Hilding Ekelund
Hilding Ekelund | |
---|---|
![]() Taidehalli Art Gallery, Helsinki (1928). | |
Born | |
Died | 30 January 1984 | (aged 90)
Nationality | Finnish |
Occupation | Architect |
Buildings | Taidehalli Arts Gallery Maunula social housing Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games village |
Georg Hilding Ekelund (18 November 1893, in Kangasniemi – 30 January 1984, in Helsinki) was a Finnish architect, from 1950 to 1958 a professor of housing design at Helsinki University of Technology and from 1931 to 1934 editor-in-chief of the Finnish architects' journal Arkkitehti (Finnish Architectural Review). His career as an architect spans the change in styles in Finland from the Nordic Classicism of the 1920s to the Modernism of the 1970s.
Career
Ekeleund studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology, qualifying as an architect in 1916. His wide career in architecture spanned from the design of public housing areas and town planning to public buildings, factories and churches. Following a classical education in architecture, where the predominant style was Nordic Classicism, Ekelund like others Finnish architects of his generation, such as Alvar Aalto, made the switch to Modernism – known in Finland as "Functionalism" – partly in response to the greater urbanisation of the country during the 1920s and 1930s.[1]
Ekelund designed a significant number of buildings in the town of
Architectural competitions have been a common method in Finland for choosing designs for key public buildings, and Ekelund entered several of them over the length of his career. For instance, he won the competition for the choice of the site of the
Hilding Ekelund's brother was the author and painter Ragnar Ekelund. His wife, Eva Kuhlefelt-Ekelund, was also an architect, and they formed a joint office in 1927.
Major works by Hilding Ekelund
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Toolo_church-Helsinki1.jpg/220px-Toolo_church-Helsinki1.jpg)
- Kunsthalle Helsinki (1928), Helsinki
- Töölö Church (1930), Helsinki
- Lutheran Church (1931), Helsinki
- Finnish Embassy in the Soviet Union (1938), Moscow
- Olympic Velodrome (1938–40), Helsinki
- Olympic Village (1939–40), Helsinki
- Helsinki street kiosks (1940s–50s), Helsinki
- Karis water tower (1949–1951), Karis
- Maunula social housing: terraced housing and apartment blocks (1953), Helsinki
- Salmisaari power station (1951), Helsinki
- Swedish-speaking Finnish teachers’ house, Roihuvuori (c. 1957), Helsinki
- Nelimarkka Museum (1964), Alajärvi
- Sahanmäki area regional planning, Maunula, Helsinki
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Punahilkantie12.jpg/220px-Punahilkantie12.jpg)
References
- Angeletti, Angelo; Gaia Remiddi (1998). Alvar Aalto e il Classicismo Nordico. Rome: F.lli Palombi. ISBN 88-7621-666-9. (In Italian and English)
- Paavilainen, Simo and Juhani Pallasmaa (eds.) (1982). Nordic Classicism 1910-1930. Helsinki: Museum of Finnish Architecture. )
- Salokorpi, Asko, ed. (1985). Classical Tradition and the Modern Movement. Proceedings of the International Alvar Aalto Symposium, 2. Helsinki: Finnish Association of Architects. ISBN 951-9229-38-8.
Notes
- ^ Museum of Finnish Architecture web site
- ^ "Hilding Ekelund and the architecture of the town of Karis". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
- ^ Docomomo Suomi Finland