actual capital flow in addition to the complex material support arrangements with various partners and collaborators of Wastelands, as well as all the immediate consequential outcomes of the entire Wastelands project.

Sales during the event Sponsors Participation fees Grants Sponsored materials

Income categories in relation to each other.

Accountancy Marketing Insurance & pension Event space Food Salaries Event essentials Workshops

Expense categories in relation to each other.

FACILITIES A former energy production site called Suvilahti was chosen to be the main venue of Wastelands, located in the district of Sörnäinen in the city of Helsinki. The area encompasses nine buildings and two enormous gasometers, all of which are being constantly renovated for use by artists, artist groups, galleries, photography studios etc. In itself the area of Suvilahti provided an ideal setting for hosting a festival of this scale and duration. The site was transformed into a tempoqrary miniature city inside downtown Helsinki, inhabited by young international future architects for two weeks.

Kattilahalli: Info-point & Accommodation

Gasometer

Kojehuone: Lecture & Performance Hall

Gasometer

Mittarikorjaamo: Lounge & Accommodation

Makasiini: Storage

Porttirakennus

Tiivistämö: Wastelands Bar Garage: Workshop Hall

Valvomo: Wastelands Café & It-lab

Puhdistamo: Tool Box & Accommodation

Upper Garden

Konttori

Energy Field: Workshops & Exhibitions

4 12 5 3

6 7

10 8

Accommodation In order to accommodate around 500 people the organizing team had to come up with a relatively large volume of interior floor area. Initially the plan was to build a secondary floor out of scaffoldings inside the large (1200 mÂ˛) accommodation space in the building # 1 in Suvilahti (Kattilahalli), housing all the participants and tutors in the same enormous two-storey space. After negotiating with the fire inspection authorities an updated plan was crafted, placing all the participants inside Kattilahalli, while the tutors would have their own 250 mÂ˛ lodging area in the ground floor of the building # 6 (Puhdistamo). The main accommodation space in Kattilahalli was divided in smaller areas with fences, and equipped with shelves for the luggage and personal items, so that the passages would stay clear in case of emergency (while trying to keep the space as clean as possible). The fences were useful also in keeping the wider corridors clear and giving the participants a small chance for intimacy. Two additional emergency exits were also added in the space in order to get a permission from the fire inspection authorities to accommodate adequate number of people on the floors or Kattilahalli. Similar arrangements were made in the smaller accommodation space for the tutors in the Puhdistamo building, excluding the fences dividing the sleeping areas. In the end all the participants were living on the floors of the massive Kattilahalli building, all the tutors in Puhdistamo, and all the organizers and volunteers in their own premises in the Suvilahti building # 9 (Mittarikorjaamo).

photo (c) Wastelands

Info Point The info-point — a central focal spot in the assembly — was placed in the entrance hall of the main accommodation space in the Suvilahti building # 1 (Kattilahalli), located next to the primary entryway to the Suvilahti area. The info-point was continually and easily reachable by most of the people attending the event, also serving in informing local people and visitors of what was going on in Suvilahti. The info-point had 24-hour attendance by at least one of either Wastelands’ organizers, volunteers or international representatives. The volunteers’ shifts spanned from bar work to general guidance and all imaginable tasks that needed to be taken care of around Suvilahti during the event.

Workshop spaces Nearly every workshop in the event needed a (fixed) space where they could meet, work and store their material in. Majority of these spaces were arranged inside the premises of Suvilahti, while a number of workshops spread outside the event site across the street to the facilities of a youth activity center, and in the City Center building next to the main railway station of Helsinki. In addition to the private workshop spaces, a proper power tool working hall was built inside an old garage space on the side of the Suvilahti building # 5 (Tiivistämö). The workspace was equipped with a comprehensive range of power tools from circular saws to welding machines and woodwork machinery etc., and adequate hardware to provide electricity for the needs of the entire event venue in Suvilahti. A 100 m² tent was placed between the buildings # 5 and # 6, functioning as a covered outdoor extension for the working space. Most of the indoor facilities in Suvilahti were eventually being used as multifunctional spaces, mainly due to the varying weather conditions outside. The bar area and its backstage hosted around five workshops during the daily

working hours. In Kattilahalli two workshops occupied an indoor balcony area for the two weeks. Valvomo (building # 11) hosted several workshops in addition to the IT-lab, a cafeteria and a zen-meditation cave for those needing a moment of escapism. The café space of Valvomo was also utilized as a venue for festivities during the two weeks, and was occasionally used for dining. Wastelands IT-lab was set up in the ground floor back room of the the Valvomo building in Suvilahti, consisting of 20 desktop computers equipped with Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 software pack and a heavy-duty printer (primarily for the use of the newspaper workshop). The IT-equipment was borrowed and installed by Aalto University representatives as part of the overall support for the event, including the licensed software needed. A handful of workshop tutors needing more complex gear brought their own laptops with necessary software.

photo (c) Wastelands

Bar, cafés and lounge areas Wastelands bar was situated in the Suvilahti building # 5 (Tiivistämö), which is a space frequently used for similar purposes — such as events, festivals, exhibitions and so forth. The space was also capacious enough for the use of this event; according to the regulations it was allowed to let 430 people inside the building, and 80 people in the outdoor terrace built particularly for the use of the Wastelands bar. Altogether it was possible to place every participant of the entire assembly together in the bar. During the daytimes the bar functioned as a workshop space, a chill-out-lounge, a room for the Wastelands tattoo shop and as a cafeteria — mainly selling coffee and soft drink products by a Finnish brewery called Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas (while a selection of beers and ciders by the same company were sold from the afternoons until the night). The bar interior was designed rough and minimalistic. A long, fluently situated bar counter prevented unnecessary rush and queueing, while sturdy chairs, stools and thick birch logs functioned as the furniture. Lighting design of the space was realized using merely construction site halogen floodlights. Audio systems and DJ-set-ups were provided by Oranssi, a non-governmental organization operating in the building # 6 (Puhdistamo) in Suvilahti — and also renting out the building # 11 (Valvomo) where the IT-lab, EASA FM studios and the secondary Wastelands café were situated at.

photo (c) Wastelands

Moving around Wastelands was above all an urban event. The festival site was located only three kilometers from Helsinki city centre and it was obvious that the participants would also be moving around the city instead of staying merely in Suvilahti. It was also an absolute objective for the event organizers to provide as comprehensive experience of the capital city of Finland for the participants as possible. All the attendees of the festival were guided and encouraged to utilize the public transportation system that is one of the most functional ones in the continent. To maximize the effect, the aim was to provide gratuitous public transportation for every Wastelands participant for two weeks. Experiencing and exploring the city of Helsinki on a grand scale using the trams, buses, metros and ferries wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have been possible for most of the participants on their own cost. Ultimately, with the support received from Helsinki Region Transport, Wastelands was able to supply a public transportation travel card valid for the entire two weeks for all the attendees of the event â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including tutors, participants, organizers and volunteers. The majority of the participants at Wastelands were upcoming international architects visiting Helsinki, and Finland, for the first time in their lives. Regarding this it was crucially important that each participant had a substantial chance to truly experience the host city using the exemplary and fluently working public transportation system, which concurrently is a feature strongly affiliated in the future profession of these people.

Wastelands website The main information channel for Wastelands was the online website wastelands.fi. The online platform was designed and coded in collaboration with the Wastelandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; art-team and a Helsinkian designer/architect Jyrki Vanamo, whose unique expertise spans through elements of human-citycomputer-interaction. All the news, freshly uploaded photos, Wastelands programme, workshop introductions and so on were presented on the website utilizing a recurring gridded structure on each subpage. The grid was designed to automatically fold up and to adjust itself to fit any resolution or width of a screen, according to the device used to observe the site. The objective was to design a distinctive visual entity based markedly on the Wastelands graphics, combined with maximal user functionality and equipped with fluent means for maintaining the varying contents. One of the major visual details was the self-generating Wastelands background pattern being re-created merely out of data each time the website or any of its subpages was loaded. The code was built by arranging certain parametric mathematical rules resulting in an infinite and completely random pattern of varying sized square logos of Wastelands.

Wastelands magazine Wastelands also branched out in publishing a one-issue magazine one month prior to the actual festival. The editors, graphic designers and journalists of the Wastelands Magazine were mainly associates of the main Wastelands organizers, however the magazine production was executed as a self-sufficient spin-off project. The magazine focused on surveying thoughts and ideas of various tutors of the forthcoming Wastelands workshops, and broadened out the thematics of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wastelandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as a substantial real-world phenomenon and as a certain state of mind.

photo (c) Wastelands

Designing the diverse menus and providing the daily food for Wastelands was handled by a local catering company going by the name of New York Ninja, which is well-known for a good attitude in producing fresh, exotic and experimental tastes and artistic menus for various events. In the recent years, New York Ninja has become a renowned operator affiliated with various Helsinki-based festivals, restaurants, urban block parties, galas and exhibitions. The main concept for the daily menus at Wastelands was to span through themes inspired by different countries and continents. Recipes and ingredients shifted for instance from Mexican smoke-dried chipotle jalape単os to Swedish dill and salmon, from Irish lamb to Russian borsch stew and from Indian chili and honey flavored lassi drinks to Finnish forest berries.

photo (c) Wastelands

SUN 15 JULY Arrival to Wastelands MON 16 JULY Welcome to Wastelands - Briefing @ Suvilahti Exploring Helsinki Workshop Presentations Welcome to Wastelands - Inauguration Feast Tuomas Toivonen Open Mic Show Welcome to Wastelands - Opening Party TUE 17 JULY Workshop Selection Wastelands Tattoo Shop Workshops New York Ninja Dinner Janne Saario Lecture Jesse Live Show Electro Night WED 18 JULY Workshops Culture Tram New York Ninja Dinner Open Mic Shows THU 19 JULY Workshops Wastelands Tattoo Shop Culture Tram New York Ninja Dinner Open Mic Shows Jaakko & Jay Live Punk Rock DJ Night FRI 20 JULY Kone Workshop Workshops Culture Tram New York Ninja Dinner Kone Evening SAT 21 JULY Workshops New York Ninja Dinner National Evening SUN 22 JULY Excursions New York Ninja Dinner

MON 23 JULY Workshops Wastelands Tattoo Shop New York Ninja Dinner STX Open Innovation Evening Open Mic Shows Balkan Folk Sound DJ Party TUE 24 JULY Workshops Fantastic Finland Café Wastelands Tattoo Shop New York Ninja Dinner Roller Derby Death Match Heavy Metal Desert/Stoner Doom & Surf Rock Night WED 25 JULY Workshops Fantastic Finland Café Wastelands Tattoo Shop New York Ninja Dinner Introducing Future EASA-Events Re-using Abandoned Military Sites Lecture Open Mic Shows Kingfishers DJ’s DJ’s Tuomas Toivonen & Martti Kalliala THU 26 JULY Workshops Wastelands Tattoo Shop New York Ninja Dinner DJ Matti Oskari Bohm’s Hard-Core DJ Set FRI 27 JULY Workshops Refuge-workshop’s Romani Culture Celebration New York Ninja Dinner SAT 28 JULY Final Exhibitions Second Nature Skateboarding Sessions & World Premiere Movie Final Party Night SUN 29 JULY Exit Wastelands

photo (c) Wastelands

photo (c) Carlos Santos

Artrack

Bodylab

Burn

Cloud2

WORKSHOPS

Hernesaari Demolition shipyard wastelands DIY Concrete Constructing minimalistic urban furnitures

Driftwood

EASA Documentary

Are you interested in spending your EASA summer days in the shipyard of Hernesaari, enjoying the minimalistic Scandinavian urban enviroment, improving it with something that is going to last in the city of Helsinki for decades? You are not bound to a specific product, although you have some guidelines: the design leaves you ways to alter the outcome and adjust it to fit the location. Materials are wood and concrete: easy and educational to work with and yet the result will be something new and exciting to the scenery of Helsinki city. Come and make a bunch of benches with us!

EASA FM

EASA Kitchen

EASA TV

Gathering Wastelands

Cramo Day workshop

The workshops at Wastelands were selected out of an extensive stack of workshop proposals that were sent to the event producers from 40 different countries around all the inhabited continents. The eventual workshops were chosen in order to produce as diverse content for the festival as possible, schemes ranging from straight up imaginative conceptual art workshops to concrete design and construction projects. Workshop materials varied highly depending on the concept of each project. Steel-reinforced concrete, timber and bricks were the primary materials for most of the construction workshops, whereas other workshops utilized trash and found objects, smoke, water and fire, recycled metal, paints, cast-off bicycle parts, video equipment, sounds, foodstuff and kitchen utensils, illusions and the human senses, body movements and written word in experimenting and realizing their workshop outcomes. Most of the workshop materials were acquired through successful negotiations with Wastelands’ invaluable supporters and partners. Additionally, daily shopping tours were arranged in hardware and other stores to fill in the material storages according to the needs of each workshop. Tools for the workshops were bought from the organizers of an event called easa011_deCOASTruction (a festival similar to Wastelands) held in the coastal town of Cádiz, Spain in the summer of 2011. Additional selection of power tools, electricity etc. was leased from Wastelands’ partner companies. All the 2-week workshops outcomes were showcased around the festival area and its immediate vicinity during a massive open-door final exhibition on the last day of Wastelands.

Illusion

Inipi

Kinetic Graffiti

Kingdom of Waste

Korkeasaari

Kuki Wonderland

Poetry of Wastelands

Rational Irrational

Refuge

Smoking is Good for You

Stage

Strange Nature

STX Open Innovation Evening

Swingland

Outdoor Reading Room

Trash Art

Treesome

Umbrella

Kone: Uplifting Landings

Visioning Helsinki

Wastebikes

Wasted Light

Writing is Building

Zerobase 35

Artrack – from Wastelands to space and form.

photo (c) Wastelands

”Form” is merely a device for thought – it is neither a thing nor a substance. A. Forty, ”Words and Buildings” The Artrack workshop wanted to use this opportunity to not only investigate wastelands, but also to stimulate and practice a different and very specific way of thinking. In part theoretical and in part practical work. We like to think of it as applied theory which left a mark on the city of Helsinki. The first place was the busy Sörnäinen metro and tram station with a secluded public park hidden from the commuter stream. A pair of white wooden landmarks were placed in this in-between character of the wasteland, connecting the park with the square below. Their form of temporary monuments creates a presence on a passer-by without giving clear clues as to what their function might be. The second site was a disused train tunnel and the tracks leading up to it. The site was turned into an

experimental playground with the aim to connect and narrate a sequence of spaces. The first part consists of a soundscape and a metal sculpture on the tracks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; evoking the movement and noise that once filled these spaces. This culminated at the exit of the tunnel with thin wooden columns with rocks from the tracks on top, forming a sort of a capital. This rather poetic installation occupies this space but grows in opposition to it. On one hand it is evidently artificial while clearly evoking the forests surrounding it. We understand wastelands as places, everyday and present not only as left-over areas. Wastelands can be found everywhere. Their being is not limited by their scale. They can be found in intimate rooms as well as huge urban occurrences. They can be anonymous and banal or exceptional and exciting. So at their most basic wastelands are a space. They have dimensions, directionality, movement, relationships. They act upon us. They can therefore even in all their complexity be

felt and understood in a precise way. We believe the space is already there. It has a function and a meaning. Our task was to make this visible, to work with that which is present. There is no concept but a context instead. There is no design but form and the relationships it establishes. There are no Wastelands but spaces which are yet to realise their actual potential. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Michal Switalski (PL), Philipp Schallnau (DE)

BODYLAB This workshop was based on reinventing spaces by using the human body and its senses. The idea was to encourage the participants by the activities suggested to develop their own projects. The basic tools were games that allowed us to perceive, imagine and transform the reality. These experiences were repeated as many times as needed to obtain different and unexpected results in constant mutation. Participants were encouraged to perceive and imagine all the situations that these relations could offer: textures, colors, temperatures, sounds, scales, smells, movement and speed. photo (c) Wastelands

Playing implies swinging between reason and intuition, between the intelligible and the sensitive world. Tests were done in a laboratory where acting bodies were the tools to be used in the different experiments. Looking forward to stimulate the senses that inform the external, the internal and the borderline between them. Each game had specific instructions that were adapted to different spatial and temporal conditions and also to the number of players. The experiences from the games were transformed into conceptual maps, audiovisuals, graphics, texts or installations. The results worked as a starting engine for the next stage. Outlining a path through intuition, mind, the virtual and the senses.

The workshop ended up being a very rich experience, which gave everyone a lot of new ideas and new material to expand the way we act and think about space and the way we use it, feel in it and design it. The final products were ephemeral interventions, including not only our team but everyone around willing to play and have a good time. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Maria Eugenia Ledo (AR), Magdalena Molinari (AR), Luana Levallois (AR), Mercedes Cabanillas (AR)

BURN! WORKSHOP The basic idea of the workshop was to use the archenemy of architecture, fire, as a construction material and to explore flames as ephemeral but very intense media of design and activation of neglected public spaces. This was done simply by using fuel and gun powder to ignite wood and other flammable materials. The inspiration derived from the art world as well as from the flaming end of specific architecture and cities in the past. Through lectures and experiments we explored the potentials and dangers of fire, followed by concepts of possible projects. Equipped with our lab coats, high speed cameras and matches, we worked day and night in in Suvilahti, as well as on the Sompasaari wasteland. The participants pushed the theme to the limit and created beautiful sculptures and meaningful events with fire shows. The events were open to everyone and done in collaboration with other workshops. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Luis Hilti (LI), LĂŠonard Gurtner (CH), Daniel Fuchs (CH)

photo (c) Wastelands

cloud

The Cloud2 workshop explored different possibilities of ambivalent conditions in relation to city landscape through conceptual and artistic methods. In broader sense, this process dealt with the concept of scale in terms of borders. Borders can be considered as having a gradual variety of elusiveness and distortion in shifted conditions that we create and perpetually distort. During the two weeks, the workshop produced various interventions, ephemeral structures, conditional effects and temporary events. The working methodology emerged through a think-tank, perception of notion of scale and its relation to landscape within the city and beyond. Scale was used as a tool to define relations and multiply perception of size, city and land. In the context of wastelands, different scales were those of architecture and urban nature, the archipelago and the sky above. In practice the above meant for example playing around with different sized balloons that could be arranged in large, varied formations that would eventually define a space without strict, physical borders. Adding of extra elements such as fire extinguisher foams, reflective stickers and blinking biker lights onto balloons turned the installations into fascinating temporary light shows that would create a spatial framework for the short length of the event and then disappear. Even though the workshopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus and perspective was on the ephemeral, temporary and highly artistic explorations of creation of space and exploration of scale, the whole process was carefully documented in beautiful photographs and videos. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Worskhop tutors: Pavle Stamenovic (RS), Jelena Mitrovic (RS), Davor Eres (RS)

CRAMO DAY WORKSHOP Cramo was one of the most important sponsors of Wastelands providing us for example the Headquarter space, tools and all needed for the workshop area electricity grid. Cramo saw the assembly as a so called “brain pool” and they were interested in new and fresh ideas in the field of modular building solutions that our participants could have. In the workshop each team had 10 modules, altogether 400 m² of modular space and they were asked to illustrate what will happen to these modules in the course of 15 years. The final posters were to give answers to the following questions; in what sorts of applications will they be used? Where? Why? What will they look like in each case? Who will use them? What will they think? How will the history and the previous applications impact the next ones and how will it show in each case? The only limitation was the amount and size of the modules. Everything else could be tweaked and the modules could be equipped or used in whatever way. Many of the participants works, without the groups knowing about each others, contained similar themes. For example the possibilities of floating structures, underground construction, high rises and communality were studied in several cases. Also the idea of dividing a module in smaller components and having multiple functions for some of them came up several times. Some groups studied the possibility to take your modular home with you when moving to another city or country. Finally, the most current studies were about using modular buildings to ease the problems of students, young couples and elderly. These groups often have difficulties in finding a suitable and affordable solution for living and they don’t necessarily need big apartments with specialities. A modular building system could have good answers for these problems in the near future. — Workshop organizer: Ville Mellin (FI)

photo (c) Wastelands

demolition The aim of the workshop was to capture the beautiful moment between stability and destruction. The participants were encouraged to experiment with different materials from the perspective of destroying them. Materials like vinyl or soap and products like stockings and milk cartons were destroyed with means such as water steam, fire, gravitation etc. All of the projects were first tested with scale models and then taken further to a larger scale that was to be destroyed in a similar way. None of the outcomes were foreseen. The key element of the workshop was to document the demolition of the object in a thorough way. Films, drawings and stop motion animation were used. Another important element was to gain understanding of the behavior of the material from the demolition process. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Frederik Beckett-Nilsson (DK), Frida Sophie Vang Petersen (DK)

DIY Conrete The goal of the workshop was to design and build a concrete object that could be used for skateboarding. The site was a self-made skatepark located in Suvilahti. The workshop started by getting to know the site, skateboarding requirements and working methods of skatepark building. The next challenge was to come up with a good design and a schedule for the following two weeks. During a one day design session the team made 1:50 scale models of the possible objects. Eventually the final product was approximately a 90m2 extension to the existing skatepark, with two concrete obstacles - a pill shaped spine ramp with granite coping and a 1,2 meter high quarter pipe that blended into a volcano shape that could be used as a barbeque. The shapes were cut into the existing asphalt to get the concrete cast to meet the asphalt as a thick layer. Recycled bricks were used for building the back of the quarter pipe. Surrounding flat ground was very rough asphalt so it needed to be smoothened out with floor filler. Rebars were set and attached to the asphalt, the bricks and the side forms made out of plywood. On the first casting everyone experimented with the different phases of shaping the concrete for the spine ramp. The quarter pipe was done on the nex day with the help of professional Canadian skatepark builders. On the final exhibition day an opening party with DJs, barbeque and skateboarding sessions was held in the skatepark. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutor: Janne Saario (FI)

Driftwood The Driftwood workshop was a result of the Hernesaari Urban Furniture Design competition arranged by Wastelands in collaboration with the City of Helsinki. As the juryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comments stated of the winning proposal, the competition entry was a good starting point to develop the final outcome. The participants got a chance to study and re-design the urban furniture. They were encouraged to exercise Scandinavian minimalism. The only limit was the amount of materials. The team decided to build nine benches to suit different locations along the Hernesaari shoreline. With a clear schedule and carefully planned details the team knew what to do and what was supposed to be achieved on each day. Introductions to new materials, working customs and heavy machinery were given because of the different levels of experience the participants had.

The first weeks focus was on innovating on the details and getting the concrete moulds ready. The second week was about concrete casting, cutting the wood to right measures and attaching the parts together. During the last working day the benches were transported to their final locations in Hernesaari. The workshop gave the participants a lot of new assets, ways to co-operate with others and knowledge of the materials. It was also about influencing the environment still under development. The benches were immediately taken to use by the citizens of Helsinki and hopefully they will serve in use for many years to come. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Mari Haavisto (FI), Arto Ollila (FI)

EASA Documentary was a 2-week-long workshop documenting Wastelands: XXXII European Architecture Students Assembly and the phenomenon of the event in itself, the network and the people around it using the medium of film. The workshop focused its attention on the stories of a small sample of participants, tutors and organizers before, during and after the event. The tutors and the participants together essentially formed a small crew unit for the two weeks, covering the roles of camera operators, directors, sounds and light technicians, equally and interchangeably. Basic instructions and technical demonstrations were given at the start of the workshop, in editing as

well as in filming, to ensure that each member of the documentary crew would be more or less at the same level, capable of working in all the aforementioned aspects of the film making project. The aim was to encourage the participants and make use of varying differences in approach and capabilities. While the participants focused more on the actual filming during the event, the actual outcome - the documentary film - will be edited during the times after the Wastelands-assembly, partially with continuing support from the workshopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participants, until the release of the finished EASA Documentary film. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutor: Alex Maxwell (UK)

EASA FM EASA FM - a workshop where a temporary radio station was set up in the upper floor of the Valvomo building in Suvilahti power plant area. The shows were broadcasted in the public 93.600 MHz frequency in downtown Helsinki. The 2-week programme for EASA FM consisted of various shows hosted by the workshop tutors as well as guest DJ’s from within the Wastelands’ participants and from the city of Helsinki. The station also had speakers and artists visiting the studio and spreading their sounds and/or words around through the radio frequencies. The idea of the radio station was to perform as an open communication platform for anyone interested in contributing to the community and the EASA idea, and to develop a series of different formats bringing EASA to vibrate and resonate; such as music from each guest DJ’s own record bags and/or from their hometowns around the world, topical announcements and reports, interesting thoughts and impressions, experimental sounds, live DJ sets and acoustic guitar gigs. EASA FM’s working methods included passing on the experience and knowledge of previous years of the tutors’ work to their participants, encouraging everyone to develop their very own ideas about radio and then helping them to turn their intentions into reality. When developing different formats and programming, relation to the community will always play a central role. To make the station feel reactive, interactive and openly accessible the workshop also focused on running a ‘mobile studio’ allowing EASA FM to gather up and get stories from all over the Wastelands venue. — Workshop tutors: Clemens Conditt (AT), Jakob Braun (DE), Hanno Mayregger (AT), Verena Theil (IT)

EASA TV EASA.TV has been a part of the traditional EASA magazine workshop Umbrella (Sontikka which is derived from the Finnish Helsinki slang word originating from the eastern rural borders near Russia) since the 2007 EASA held in Elefsina, Greece. 2010 was the first year when EASA.TV ran as an independent workshop with its own participants. In 2011 in Cadíz, EASA.TV had more participants and tutors than ever (12+3) and the reception was greater than ever. In 2012 in Wastelands: XXXII European Architecture Students Assembly in Helsinki, Finland the workshop continued its legacy of documenting everyday occurrences of the events, the people, the relationships and more, working as a local Wastelands-based television news reporting station. EASA.TV was a workshop about EASA’s participants, tutors, helpers, organizers, friends, families and guests. EASA.TV is a about the context, the theme and the country. EASA.TV is about EASA. The aim of the workshop was to cover as much of the assembly as possible, with the material then being edited, screened on the site of the assembly and uploaded online. The participants were taught how to plan episodes, write scripts, draw storyboards, record with DSLR cameras and edit and export with software such as Adobe Premiere Pro. Yet mostly, they all got a chance to document the very essence of EASA; the EASA spirit. — Workshop tutors: Kerstin Pluch (AT), Amine Khouni (AT), Alexandra Kononchenko (BY)

Even if the main aim of the ‘EASA kitchen’ workshop is to bring out some food products there are also some other concerns. The aims can be divided into two categories: workshop wise and EASA wise. Workshop wise, tutors and participants coming from different cultural backgrounds are supposed to create some experimental food products using their personal experiments/histories mixed with local traditions and products. Thus, architectural students are asked to interact with a discipline they are not directly related to. EASA wise, the workshop does not only aim to be the culinary workshop of EASA but also to create a spot in the ”campus” for everyone to stop by, spend some time with the others and create a momentary discussion platform.

The schedule for the workshop was planned day by day by the tutors and the participants. To explore the local markets, to find out the local recipes and to perceive the culinary habits of the high cuisine and the street food were the main points. Also the collaboration with other workshops during the two weeks is crucial to have some fresh ideas and to observe others and to hold a more profound opinion about the whole assembly for the participants who are also fresh individuals of the EASA community. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Ă&#x153;mit Mesci (TR), Matilde Igual (ES)

Gathering Wastelands : Going Further Than Ruin Porn Over the course of two weeks at EASA012, Pidgin Perfect and our twelve participants delved into the reasons, both universal and unique, for the Wastelands of Europe, going further than objectification of dereliction and ‘Ruin Porn’. We examined the personal histories of wastelands, the effects these spaces have on European cities and the impact of creative engagement in their regeneration. The idea was to go ‘Further Than Ruin Porn’, discussing how we can avoid the clichéd responses and investigate ways to get people thinking differently about wastelands. Next, we spent several day in Pasila where the participants experimented with creative engagement, developing authentic responses to ‘stalled sites’ across the continent. Their activities involved mapping, dream collages, emotion masks and other tools that generated energy and excitement for the future of Pasila. This practical work formed the basis of the first Gathering Wastelands exhibition at the 2012 WDC Helsinki Pavilion continuing the conversations around the future of Pasila with a wider audience. Gathering Wastelands culminated in two exhibition days at the 2012 WDC Helsinki Pavilion. At the Pavilion, Pidgin Perfect, the participants, and guest lecturer, Jude Barber of Collective Architecture, collaborated with Demos Helsinki to present our compiled research, ideas and experiences of wastelands back to a global audience. The outcomes and experiences were as expected and as part of continuing research and development of Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Housing Association’s Stalled Sites initiative we will be hosting a couple of temporary interventions in the wastelands of Glasgow in 2013. — Workshop tutors: Becca Thomas (UK), Dele Adeyemo (UK), Marc Cairns (UK)

illusion

Illusions are classically known as distortions of the senses and optical illusions thought as the strongest of illusions as vision is the sense humans rely on the most. The workshop wanted to challenge the classical definition, dominant visual sense and the theme of Wastelands by creating alternate realities and distorting the perception of our surroundings both physically and metaphorically. Is the concept of wasteland only an illusion on the path to excitement and development? Can we use the concept of an illusion to invigorate and excite the spaces, creating interesting events, shapes and visions that can change daily depending on view, time and light? The workshop worked with a variety of media: physical installations, painted conditions, digital media and projected images. Participants made both temporary and permanent illusive interventions on the site and exhibited them as either paintings, spatial installations and photographs the other participants at Wastelands could find, wonder and be astonished about. Some photographs were carefully composed to visualize distorted gravity and mirrors were used to play around with the idea of space by using visual repetition of certain spaces. Paintings and tape installations made on site throughout the event reminded more of theater settings or reallife mimicking graffitis. The illusions were like tricks to the mind, and attempted to demonstrate that all is not as it seems, and that reality is actually only something that the brain normally uses as a method of organising and interpreting sensory stimulation. Ââ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Kamila Kawecka (PL), Cecily Quetin-Weeks (IE), Romea Muryn (PL), Thomas Jochum (LI)

INIPI The idea of the Inípi-workshop was to combine primitive architecture and anthropology and bring the whole to present day. Examined was Lakota-indians’ sweat lodge which is traditionally used in a purification ceremony called iníkagapi. The domelike shape of the lodge and the use of wooden material brought architectural point of view to the workshop. Because the lodge is above all a ritual building it was clear that the anthropology aspect would have lots of weight especially in the first half of the workshop. This part was tutored mostly by a full-blooded Oglala Lakota-indian Thomas Yellow Hair. He told the participants about his culture, but above all the meaning of the sweat lodge and purification ceremony to the Lakotas. The workshop had 11 participants which was suitable to the workload. Because the subject of the workshop was really intense and profound, participants were selected by their sheer interest in the subject. During the workshop, this enthusiasm could also be noticed in the work pace.

The worksop was divided into three parts. During the first part we built the traditional version of the sweat lodge while Thomas was telling the participants about his culture and the purification ceremony. After the lodge was finished, the second part of the workshop was the iníkagapi ceremony itself. During the final part, based on the knowledge of the first two parts, the participants then designed and built a 21st century sweat lodge. The simple structure of the workshop and above all the innovativeness and enthusiasm of the participants made the workshop and its result so successful. From architectural point of view the result allowed us to study a dome-structure and the use of wood as its material. In addition the anthropology aspect brought a nice extra and depth to the whole workshop. — Workshop tutors: Panu Kontkanen (FI), Thomas Yellow Hair (US)

KINETIC GRAFFITI The goal of the workshop was to teach participants the rudimentary basics of creating a ”scanimatronic” piece of wall art that could be experienced while traveling past a construction site in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. Tutors showed participants some examples and encouraged them to design three ideas from which the tutors decided which one would be realizable by the participants given the hectic schedule. After all, to get the final piece on the Jätkäsaari site, there was plenty of masking, painting and constructing to do. After some head scratching and seriously doubtful looks directed towards the tutors our brave 12 understood the principles of ”scanimation” and managed to create an image which combined the silhouette of Helsinki and the multiple colours of the nordic sky. After that it was mostly masking, painting, cutting & elbow grease. The final piece was approximately 15 meters long and 2 meters high, so it was done in four parts. Plywood was attached to frames and the design was scaled and drawn on these canvases. Painting consisted of thousands of small squares which were painted with primary colours, and on the bottom of these canvases the silhouette of Helsinki was painted in black.

While a part of the group was busy painting these canvases, the rest were constructing the mask part of the image. ”Scanimation” consists of two layers; fractured image and a mask which shows only a part of the image at a time. Both (image & mask) were mounted on a building site fence so we had to come up with a technical solution that would provide easy mounting and durability against ravages of weather. After the mask was constructed, it was painted black. In addition to the art piece in Jätkäsaari a small ”scanimatronic” booklet and a documentary video was made. Workshop was done in cooperation with NCC Rakennus Oy. — Workshop tutors: William Iles (FI), Ilari Hautamäki (FI), Jarkko Vikberg (FI)

KINGDOM OF WASTE Kingdom of Waste -workshop’s concept was to get loads and loads of paint and search for abandoned objects and useless trash, turning those into artistic and decorative elements, for instance painting old, dirty interior walls and experimenting with UV-lights and translucent paint powders. The most visible example of the final results of the workshop was re-decorating the entire Wastelands’ bar-area, filled with painted branches of wood and other various objects hanging down from the ceiling, glowing in the pitch black party space in the UV-lights. Other parts of the workshop was e.g. to pack up a car with an aggregate and gazoline, and heading down into the forests, camping out over night with the workshop participants, again experimenting with paints and lights. — Workshop tutors: Andrej Zikic (RS), Jakob Ulbrych (DE), Sanja Milanov (RS)

Above them resides

korkeasaari The workshop was titled Korkeasaari, and developed around the theatrical idea that the Finnish god Ukko was pissed off and flooded the whole world, except for a solitary island on which the EASA participants survived. The outcome of the workshop was deliberately not set in advance and remained unknown to both participants and tutors. The participants were asked to place themselves into this flooded world hypothesis, and it took some time before everyone was completely into the ‘game’. By exploring the island on which we were located, and by discovering similar ‘urban islands’ around the site and mapping their boundaries, we gradually began to grasp the idea and the feeling of becoming an island society. After the first week some participants left for other workshops and some new ones joined, keeping the numbers equal. There was however profound interaction with other workshops as we also mapped them as the ‘tribes’ inhabiting the island.

In the second week we worked towards two main outcomes. The first was a video, which gave an indication of how the island may have continued to evolve given a longer period of time. The second was an installation at the heart of the island, representing the ancient Finnish idea of the world (a dome suspended from a column) as a sacred place. Under this holy-dome the artefacts we had collected during various expeditions were laid out together with some drawings and a large floor painting, all of them different maps and encyclopediae cataloging the island. During the last day of the EASA event a ritual was held to praise the almighty god Ukko, and whadda ya know, it rained and thundered! — Workshop tutors: Martin Michette (UK), Alkistis Thomidou (GR), Thomas Cattrysse (BE), Joseph Frame (UK)

Ukko, God of the sky. 71

KUKI WONDERLAND Idea: House is your second skin “The growing experiences of alienation, detachment and solitude in the technological world today, for instance, may be related to a certain pathology of the senses. (…) With the loss of tactility, architecture becomes inhumane, unreal. It is transformed into stage sets for the eye, which lose all authenticity in matter and construction.” (Juhani Pallasmaa, 2005) Reaching the top of visual welfare we are wondering: what’s next, Architecture? We think that our wish to open up our senses comes naturally from the haptic architectural aspect. Our goal is concerning architecture through expanding the boundaries of the human body sensory.

Target: Free your body! ”The current over-emphasis on the intellectual and conceptual dimensions of architecture contributes to the disappearance of its physical, sensual and embodied essence.” (Juhani Pallasmaa, 2005) We want to reveal the lost multi-sensural approach to our generation, specially to architects, to make spaces pleasant and playful for the mind. During the workshop we tried to focus on our potentials which should be the core of architecture. To grasp an architectural task deeply, understanding Peter Zumthor’s words, one has to let him/her to resonate with the spot a bit. A string while tuning can not give clear sounds if it’s pulled whether too tense or left too sleazy. So we reached out to be more concentrated and loose at the same time while dealing with space. In order to get further in this sensitive and slow process we needed to let go of the analytical and rational side of us instinctively.

How: Our group of mixed people started to experiment practically with contemporary dancers. They guided us into this magnificent field of a new language, our intuitional side as human beings. Finally the expression mapping our body was filled up with real experience. Realizing all our parts and their connection to each other, as a BODY with 3 dimensional extent and scope, we could expand our mental limits through the rising awareness of our movements. Step by step we saw ourselves not only as an independent item of the space, but also as a joint body, building on intentions of each others bodies. These and many other creatively challenging exercises sharpened all our senses besides the way of our thinking, fulfilling a hoped consequence. We decided to use this uncommon condition as a tool of awaking creativity.

Outcome: Be active! As the topic itself presumes, we did not have any specific outcome. Even though, executing the exercises have strengthened our ability for expression, which is about projecting image of your body onto architecturally embodied work. We discovered slowly that ‘kuki’ is a stance to life, that probably can only be achieved by getting out of the everyday habitat and comfort zone. We believe that through this physical way of thinking we are more able to get the human comfort nature and our own space closer to each other - wherefore we try to find those creative tools, what make us more loose and concentrated, and lead us to an innovative and surprising ending. — Workshop tutors: Zsófia Paczolay (HU), Zsófia Szóke (HU), Patrick Jaritz (AT) 73

OUTDOOR

READING ROOM

As a permanent installation ‘The Outdoor Reading Room’ intended to create an additional layering to the area of Suvilahti through a series of experimental brick walls, dividing the wasteland into a literary playground. Rather than imposing a pre-designed structure, we felt it more meaningful to both participants and ourselves to create structures formed directly from their context. Adopting an open minded design strategy, we divided and allocated specific areas of the site between our participants to focus on particular aspects we deemed important to consider, for example : seating, surface treatments, views, voids, thresholds, approach, security... The first few days involved digesting the site conditions and the appropriation of structures within it. This inevitably led to participants formulating ideas in small groups, discussing how the new meets the existing and the functionality of the space. These ideas were developed in tandem with experimenting with brick - principally their bonds, but also their texture, pattern and colour. How these might jostle together to create a cohesive space was one of our main concerns as tutors. Therefore only once we felt all the groups had reached a comprehensive level of design, that worked together, did we progress to digging foundations and pouring concrete. This allowed one day for the concrete to set, while everyone was out on excursions, and the following week dedicated to the physical build. This process allowed each participant to have their own motivation and dedication to the design and construction. The downside to this being the refinement of the design in such a short space of time and constraining conflicting ideas was sometimes difficult. We were pleased with the overall outcome of the workshop and enthralled at the prospect of the site being incorporated in the Flow Festival and the future of Suvilahti. — Workshop tutors: Joanna Sharples (UK), James Hills (UK)

POETRY OF WASTELANDS A group of four young filmmakers from France, Denmark, South Africa and Macedonia was searching for poetry and emotions at the wastelands of Kalasatama and Suvilahti in Helsinki, Finland. The aim was to produce a short experimental movie. Film was used as a medium to tell an emotional story about the space of wastelands. That is what good architecture should be about - telling a story in order to communicate with people. Architects should be able to view space from average persons perspective in order to create a dialog between human and form. First week’s beginning consisted of reading and discussing Juhani Pallasmaa’s ”The Architecture of Image - Existential Space in Cinema” and Peter Zumthor’s ”Atmospheres” and watchnig Antoine Viviani’s interactive movie ”In situ”. The rest of the first week was for studying basics of film editing and the use of Adobe Premier Pro software. However the focus was on the storytelling methods rather than the software. The second week began with experiments on different electronic devices like GoPro cameras, Nokia Lumia smartphones, Canon 7D, simple sound recorders and more. The week was also about searching for good stories related with architecture and emotions. And at the four individual stories about the area were edited. The short movies were: ”Kalasataming” by Louise Currie, ”Re_adapting” by Victor Mokaba, ”The Mammoth of Kalasatama” by Tina Harington and ”Passing Shadows” by Vlado Danailov. The workshop was an incredible adventure and the team learned a lot from each other. Few days after the workshop ”Kalasataming” by Louise Currie was selected for Film, Art & Performance festival in Berlin and screened on 31st of August in Berlin. — Workshop tutor: Joanna Wojciechowicz (PL)

rational

irrational (piikkisika)

A wastelands is an environment where every space and all physical aspects, every movement and activity have been carefully planed, designed and drawn. The production that once took place in this environment was the ultimate incarnation of rationality. The production has stopped, the place fallen into redundancy leaving behind a space that is looking for a new future. We, the inhabitants of the wasteland which we created ourselves, are thinking, moving and living still according to our rational view of the world. Left behind in the wasteland we venture out on a scientific expedition to the last place that is still untouched by our radical transformations. There we are hoping to find access to our irrational past, intuition and wilderness. With our scientific ingenuity we design devices that will isolate individual aspects that exist only in this environment. The devices collect and store the data and constitute the vessel in which we will bring back what we were looking for. At our return to the wasteland we carefully analyse the collected data and struggle to put the puzzle pieces

back together. We try to recreate the environment that we found on our expedition using the materials and methods that are proper to us. Again we aim to create something that is planned and measured in every detail, just like the wasteland. But this time it is our hope that it will reveal the irrational world that we have lost in our aim for efficiency. After days of discussion, drawing, making, and hard labour we erect the temple of our new religion, the PIIKKISIKA. It is a place where we go to meditate, a place for isolation and reflection. Its only purpose is to tell the story of that place that is so different from the wasteland. It’s long antennas wave in the wind, picking up the distant flows. The movement is diverted into the interior where we can read it’s message in the unpredictable movement. — Workshop tutors: Giona Bierens de Haan (IT/CH), Jeanne Wéry (CH), Christoph Holz (DE)

Refuge

Refuge The plan for Refuge workshop was to practice participatory planning the first week and build the resulting designs during the second. Work was done together with Hirundo Day Centre for Migrants and Travellers located near Suvilahti. The center offers possibilities to wash clothes, take a shower and warm up food and it is mainly used by Roma people who live in their cars. The aim was to upgrade their premises. Participants were encouraged to involve themselves, to use recycled materials and to take the initiative and create their own projects in small groups. On hindsight this setting was perhaps a little bit too demanding, as almost all materials and possible outcomes of the workshop were kept open for discussion. Some groups took specific rooms of the center as their assignments, while other participants took on different smaller tasks and changed between groups during the realization of the designs. The designs added joyful color and clarity to the interior of the center, and the exterior was decorated with temporary installations. The participants came up with many great ideas during the brainstorming sessions. The one’s that weren’t realizable during the event were exhibited in the final party and sent to people involved in Hirundo’s work.

The final party was held outside Hirundo where neighbours, the Roma and EASA participants were all invited. Invitations and a poster were handed out in the neighbourhood. The party also included other workshops. EASA FM was responsible for music, EASA Kitchen for the finger food and Swingland put up a couple of swings in the park. — Workshop tutors: Noora Aaltonen (FI), Tuuli Kassi (FI), Inari Virkkala (FI)

Smoking Is Good For You Smoking Is Good For You set out to design and construct a smoke house on the Suvilahti site, through learning and experimenting with the process of smoking food. The sourcing of food from local markets was important, as it was a way of engaging with local market owners and understanding Finnish culinary tradition. By collecting food which was unsold and set to go waste at markets, the workshop was set to prolong the foods use, by imparting flavour into stale produce. As well as this the process of smoking food was meant to provide the opportunity for a practical skill/knowledge to be taught. The first week was set to be a week of learning and then experimenting with how to smoke food and the different techniques that can be practiced. Initially we took a tour of the food markets of Helsinki, to gain a better understanding of the produce that was available and popular in Finland. This was followed by a first attempt to make hot smokers. We had some of the correct apparatus to construct smokers, however some were missing. This apparent obstacle was in actual fact a God send, as it allowed us to go off and explore the abandoned land that made up Suvilahti. Snarled metal, bruised brick, concrete block, we collected and then built. This was the correct response to the idea of practicing a low tech process in a postindustrial wasteland. We gained an understanding of the ‘found’ materials that lay there on the ground of Suvilahti, ready to be salvaged and reconstructed for a use. Fish purchased (an unfortunate necessary) from the market was hot smoked and then swiftly devoured by grubby hands. Reused (from the hot smokers) and new ‘found’ materials were used to construct a colder smoker which produced cold smoked food.

The second week was for the construction and use of the final smoke house. Materials had been ordered and the smoke house was designed through several design discussions, including discussing the best way of educating the curious about the process of smoking and being inspired by the traditional Finnish vernacular of timber clad houses. The finished smoke house was a success, hot smoking as much food as we could put into it. Smoke rising from the chimney of the smoke house, drew great interest including members of the public, who informed us that beautifully designed smokers did not exist in Finland and that they were inspired to go and construct their own smoke houses at their summer cottages. — Workshop tutors: William Burgess (UK), Jack Richards (UK), Emma Uncles (UK)

STAGE

Wastelands: XXXII European Architecture Students Assembly in cooperation with Flow Festival organized a design competition with an objective to design a compact stage for the use of Flow Festival. “Balloon” — the winning design by Larisa Kazic (SI), Tea Kogovsek (SI), Nejc Lebar (SI) and Alja Košir (SI) was selected to be realized as an outcome of the contest. The winning stage construction was seen to fit well into the chronological continuum of Suvilahti power production site, reflecting the elements and forms in the existing infrastructure in a completely unexpected scale and style. The design also displayed an insightful take on the competition’s briefing, equally functioning as a visible landmark among the enormous gasometers and the old power plant structures. The stage presents the audience and the artists with a remarkable chance of interaction during the performances.

The design was a round performance stage surrounded by an auditorium. The whole area for the performer and the audience was covered by a massive excess pressure balloon. The design was taken to further development with the designers, Flow Festival people, Wastelands-organizers and various specialists. Once the calculations regarding wind loads and costs for such a structure were completed, the representatives of Flow Festival placed an order for a tailor-made balloon with a diameter of 14 meters. The stage in its entirety was constructed in the courtyard of Suvilahti power plant area by professionals immediately after Wastelands. — Wastelands producers: Pekka Ijäs (FI), Ville Mellin (FI)

photo (c) Jussi Hellsten / Flow Festival

STRANGE NATURE In contemporary architecture design process, projects are often developed first as large, volumetric studies and then refined into smaller and smaller details with materials then considered as an afterthought. Strange Nature workshop was interested in reversing the traditional design process and in exploring design through fabrication. The aim was to develop 1:1 installations through material experiments and physical modelling. Rather than approaching design from a formal, aesthetic point, the workshop wanted to start from the physical potential of a material. Since the explorations and structures were defined by materiality, it was essential to select an inspiring material. The material(s) had to be simple to work with, inexpensive, and durable. The chosen thin aluminium sheets were ideal due to their malleability, flexibility, strength, and aesthetic qualities. The aluminium sheets that were recycled from offset newspaper printing were supplied by Helsingin Sanomat.

Once having the material, students were asked to explore geometry, ornamentation, and connection details to transform the aluminium sheets into a component system. The aim was to use the developed component system to build one to four siteâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;specific installations. A few practical problems occurred during the workshop. Firstly, we wanted the students to produce many large prototypes. The space, however, had a limited working area which made it difficult for the students to think big and view multiple models simultaneously. Secondly, not enough consideration and time was spent on connection details. Also, a digital, parametric component of the workshop could have been a tool to investigate the structure. The workshop decided to begin with paper models which in the end was a small setback. The strategy behind this decision was to make students more comfortable cutting and folding and to have an inexpensive material that they wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see as precious in order to encourage quick, numerous prototypes. In reality, the students created a series of prototypes that were impossible to recreate in aluminium. The workshop concluded with two built installations and countless prototypes. Both two groups succeeded in transforming the thin aluminium into structural components and combining the components to build self-supporting structures. The strengths of the process lay in the creativity of the initial material explorations, the countless models and ideas produced, the mass-production methodology devised by the students, and the way in which the resulting structures were integrated into the site. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Elias Lindhoff (SE), Erin Towsley (UK)

STX OPEN INNOVATION EVENT When we think about Wastelands, we often restrict our thinking to only wasted lands. But with over 70 % of the Earth’s surface being covered in water, out of which only a small fraction is being used, those oceans can also be seen as wastelands. STX Open Innovation Evening explored the concept of seas and oceans as spaces full of yet unharnessed potential. The event was organized exclusively for STX Europe – an international shipbuilding group with a world leading position in the production of cruise ships and ferries, offshore and other specialized vessels. The 100 participants selected in advance were asked to consider what the future for these ships could be and how they could contribute towards sustainable, creative yet effective use of the world’s great water areas. They were asked to make use of their architectural expertise and spatial visioning skills to come up with new, unprecedented conceptual solutions for passenger ferries. It was an interesting topic that also related well to the topical discussion on climate change and sea level rise. The structural framework of the event was based on open innovation. The participants were first given a brief introduction to the shipbuilding industry and preceding concepts from the perspective of STX Europe. They were then guided to work in small groups and follow three simple phases of creative problem solving: divergence (brainstorming, opening), convergence (analyzing, closing) and presenting (branding, selling). Assigned themes consisted of onboard experience, floating living, water-related utopias, connecting the ships to the port city’s urban fabric, architecture of movement and finally the possible after-life of old shipwrecks. As a result, groups worked intensively and explored the possibilities. The diversity of proposed solutions was large, ranging from utopian floating and underwater cities to more specific interventions such as modular facility units shared between a port city and a ship. Given the rather narrow time frame, the participants succeeded well in design innovations. The outcomes provide plenty of food for elaboration and further examining. — Workshop organizer: Emmi Jääskeläinen (FI)

SWINGLAND The aim of the workshop was to use movement as a tool which allows us to activate place and perceive everyday spaces in a new way. In order to create different emotional characters a group of 11 people from 8 countries were designing, modeling and implementing swings of different types and scales in unexpected locations inside Suvilahti and nearby. Creative process was flexible and open to new ideas and challenges, there were no pre-developed concepts or designs brought to the event. Participants were encouraged to create personal projects, search for best spaces for intervention, find materials and objects and reuse them in their designs. During two weeks twentyfive swinging or rocking objects were built in five different indoor and outdoor locations. Smallest and simplest swings were easily and quickly executed during the first days of the event and actively used by people to chill out in. Everyday at least one new design was implemented. Each one of them represented growing ambitions and skills of the team. The final and most challenging intervention was a huge 1x4 meter size swinging platform constructed inside the dormitory space in Kattilahalli. Objects constructed by Swingland team were used in the Refuge workshops final party. All of the swings became active participants in daily EASA life. Success of the workshop cannot be represented by numbers or scale of the objects, but only by diversity of emotions created for their users. User’s satisfaction and positive memories are the main results of our two weeks workshop process. — Workshop tutors: Ieva Cicenaite (LT), Matas Šiupšinskas (LT), Karolis Kyzikas (LT)

TRASH ART We are living in a consumer culture and, unlike the artists from the past, don’t have an easy access to such materials as bronze, stone, marble or plaster. Why not use what there is most of, no one needs, and everyone throws away? Why would art have to be a privilege of those to whom the materials are available? The workshop’s conceptual idea was to collect inorganic garbage, and to use it as a raw material for creating works of art. The garbage used was meant to have its history and a recognizable life span. Therefore the workshop mainly focused on collecting garbage and wasted materials from the EASA site, such as found objects, leftovers from other workshops and trash produced by the 500-headed Wastelands crowd living in the area for two weeks in one go.

The materials were revived on the abandoned (waste) land, in the empty fields of the former Suvilahti power plant area. The aim was to, through a creative program and a fun way, inspire participants to look at disposed objects and waste from a different perspective. A bin, filled with rubbish, doesn’t have to be a contribution to a landfill, but a storage for recyclable raw material for modern art. — Workshop tutors: Jelena Nikolic (RS), Jovana Pilipovic (RS), Bogdan Ilic (RS)

treesome When the workshop proposal for building a tree house was chosen for realisation, a great challenge was in front of us. We were excited about our childhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream finally coming true, although the truth was, we had no idea how to realise it. A final design had to be presented in order to get all the necessary materials in time, so that working could begin immediately once on the spot. But yet the tree had to be chosen. The team ended up choosing a tree from behind the gasometers. After that, countless tutorials were watched, books about wooden constructions were browsed and discussed, and even some professors at the university consulted. Apparently a lot of people wanted to keep their childish side alive; interest for the workshop was huge. And so the work with participants started; new doubts, new worries, new ideas, new solutions. But there seemed to be plenty of time left. Then the second week came: all working, explaining and learning, learning just explained, explaining just learned. At this moment Wastelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s invention of a helper with experience of constructively challenging workshops proved to be a very prudent decision. With only a few days left, work was done from morning until late evening. The progress was visible from one hour to another. After the main construction was finished, the floor was on. For the first time it looked like something usable, not only beams hanging on a tree. Lastly we consolidated the structure, built wall frames and walls - and finally it was ready, our own treehouse. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutors: Maja Lesnik (HR), Stefan Jovicic (RS), Miguel Setas (PT), Darko Krstevski (MK), Aleksandra Poljanec (HR) / Helper: Kieran Donellan (IE)

UMBRELLA Umbrella is about capturing EASA spirit through engagement with every workshop, all participants and anything that crosses our path during two weeks of investigation, interviewing, writing and reporting culminating in a printed publication, distributed each evening. Umbrella is the longest running workshop in EASA. In each country the newspaper has a new name depending on the local word for umbrella, Scáth Baistí in 2008. L’Ombrello in 2009, Rägaschiarm in 2010, Parasol in 2011 and the colloquial finnish word Sontikka in 2012. The format is double sided A3 and really the newspaper is more of a tabloid than a broadsheet. Articles are kept short, humorous and to the point, often with outrageous headlines and controversial photos from the event. All the news comes from within the EASA itself which helps to create a sense of community among the participants, a nation united in gossip. It is also a vital tool for the organisers to announce upcoming events and start the word of mouth process on which EASA depends, in an environment with a large dispersed crowd, full of distractions. Each morning at the press meeting we decide which workshops to cover during the day depending on what they have accomplished so far. It allows individual workshops to engage with the wider community and announce events or happenings. Typical topics we cover are the weather, the parties, discussions, advice, lost & found, NC duties, national evening and feedback from participants. We also run features on local architecture, interviews with speakers and event reviews. There is a certain excitement when the latest issue is released. People rush to get the limited supply of printed copies while others download the .pdf online. We receive comments throughout the day from past and present EASA participants on our social media sites. Communication is our goal and we are trying new ways to spread the news faster with SMS, projections and mass emails but in an analog environment the printed media is the most effective. Nothing beats scribbling on folded paper for an architect. Long live Umbrella! — Workshop tutors: Ronan Kenny (IE) + Cheryl Ann Bonello (MT), Hanna Varanets (BY), Photographer: Julia Minnig (CH), Contributors: Hugo Pointillard (FR), Cecily Quetin-Weeks (IE), Nathalie Abela (MT), Bláthmhac Ó Muirí (IE), Michael Hayes (IE), Barıs Enselioglu (TR)

UPLIFTING LANDINGS – KONE DAY WORKSHOP For each of our conscious observations we make about our environments, we also make more than millions of subconscious observations. Our sensory perception is a combination of the two. The objective of the ‘Uplifting Landings’ workshop was to explore how we could change our daily surroundings, buildings and environments by using sound, smell, taste or sensory elements in addition to the more usual physical design elements. The one day workshop took place at the Cable factory in Helsinki, a former industrial entity that has been gradually developed into a vivid cultural center. The focus of the workshop was on the landings of elevators and insides of elevator cabins, which can be seen as neglected spaces within buildings that simply provide the infrastructure of access. The workshop met two times before the actual workshop day. At first the workshop’s leader, architect Esa Laaksonen held a thought-provoking lecture on observation, perception and senses. Next the participants visited the selected elevators on site, to become more acquainted with them and to be able to make their first drafts. They were then able to prepare lists of materials they would need to carry out their spatio-sensual experiments. During the actual workshop day participants got engaged in experimenting their concepts by for example installing mirroring surfaces, different feeling textures, music and sound devices in the elevators. One group turned an elevator lobby into a complex web of elastic strings, encouraging bypassers to perform acrobatics when moving across the space. Installations certainly offered new experiences to both visitors and daily users of the Cable Factory. — Workshop organizer: Emmi Jääskeläinen (FI)

VISIONING HELSINKI The Visioning Helsinki Workshop started out with a simple task, to bring new knowledge and practice to the participants of the assembly. In collaboration with Architecture & Design Scotland and with the work of the Helsinki Design Lab a brief was developed that would offer the participants an opportunity to formulate a new way of doing things and a new way of looking at urban ‘wastelands’. During the two weeks our participants evaluated the EASA community defining what is required for a community to operate. They analysed the Sompasaari peninsular capturing thoughts and emotions whilst walking through the area that had been deemed a ‘Wasteland’. They engaged with the locals who use the peninsular and other EASA workshops to collaborate on the formation of the final exhibition and designed and constructed an installation that embodied the theme that developed from the workshop ‘Freedom’. Diarmaid Lawlor from Architecture & Design Scotland visited the workshop to assist with the briefing process, help us to resolve the deliverables whilst providing vital support and example work such as the ‘Learning towns’ project. Our intervention was to renovate a small unloved place on the peninsular from a maggot ridden hut to a changing room and social learning space that was symbolically at the end of the ‘walk to freedom’ with a view back to the centre of Helsinki. We didn’t name the project, we didn’t impose rules instead we trusted the people of Helsinki to use responsibly and this forms an ongoing experiment regarding community, trust and betrayal. At the workshop exhibition on Saturday 28th July 2012 Blathmhac O’Muiri, from Ireland, played his Uilleann pipes to an audience of guests and EASA members. The sun shone as we enjoyed Irish folk music with the backdrop of the Helsinki skyline with some taking the opportunity to use our changing room and take a swim in the Baltic sea. The questions formed from the workshop have been the topic of debate between design, planning and community professional at a senior level, a debate that will culminate in an exhibition and seminar at Scotland’s national architecture centre in Glasgow in 2013. We would like to thank Architecture & Design Scotland for their commitment and sponsorship without which this workshop would not have been possible and a big thank you to all the people who participated throughout the workshop. — Workshop tutors: Sam Patterson (UK), Jack Taylor (UK)

101

WASTEBIKES Thinking of wastelands in an urban environment it is immanent to consider big streets which are monofunctional as such because they only serve car-related needs and are of low public use. Therefore a different approach for the Suvilahti site had to be developed, giving everyone the chance to create their own means of transportation by using dumped bicycles in combination with other waste calling it Wastebikes. Within the two weeks of the event, 16 people managed to create several unique bikes ”for you and for me and the entire human race”. How to Wastebikes: get materials dumped bikes and general waste get tools welder, grinder, various screwdrivers and wrenches, a drill... get to work get it rollin´ get representin´ — Workshop tutors: David Lukacs (AT), Ali Kolaritch (AT), Christian Heshmatpour (AT)

103

WASTED LIGHT Bathed in sunlight, engulfed in its ceaseless unbearable heat. You need shelter. You need solace from its overpowering brightness, an escape from the ever present midnight sun. You need a place where you can think, where you can find tranquil solitude and even sleep. As you enter the pavilion you become lost in the darkness. Your eyes adjust slowly as you acclimatise to this dark realm and as you feel the gentle waft of cool air brush your skin and you realise you are in a magical world. Observing these intense streaks of light in the darkness, shape changing, mood altering, atmosphere inducing. You suddenly are struck by the day’s passing. You depart the space with a newly gained energy to confront the intense sun once more. Light so ever present in our lives is all to often wasted. We fail to grasp its depth or indeed to realise its potential. We no longer look on light as a primary tool that could be used in transforming and reshaping space into a meaningful, deep, beautiful and intense experience. We overlook and take for granted its heavenly impact. In the northern countries, during summer, light is always a constant. so much of this natural illumination is lost as people progress with their normal lives but in turmoil they endeavour to cope with this light.

The project itself wasn’t cast in stone prior to the workshop but it evolved and changed through the experiments and discussions we had as a group. We viewed the light as a material and experimented with it, capturing and transforming it. The final pavilion was a sleeping pod & relaxation area where one could escape the constant light and get much needed dark space and tranquil oblivion. Where people will go not only to escape the sun intrusiveness but discover a place where light and its impact is understood. A nirvana of blackness within which people will question their relationship with the sun, the seasonality of their lives and their place within that reality. — Workshop tutors: Darragh Breathnach (IE), Daria Leikina (OZ), Pablo Bolinches (ES)

105

Writing is building. For most students during their education as architects the importance of language is ignored in favour of drawings and photography. Yet there are fundamental differences between the nature of language and image. Each have their own set of rules. Each limit what can be communicated. Each construct their own reality. The writing is building workshopÂ aimed to give participants the opportunity to explore their own architectural concerns through the medium of language. 11 students took part. Participants were first asked to find a space in the city for reading with the purpose of demonstrating the importance of space in not only providing the content of the text but also in affecting the perception of reading. Similarly, participants then returned to this spaces with the goal of writing in mind; too often the act of writing is not considered as a spatial action. Following these introductory exercises, participants were encouraged to pursue individual projects through the media of book, film or text. Each medium was selected in order to expand and reveal the possibilities for language in its spoken written and printed form and how each of these media may determine our conception and perception of an architecture. The idea for a book rests on the nature of the printed word. The book is an extension of the visual faculty as expressed through the art of typography. The repeatability of the print calls for a spatial structure within the frame of a page. With the book, language become an object. This project involved the writing of content and the construction of a form that intwines both. The idea for a film rests on the oral tradition of language. Its juxtaposition of language and image is an opportunity to examine the line between fiction and reality in architecture. This project involved the development of a narrative, the capturing of fleeting imagery and an understanding of tone, volume, sound and all that is unique to the spoken word. The idea for a text rests on the definition as provided by Roland Barthes as, impossible to contain, operating across a dispersed web of standard plots and received ideas. The text is a network. This project involved the infiltration of language directly into the city - a series of notes, posters and sign posts which depending on how and when people discover them tell and re-tell a completely different story. The final task was a publication. This book has been produced with the intention of documenting and collating the students work. It has been designed, printed and bound by the participants and is the final undertaking in the exploration of the potential for language and architecture. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Workshop tutor: Michael Hayes (IE)

107

ZEROBASE The Zerobase workshop developed from a desire for collaboration between Wastelands and Sponda. Sponda, as a forward thinking, progressive developer, is constantly looking to respond to the needs and future needs of its customers. The opportunity to work on a project with Wastelands presented them a chance to tap into the creativity and vision of the future generation of architects currently studying in Europe. The program for the workshop was built from the simple question - ‘what is changing in office space?’ The information revolution, and associated mutations in communication networks, continues to provide new and unpredictable opportunities for technology and creative industries. The city of Helsinki has established itself as a world leader for start-ups in this sector. So it followed that the workshop would build on this emerging trend. A new approach to office design could not be built on existing architectural preconceptions, the workshop would have to find a way to mine for new data on the subject of the office for the creative industries. The methodology for the workshop employed techniques for trandsdiciplinary study. TD study is a concept of complex problems, such as that of designing a building, being tackled by a group of individuals with varied skills. But rather than in the traditional multidiscipline approach, in which the individuals work within their own ‘knowledge silos’, a transdisciplinary agent will guide the design process in a way that brings the knowledge of all involved to the fore. Through this approach it has been shown that varied, unexpected, and successfully innovative results can be arrived at. Employing transdisciplinary study ideas, the workshop designed and ran two public interactions, collaborative design sessions. In which the participants gathered data, synthesised it, and fed it into guided collaborative design. Workshop was done in cooperation with Sponda Oyj. — Workshop tutors: Christopher Maloney (UK), Elaine Bonavia (MT)

109

Wastelands was the outcome of a group of an infinite number of irreplaceable individuals and operators. The primary organization team was responsible for putting the event together, yet the success of the two-week period was greatly based on the collaboration between the participants and the Wa s t e l a n d s - o r g a n i z e r s .

111

MEDIA COVERAGE Archdaily (2012) Light Lab 5.1 / VAV Architects. Published 2.11.2012 on http://www.archdaily.com/288596/ light-lab-5-1-vav-architects/ Arkkitehtiopiskelija 1/2011 Jääskeläinen, Iida (2011). Experience the EASA Experience. page 14. Arkkitehtiuutiset 5/2011 Jääskeläinen, Emmi & Melajoki, Janne (2011). EASA: Embedding Life in Architecture. Arkkitehtiuutiset 6-7/2012 Karvinen, Kaisa (2012). Työpajoja hukkatiloissa. Arkkitehtiuutiset 9/2011 Jääskeläinen, Emmi & Rikaniemi, Pauli (2011). Arkkitehtuurikokeita Espanjan aurikorannikolla. Bassoradio (2012) Aamushow. Pekka Ijäs, Ville Mellin & Eero Alho as guests in the show 7.5.2012 Betoni 3/2012 Mari Haavisto & Arto Ollila. Uniikkeja kaupunkikalusteita Hernesaareen. page 50-53 Betoni 3/2012 Janne Saario. DIY Concrete toteutti skeittirampit Suvilahteen. page 54-56 Conversations by Nokia -blog. Willans, Joel (2012) What a Wasteland – Why Helsinki is the Centre of the Architectural Universe. Published 23.7.2012 on http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/07/23/what-a-wastelandwhy-helsinkis-the-centre-of-the-architectural-universe/ (read 8.1.2013) Conversations by Nokia -blog. Willans, Joel (2012) Alice in Wastelands: Why architecture is more imaginative than ever. Published 4.8.2012 on http://conversations.nokia.com/2012/08/04/alice-in-wastelandwhy-architecture-is-more-imaginative-than-ever/ (read 8.1.2013) Designboom (2012) Light Lab 5.1 by VAV Architects. Published 27.10.2012 on http://www.designboom.com/ readers/light-lab-51-by-vav-architects/ Domus Web (2012). EASA: Wastelands. Published on http://www.domusweb.it/en/news/easa-wastelands/ (luettu 8.1.2013) Helsingin Sanomat Jokelainen, Jarkko (2012). Wastelands-lava riemastutti Flowssa. Published 12.8.2012 on http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/Wastelands-lava+riemastutti+Flowssa/a1305592069653 Helsingin Sanomat 6.7.2012. Mayow, Liisa (2012). Arkkitehtien Woodstock alkaa. Wastelands-tapahtuma kerää Helsinkiin yli 450 arkkitehtiopiskelijaa ympäri maailmaa. Kulttuuri B1 / Culture B1. Helsingin Sanomat 28.7.2012. Mayow, Liisa (2012). Luovuus temmeltää joutomaalla. Kulttuuri B1 / Culture B1. Article can also be read on http://www.hs.fi/paivanlehti/kulttuuri/Luovuus+temmeltää+joutomaalla/ a1343362139317 Helsingin Sanomat Mayow, Liisa (2012). Nuorten arkkitehtien luovuus kukkii Suvilahdessa. Published 28.7.2012 on http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/Nuorten+arkkitehtien+luovuus+kukkii+Suvilahdessa++katso+kuvakooste/ a1305587435911

Helsingin uutiset (2012). Joutomaa vapautti nuoret arkkitehdit. Published 27.7.2012 on http://www. helsinginuutiset.fi/artikkeli/119188-joutomaa-vapautti-nuoret-arkkitehdit (read 8.1.2013) Helsingin uutiset (2012). Arkkitehtuurifestivaali valtasi Helsingin. Published 16.7.2012 on http://www. helsinginuutiset.fi/artikkeli/117857-arkkitehtuurifestivaali-valtasi-helsingin (read 8.1.2013) Helsingin uutiset (2012). Kerjäläiset juhlivat Pääskylänrinteellä. Published 27.7.2012 on http://www. helsinginuutiset.fi/artikkeli/119293-kerjalaiset-juhlivat-paaskylanrinteella-katso-kuvat HSL (2012). Arkkitehtiopiskelijat valtaavat Kulttuuriratikan. Published 12.7.2012 on http://www.hsl.fi/fi/ mikaonhsl/uutiset/2012/Sivut/Page_20120711023418.aspx (read 8.1.2013) Image 11/2012 Saarikoski, Sonja (2012). Hukkatilojen huvit. page 13-14. Monocle (2012). Helsinki: A Monocle City Survey. Monocle, vol 6, issue 53, May 2012, page 107. MTV3 & STT (2012). Eurooppalaiset arkkitehtiopiskelijat kokoontuivat Helsinkiin. Published 17.7.2012 on http:// www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/kotimaa.shtml/eurooppalaiset-arkkitehtiopiskelijat-kokoontuivat-helsinkiin/2012/07/1582170 (read 8.1.2013) Nelonen (2012) Television news. 17.7.2012 Puu-lehti 3/2012 Mari Haavisto & Arto Ollila. Keitaita Joutomaalle. page 40-41 Radio Helsinki (2012) Helsingin aamuradio. Pekka Ijäs as a guest in the show. 8.2.2012. Turun Sanomat & STT (2012). Eurooppalaiset arkkitehtiopiskelijat kokoontuivat Helsinkiin. Published 17.7.2012 on http://www.ts.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/369030/Eurooppalaiset+arkkitehtiopiskelijat+kokoontuivat+Helsinkiin (read 8.1.2013) Turun Sanomat & STT (2012). ”Alvar Aalto on hämmästyttävä”. Published 17.7.2012 on http://www.ts.fi/ uutiset/ulkomaat/369032/Alvar+Aalto+on+hammastyttava (read 8.1.2013) World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 (2012). Wastelandsissa luodaan joutomaista uutta kaupunkia. Published 16.7.2012 on http://wdchelsinki2012.fi/uutiset/2012-07-16/wastelandsissa-luodaan-joutomaista-uutta-kaupunkia (read 8.1.2013) World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 (2011). Wastelands arkkitehtuurifestivaali. Published 16.10.2011 on http://wdchelsinki2012.fi/ohjelma/2011-10-16/wastelands-arkkitehtuurifestivaali (read 8.1.2013) Yle Leppälä, Veli-Veikko (2012). Helsingin joutomaille etsitään uutta käyttöä. Published 16.7.2012 on http:// yle.fi/uutiset/helsingin_joutomaille_etsitaan_uutta_kayttoa/6219493 (read 8.1.2013) Yle (2012) Television news. 17.7.2012 Yle (2012) Yle Puhe, Festarielämää - Tilan merkitys musiikille. 17.8.2012. Yle Radio Vega (2012), Morgonöppet. Arkitektstuderande Robert Hanson om evenemanget Wastelands. 16.7.2012. 113

MAIN CORPORATION PARTNER

EDUCATIONAL PARTNER

FOUNDATIONS

PARTNERS

WASTELANDS: PRODUCERS: Eero Alho, Pekka Ijäs, Lotta Jalava, Emmi Jääskeläinen, Janne Melajoki, Ville Mellin. RECRUITMENT TEAM: Annamari Löfgren, Veera Tolvanen. MONOGRAPH: EDITING & LAYOUT: YEAH HELSINKI (Eero Alho & Pekka Ijäs). TEXTS: Eero Alho, Pekka Ijäs, Emmi Jääskeläinen, Ville Mellin & the workshop tutors mentioned in the end of each presentation. PHOTOS: Wastelands (Lassi Häkkinen, Geoffrey Cox, Alexandra Kanonchenko, Gema Florido, Matthias Klapper, Yuliya Baranovskaya, Matilde Igual, Mia Pajunen, Eero Alho, Tutors from the following workshops: Artrack, Bodylab, Burn, Demolition, DIY Concrete, Driftwood, EASA Documentary, Gathering Wastelands, Inipi, Kinetic Graffiti, Korkeasaari, Outdoor Reading Room, Poetry of Wastelands, Rational Irrational, Strange Nature, Swingland, Umbrella, Wastebikes, Wasted Light, Writing Is Building, Zerobase), Carlos Santos, Jussi Hellsten. Wastelands Monograph — Published by Wastelands / EASAfinland Ry www.wastelands.fi ISBN 978-952-93-2085-1 (PAPERBACK) ISBN 978-952-93-2086-8 (PDF) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. © 2013 Wastelands / EASAfinland Ry

115

117