For some 150 years, the summer cottage has had an important place in Finnish culture, and Finnish architects have regarded the design of their personal summer residence or weekend studio as among their most important works. For Finland’s architects, the summer house represents not only a place to spend leisure time—savoring the magnificent Scandinavian summer in a rural retreat—but also a chance to realize architectural ideals and objectives. Summer cottages become experimental projects, providing the architect an opportunity to study a specific technical or structural aspect or to develop spatial concepts.
My Paradise: 100 Years of Finnish Architects’ Summer Homes features the summer homes of twenty renowned Finnish architects, including Lars Sonck, Eliel Saarinen, Alvar Aalto, and Juhani Pallasmaa. The exhibition consists of new photographs by Jari Jetsonen as well as historical photographs from the collections of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Alvar Aalto Museum, and private architects. Drawings; scale models constructed by students at the Tulane University School of Architecture and the University of Oregon; and Anssi Blomstedt’s film Alvar Aalto’s Journey to the Summer: The Muuratsalo Experimental House are important additions to the exhibition.
The exhibition is curated and designed by photographer Jari Jetsonen and architect Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen, who also wrote the exhibition texts. Their book Finnish Summer Houses, published in 2008 by Princeton Architectural Press, coincides with the exhibition. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Alvar Aalto Museum and was displayed at the Finnish Embassy, Washington, D.C., the gallery of the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, Washington.
