April 23: Southern Finland tour – Åbo Akademi

Adjacent to the cathedral is the campus of Åbo Akademi (Turku Academy), the only Swedish-language university in Finland. We toured several of its buildings.

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The library, a fine classic-modern building with some details that evoke Stockholm. It was designed by Erik Bryggman, a Turku native, more of whose work we will shortly see, and it was completed in 1935.

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A view back to the cathedral.

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Well-crafted stairs.

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Back outside: most of the cathedral.

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The Sibelius Museum, a very interesting building designed by Woldemar Baeckman in the 1960s.

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The auditorium area, which is flanked by exhibit halls, has this mushroom-like structure.

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The clerestory windows provide nice daylight.

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Cool stairwell too.

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SYNTHESIZER ROOM :3

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Reflected daylight on concrete, a definite strength of Nordic architecture.

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Moving on to the Arken complex, an infill project of older buildings, as you can see. It houses a varied program, including auditorium(s?), offices, and cafeteria, and probably a lot more.

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The central auditorium is surrounded by a curious chain-mail screen.

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Down the links.

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A cleanly-detailed skyway.

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A cleanly-detailed link.

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VOOOM

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Old-school cobblestyle.

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Back to the cathedral.