The Aalto Centre ( fi, Aalto-keskus) is an
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...
milieu
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
in the city of , in the
Finnish Lapland
Lapland ( fi, Lappi ; se, Lappi; smn, Laapi; sv, Lappland; la, Lapponia, links=no) is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the region of North O ...
, designed by the renowned Finnish
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Alvar Aalto, comprising the city's key administrative and cultural buildings.
Background
Up to 90% of
Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Perà ...
's building stock was destroyed during the
Lapland War
During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...
by the retreating German forces, necessitating the rebuilding of the city centre.
In January 1945, commissioned a new urban design from the
Finnish Association of Architects rebuilding unit, with the design work headed by Alvar Aalto.
Aalto's eventual design, approved in 1946, is called , and incorporates five arterial roads forming the shape of a
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...
antler.
In 1960, when was granted its
city charter
A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document ('' charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Traditionally the granting of a charte ...
, the formal decision was made to implement Aalto's plan.
At the centre of the design, the complex of Aalto-designed public and administrative buildings is known as 'Aalto Centre'.
The complex has been designated and protected by the
Finnish Heritage Agency as a nationally important built cultural environment ().
The cityscape is one of two urban plans designed by Aalto which were eventually completed; the other being
that in .
Key buildings
Notable Aalto-designed buildings in the centre include:
*
Lappia Hall performing arts and conference venue (completed in stages, 1961-1975)
*
Central library (1965)
*
City hall (1986)
The park surrounding the Aalto Centre also forms an integral part of the milieu.
See also
*
Aalto Centre, Seinäjoki
References
{{reflist
External links
'Alvar Aalto Rovaniemellä' City of Rovaniemi publication outlining Aalto's designs (in Finnish)
'Aalto and the Post-war Rebuilding of Rovaniemi' on Alvar Aalto Foundation website
Alvar Aalto buildings
Modernist architecture in Finland
Rovaniemi
Buildings and structures in Lapland (Finland)