Arquitectura religiosa na Finlândia: a natureza como inspiração

Abstract

For several centuries the geo-political position of Finland was a particular one: being for several centuries a province of Sweden and then getting joined to Russian Empire. Under the Swedish Regime, Finland was converted to Lutheranism. In spite of being located between these two great forces, Finland never really belonged to either of them, but kept its own spirit. In 1917 Finland finally got its independence. In architecture Alvar Aalto dominated for a long time the national and international panorama, presenting the Finnish architecture to the world's audience. Other architects gave also important contributions for Finnish architecture, among them, Kaija and Heikki Siren, Raili and Reima Pietilä and Juha Leiviskä. Finnish religious architecture followed the development of architecture in Finland in general, accepting without great difficulties the new ideas of the Modernist Movement. In the 30s Functionalism made its way to architecture competitions of churches in Finland. After the Second World War many churches, as well as other buildings, had to be reconstructed. They faced also new needs to turn more active, open and get more near to people; the programs get more complex when additional spaces were needed. New churches were needed especially in the new rapidly growing suburbs. The program and form were subjects to debate. Competitions got entries of churches with new spatial arrangements, with circular, elliptical or triangular floor plans. At this time new churches were constructed in great numbers. A great majority of churches were constructed as a result of architectural competitions, and thus, their architectural quality should represent the best of their time. In this dissertation the first chapter deals with the Finnish Nature to better understand its importance in Finnish everyday life as well in architecture. The following chapter, about Lutheranism, reveals the implications that the Lutheran religion has in its religious buildings. In the next chapter a brief historical look is made from the earliest churches on Finnish territory to the beginning of the Modern Movement. The following chapter concentrates on the Modern Finnish Sacral Architecture along the various decades for better understanding its evolution. Three examples of Finnish religious buildings were selected to be analysed: - Otaniemi Chapel (1956-57) by Kaija and Heikki Siren; - Kaleva Church (1964-66) in Tampere, by Raili and Reima Pietilä; - Myyrmäki Church (1980-84) in Vantaa, by Juha Leiviskä. Each one of these examples was analysed giving special emphasis to one most relevant aspect: in the Chapel of Otaniemi special prominence is given to materials and construction, in the Church of Kaleva its interior space and in the Church of Myyrmäki natural light is evidenced. The final part of this work takes a look to the most recent Finnish religious architecture.