Scandinavia

Jan 6-11 / Denmark
(Jan 10 / Sweden)
Jan 11-18 / Finland

It's my first day in Copenhagen, and I’m not dressed warm enough. I was ecstatic about being in Europe so I woke up hella early and went for a morning walk through the Botanisk Have at 8 am (mins before sunrise) in 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Locals said this much snow and such low temp were unusual. I thought it was normal judging by how many people were biking the night before. This was a beautiful park and I needed to practice walking on ice. Frozen ponds, freshly snowed pathways, birds active, and even saw a red squirrel. Taking these photos was painful as my frozen fingers were not functioning properly due to the cold. My poor circulation and sensitivity to cold caused my fingers to swell up. Scary first experience.

I went to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Geologisk Museum, which I found at the NE end of the Botanical Garden. I remembered seeing the exhibit advertised in Auckland while we were vacationing there only a few weeks before coming here. I arrived minutes before their opening and waited in the colorfully painted cave-like atrium filled with smells of freshly baked bread from the cafe next door. Mmm, Europe. I exchanged small talk with a Danish mother and son and was let inside the galleries at 10 am on the dot, impressed. They check you in at the gift shop, where I took note of the wool-lined mittens. Yeah, I bought them on my way out. Truly a life saver.

I got to experience the entire exhibit alone. I had the entire second floor to myself for an hour. It was incredibly peaceful, the work was stunning, and reading about their poor habitat conditions and speedy extinction made me tear up. I was too lazy to use my camera but I took photos of some of my favorites from the exhibit with my phone. I think David should submit to this competition next year :)

I noticed how the street lamps were different here. Cables tied to buildings and posts, centered on each side of the road, kinda like giant street pendants. At night, they were warm and dim. I appreciated the low light levels… low light pollution.

I actually went to Scandinavia for work with UCLA students and my former professor/teaching partner. So most of my photos are taken during either super early mornings exploring the city alone or when I had a second to myself during tours. Another pre-sunrise walk in a nearby park in Indre By, where I ate a freshly baked croissant with hot coffee standing on this bridge.

A sculpture garden in between the old and new architecture of SMK.

At one of the entrances of BLOX by OMA. It was one of the first buildings we visited on our first day. We, of course, went to the Danish Architecture Centre. There were some great exhibits there. So Danish!, Changing Our Footprint by Henning Larsen, and Copenhagen in Common. We came to Copenhagen at the right time. Copenhagen was named the Architecture Capital of the World – World Capital of Architecture by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, UIA this year.

This building made me cry. My former professor/teaching partner and I decided to visit Grundtvig’s Church by Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint on our own. It was a meaningful experience to have with her, I will never forget this.

We took the train outside of the city, about an hour distance North to a seaside town called Klampenborg to see Arne Jacobsen’s housing projects.

On Jan 10, we took the train over the sea bridge to Malmo, Sweden. I carried my camera in my bag the whole time but I was the leader of the group, navigating everyone to all of the sites, so I have no good photos to share. I recorded 23,000 steps on this day.

On Jan 11, we flew to Helsinki, Finland. It was 8 degrees Fahrenheit when we landed. Much more snow, bigger snow piles, and ice everywhere. The cold had a different smell there. The morning of our first day there, the snow blew sideways. Some students bailed due to low visibility and fear of walking in the weather. I had to continue with a small group anyway. We visited the Kiasma Art Museum by Steven Holl Architects and Helsinki Central Library Oodi by ALA Architects, along with more architectural landmarks. During lunch, I visited Amos Rex on my own. I was fascinated by these circular skylights emerging from the snowed plaza and rooftop of the museum. I saw Ryoji Ikeda’s immersive exhibit there. Then, I met up with the group at the all-wood Kamppi Chapel.

We took the train to Jyväskylä, a small sized city 3.5 hrs from Helsinki, to visit mostly Alvar Aalto’s work. From Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä University, and Saynatsalo Town Hall, one of his most famous buildings. I feel so lucky I got to see Aalto’s work in person. It is another forever memory kind of experience.

Second to our last day, we visited an adjacent city called Espoo, only 30 mins from Helsinki. We had a tour of a few important buildings on the Aalto University campus. The Undergraduate Centre was amazing to see as the low sun angle hit the concave form, and the inside of the auditorium was surprisingly very warm (material feeling) and nicely maintained. I noticed and appreciated the small material details of Aalto: ceramic tiles, red brick, corner windows, and skylights that created a beautiful ambiance, wooden handrails that kissed the natural curves of our hands, and overall warmth of spruce interior features. Our tour guide was a graduate service design student who shared with us the importance of funding higher education and cultivating student life in Finland. My first thought was that I should have gone to school in Europe. However, I couldn’t dream that big when I was 18. Going to LA was within my capacity and I’m happy I made that decision. Our tour ended at the School of Arts, Design, and Architecture building, and we ate at the student-run vegan cafeteria. I was impressed by the spatial quality of the building (nice scale, I thought), student culture, resources, and the food!

We ended our journey at the Aalto House and Studio on our way back to Helsinki. There’s nothing like standing barefoot inside a master architect’s home and studio. The studio floor was heated and incredibly smooth to walk on; it activated the inner child in me, and I was discretely sliding everywhere. Looking back at my photos, I’m sad I don’t have many exterior views of the buildings. It was too cold to take my mittens off. My fingers are fine now, and I regret not being consistent because when will I be back in this part of the world?!

On my last day, I visited the famous Löyly sauna. I walked from my hotel to the site through so much snow and harsh wind. By this time, I had become tolerant of the extreme cold and enjoyed the sound of walking on snow. Another aspect of snow I discovered was that it kept my boots incredibly clean. It’s the little things. There was a long winding path along the sea edge to the sauna where I had to really lean into the wind. I will never forget the view of the frozen sea and the locals walking out as far as possible! Wrapping the trip with the experience of a traditional Finnish smoke sauna, steam sauna, and 3 cold plunges into the frozen sea was the best decision I made for myself. Imagine sitting half naked inside a wooden shed with 10+ people in complete silence. No photos of this, though!

What’s next: I plan on posting more specific experiences from Scandinavia, including videos. Hope to share soon!

x Lori