Lappia Hall (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

: ''Lappia-talo'') is a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

venue and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

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 Pe ...

, the capital city of the Finnish Lapland region, situated close to the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...

. It is notable for having been designed by the renowned Finnish architect

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, s ...

in the modernist style. The wavy exterior roofline is reminiscent of the

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

s of Lapland. When lit at night, they also resemble the Northern Lights (see e.g
here
. The interior design makes extensive use of light wood and plain white surfaces with blue accents, typical of Aalto's later work. The public areas are largely furnished with light fixtures and furniture by Aalto's own furniture and interior design company, Artek. The building was constructed in phases. The first phase was completed in 1961, and housed among other things the Finnish public broadcaster Yle's regional office, as well as the Lapland Music Institute (''Lapin musiikkiopisto''). The second phase, completed in 1971, is home to the municipal Rovaniemi Theatre, while the final phase, the conference centre, was finished in 1975. Lappia Hall was the last building Aalto saw finished, before his death in 1976. In 2013–2015, the interior of the building was extensively renovated, as well as expanded to include underground performance venue and service areas. Today, the building comprises three

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

s with a total seating capacity of 600, as well as two restaurants. Lappia Hall forms part of a wider complex of public and administrative buildings designed by Aalto, known collectively as the 'Aalto Centre', along with the adjacent Rovaniemi library (completed in 1965) and Rovaniemi city hall (1988). The complex has been designated and protected by the

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a ...

as a nationally important built cultural environment (''Valtakunnallisesti merkittävä rakennettu kulttuuriympäristö'').

References

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External links

Rovaniemi Theatre official site (in Finnish)
Alvar Aalto buildings Modernist architecture in Finland Rovaniemi Buildings and structures in Lapland (Finland)