Jyväskylä's skyline has been influenced by two figures above all others: Alvar Aalto and Arto Sipinen. Professor Arto Sipinen has been responsible for the design of JSP Facilities' Innova building, Jyväskylä Polytechnic's IT-Dynamo building and the University of Jyväskylä's Agora building, all of them landmarks in Jyväskylä's cityscape.
The University of Jyväskylä has been added to in line with Sipinen's vision for some thirty years now. "Time has functioned as a fourth dimension of the design process, alongside height, width and length", Sipinen explains.
Sipinen has a special relationship with the university campus for other reasons, too. His grandparents fell in love there. For his part, at the age of 34 he was declared the winner of the University of Jyväskylä's architecture competition.
Sipinen, who studied under Alvar Aalto among others, acquired from Aalto a liking for Artek furniture and for the most important of all, the idea that: "A building is made for the landscape, that's why I look to the milieu for forms. It's also vital that a building serves its purpose. Activity can't be packed in advance into a certain shape."
Also the buildings in the University of Jyväskylä's Mattilanniemi area as well as the library, music, art and administration buildings up on Seminaarinmäki, the old campus, were designed by Sipinen. Sipinen's style is spacious and light. For Sipinen, a designer of large buildings, large white brick has become something of a trade mark.
"White is a suitably neutral starting point for art. It's also important that the building looks complete, even if it's extended later."
A member of SAFA (Finnish Association of Architects), Sipinen is one of Finland's most acclaimed designers. In 1999 he received the State Award for Architecture. The latest recognition came in the spring of 2005, when the City of Jyväskylä chose the University of Jyväskylä's Ylistönrinne campus as the best architectural location of 2004.
Outside Jyväskylä Sipinen's creations include cultural centres in Espoo and Imatra as well as concert halls in Mikkeli and Kuusamo.
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Photos: From the outset Arto Sipinen envisaged the buildings climbing the steep Ylistönrinne slope as a "Greek village".
By Sanna Hämäläinen Photos by Petteri Kivimäki