At the end of February 2022, Dubai’s newest architectural marvel, The Museum of the Future, opened to the public. With its rounded shape, reminiscent of a large, oval-shaped donut and covered in calligraphic poetry by Sheikh Maktoum, the late vice-president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, the museum is dedicated to envisaging the world in 2071. It was designed by Dubai-based studio Killa Design and named last year as one of National Geographic’s most beautiful buildings. It was founded by Dubai’s Future Foundation, a private and public sector initiative directed by Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, a prominent Emirati politician and is dedicated to promoting technological development and innovation, particularly in the realm of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

Another curiously formed architectural marvel is the late Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid’s The Opus. Spanning 84,300 square meters, The Opus, which was conceived by Hadid in 2007 and finished posthumously, is the late Pritzker Prize winner's only project in Dubai to be designed by her both inside and out. It was designed as two separate towers that coalesce into a singular whole resulting in a cube shape that easily transfixes visitors. It holds inside a mixed-use 20 storeys where visitors can relish unique experiences in residences, such as the ME Dubai by Melia Hotel, and fine dining restaurants like The Maine Land Brasserie and ROKA, among others.

Perhaps the most famous and recognizable Dubai architectural monument, and one that represents Dubai around the world, is the Burj Khalifa. Inaugurated in 2010 and formerly known as the Burj Dubai before its name was changed to its current one in honor of the President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, it also marked the new development of Downtown Dubai. Made in reinforced concrete, with a total height of 829.8 meters high – equivalent to half a mile – and a roof height of 828 meters, the Burj Khalifa has held the record of tallest structure in the world ever since its completion at the end of 2009. It’s the most obvious sight when landing, Burj Khalifa seems to lift its point, akin to that of a needle, into the clouds, symbolizing Dubai’s ambition, force and constant quest for innovation.

Nearby to the prominent Burj Khalifa is another building of epic significance and proportions: The Gate Building in Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). Designed by Gensler, the building, with its triumphal arch, is modeled after the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It was completed in 2017. It sits on an axis with the adjacent Emirates Towers and the World Trade Centre and signifies Dubai’s quest, as stated by the Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, by “a bold vision to create a financial marketplace to fill the gap not covered by international financial centers of Europe, the Far East and North America.”

One of the trendiest districts to be erected in recent years is the Dubai Design District, also known simply as D3. Designed by Foster + Partners, the purpose-built community in Dubai dedicated to design, fashion and culture, comprising startups, entrepreneurs and offices of other established brands like Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana, was established in 2013 and is notable for its unique design, recognizable from a distance on the Sheikh Zayed Road, its façade, with its continuous strip of sail shading features revealing itself in a grid-like formation atop each row of windows and which is undeniably the district’s defining feature. The district is set out in a block of 10 buildings that are 5 to 12 storeys-high and Dubai’s mainstay and center of all the action when it comes to hosting global fashion and design festivals. There are also numerous boutiques selling work by local fashion and furniture designers as well as host of al fresco cafés and restaurants. One of its most popular is The Lighthouse, a homegrown Dubai concept serving Mediterranean-inspired dishes.

Historically called Union House, Etihad Museum, which is located in Dubai’s quaint Jumeirah neighborhood by the sea, is a museum that opened in January 2017 and is dedicated to the collection, preservation and display of heritage from the UAE in areas pertaining the nation’s social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Whether you are driving past or taking a long stroll in Jumeirah, undoubtedly during the cooler months, it will be hard not to become intrigued by the museum’s manuscript-like shape, which was an intentional feature of the design prepared by Moriyama & Teshima Architects alongside the seven columns built into the building to resemble the pens used to sign the original declaration of unification of the seven emirates in 1971.

The Municipality of Helsinki has launched a competition for the redevelopment of Makasiiniranta, the last area of ​​the old port to be converted for public use and where the new Museum of Design and Architecture will be built: over 83,000 square meters of land facing the sea, currently used as a terminal port and parking. Among the proposals there is also Majamaja, a wooden cabin, designed by Littow Architects, completely off-grid (23 sqm), prefabricated and transportable, furnished in a minimal and functional way to be completely self-sufficient and allow total immersion in the zero impact nature. The collection of rainwater and gray water filtered by a purification system ensures water autonomy, while the drains of the dry bathroom are composted and reused as fertilizer. Electricity is supplied by solar panels and a fuel cell, finally the heating is methane. It is the first of a series that will create a mini-village.

Concepts such as “zero km”, circular economy, community gardens, environmental protection have always been part of Finnish culture. It is therefore no surprise that Albert Franch Sunyer (Spanish), Carlos Henriques (Portuguese) and Luca Balac (born in the former Yugoslavia), the three founding chefs and owners of Nolla (“zero” in Finnish), have chosen Helsinki for their project. Opened in February 2018, Nolla is the first restaurant in Scandinavian countries and among the first in the world to have eliminated the amount of waste produced. How? Thanks to a biocomposer (positioned in plain sight in the dining room) that “grinds” 85 kg of kitchen leftovers per day. In a perfectly circular way, the compost produced from the waste is sold to the restaurant's suppliers, all within a radius of 200 km from Helsinki. 

In the restaurant (which is also a bar and microbrewery) plastic is not included even for the packaging of the ingredients and every object is recycled: the staff uniforms, the napkins in recycled PET and the glasses made from old glass bottles.

In a country where women won the right to vote in 1906, and where the premier, Sanna Marin, 34, is the youngest in the world at the head of a coalition of five parties all led by women, gender equality is an almost established fact. Nomen Nescio (from the Latin, “anonymous”), the most radical Finnish clothing brand of the moment in terms of sustainability goes in this direction: no logo, with a minimal aesthetic, with unisex collections re-proposed with a few variations season after season and in a single color, black. 

Founded in 2012 by the Finnish fashion designer couple Niina Leskelä and Timo Leskelä, it boasts a local production (in Finland or neighboring Estonia) and materials, carefully selected in Europe, strictly organic.

Following the recent inaugurations of the Amos Rex Museum designed by JKMM Architects and the Oodi Central Library by ALA Architects, with the opening of the new Scandic Grand Central hotel, in the former railway offices designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1909 next to the central station (also by Saarinen), the careful transformation of the center of the capital continues. The large Art Nouveau complex was extended by Futudesign and restored by Soini & Horto Architects. The interiors, on the other hand, are designed by the Puroplan studio, who explained how they aimed to “maintain the original spirit of the building by transforming it into a modern Scandinavian hotel, which does not look like a museum”.

Housed in a charming former school building from the late 19th century, the Helsinki Design Museum has a collection of over 100,000 images, 75,000 objects and 40,000 drawings. A permanent exhibition on the history of Finnish design from 1870 to the present day alongside temporary exhibitions. After the exhibition dedicated to Iittala's 140 years of history (“Iittala - Kaleidoscope: From Nature to Culture”, curated by Florencia Colombo and Ville Kokkonen), “Intimacy” (8.10.2021-13.3.2022) explores the Finnish fashion design of 2020s and the intimate relationship between the body and the clothes we wear, introducing the creative process, from initial sketches to finished products and analyzing the impact of digitization.

Basta (“Enough” in Italian) is a new design brand born from the encounter (in Milan) of Marcel Wanders (design star and founder, among other things, of Moooi), Joel Roos and Stefan Mahlberg (who worked both for One Nordic and Hem). Wanders defines it as the “Tesla of industrial design”: sturdy, elegant pieces, easy to assemble anywhere, to move “wherever life takes you”, with very long life cycles and an eye to sustainability. A strong supporter of a more romantic and humanistic design thinking, the Dutch designer also explains that the next step will be to find reliable partners for local productions. The first products in the catalog are two different sofas, designed by Marcel Wanders and Stockholm Note Design Studio, a wooden coffee table by young Finnish Antrei Hartikainen and a table by Danish designer Søren Rose.

Curated by Pirkko Siitari and Taru Tappola and produced by the Helsinki Museum of Art (HAM), the first edition of the Biennale took possession of Vallisaari with the works of 41 artists, local and international, installed outdoors in the unspoiled nature of island (where 1,000 species of butterflies, 6 of bats and 400 different plants live) and in the former military buildings. A strategic outpost for the control of the Gulf of Finland disputed between Finland, Russia and Estonia, Vallisaari (open to the public only since 2016) is accessible in 10 minutes by boat from the capital and is an essential stop. The title, “The Same Sea”, taken from a text by the Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinski, reminds us how human beings all live on the same planet where everything is interconnected. Among the best known artists, Pawel Althamer, Alicja Kwade (whose work will be permanent), Katharina Grosse (photo), Janet Cardiff and Maaria Wirkkala. The appointment with the next edition will be in 2023.

Jaakko Niemelä, Quai 6, 2021. Opera commissionata da HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021

Alicja Kwade, Pars pro Toto, 2018. Commissioned by HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021 and Kalasatama Environmental Art Project

Anssi Jokinen and Tommi Saarnio have seized a market gap in the interior paint sector. In their opinion, there was a lack of a brand with a high-level decorative approach and that was as simple as possible for end users. Starting from the rich color palette that characterizes Finnish homes and public places (where, in the post-war period, the lack of building materials gave rise to a tradition of using color to create shapes, style and atmosphere), in 2020, they founded their brand, naming it Cover Story. More like an interior decoration studio and closer to a lifestyle approach than to a paint company, Cover Story also focuses on plastic-free materials. The debut was in 2021 with a catalog of 38 colors, all inspired by the Finnish interiors of the 1920s and 1950s, and a capsule collection designed by Finnish designer, based in Paris, Linda Bergroth.

Cover Story Paint Studio founders

The EMMA Museum (Espoo Museum of Modern Art) is always worth a visit for more than one reason. First, the architecture – the museum is housed in a former printing house, a brutalist concrete building from the late 1950s immersed in a forest – with its permanent art collection (the largest in the country). On the first floor, there is also the section dedicated to the works of Rut Bryk and Tapio Wirkkala. Museum within the museum, it is conceived as a look behind the scenes and as an immersion in the archive of the Finnish iconic couple of artists. In chronological order and on the shelves, some of the 2,000 items in the collection are displayed in rotation, while the rest is stored in wooden crates and on open shelves. Last reason, the temporary exhibitions. “Ceramics Facing the New” (until 7.8.2022), offers the works of 12 artists and two groups who have worked with kintsugi, the Japanese tradition of repairing broken ceramic with gold or another metal, embellishing it. In this case, kintsugi is also a metaphor for society: a fracture can be the signal of something new. How can the fragments be brought together to create a lasting structure?

Two timeless jewels and an unmissable stop, Alvar Aalto's family home and studio, built respectively in 1936 and 1955, are located in Munkkiniemi, a residential neighborhood surrounded by a wood. Maintained thanks to the activity and dedication of the Foundation under the same name (which has also managed the Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä, in Central Finland since 1966), they are a dive into the architecture and personal history of one of the icons of 20th century architecture.

The restaurant designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto more than 80 years ago has found its original spirit – a comfortable and human-sized, functional and elegant environment, where natural materials dominate – after the intervention of Ilse Crawford (Studioilse) and Artek of 2019. Starting from the original drawings of 1937, the London studio has restored original furniture and fixtures, bringing to light the different types of wood (oak, elm, pine and mahogany) originally planned. The only concession is the long bench at the edge of the room with the padded backrest lined with black and white striped fabric: it is a tribute to Aino Aalto who, in a renowned photo, wears this very fabric. For the terrace, Artek then created a special edition of the Chair 611 from 1929.

The new headquarters of the Urban Environment Division of the city of Helsinki (responsible for design, construction, maintenance, construction management and environmental services) was inaugurated in 2020 but, due to the pandemic, has not yet entered full capacity. It brings together under the same roof, and on an area of ​​40,900 square meters, 500 professionals (and only 75 parking spaces, confirming the green vocation). The project is almost zero emissions and is signed by the Lahdelma Mahlamäki Architects studio, which defines it as “archaic modernism”: a mixture of references to the history of architecture and new construction technologies, where formally exposed brick, concrete, wood and copper are the dominant materials. KVA Architects collaborated on the interior design - which alternate informal and newly conceived workspaces. The spaces on the ground floor, thanks to the very generous volumes, are also open to citizens.

Santiago Calatrava has designed the gateway to the city: La Paloma (from July to October, EasyJet provides a direct flight from Milan). Simulating a bird, the airport has a roof that serves as a façade, recognisable from above and from the surrounding hills. Calatrava has designed the Zubizuri (Basque for white bridge) too. Unmistakable for its shape and (slippery) glass bricks, it links the Ensanche area with Calle Campo de Volantín, one of the city’s favourite walks, which stretches along the banks of the Nervión estuary.

Norman Foster has designed the subway, which not only connects the city but the entire valley, using green energy only. The steel, glass and concrete entrances to the stations are called fosteritos by the inhabitants. The Sarriko station, covered by a glass roof, won the Brunel Prize for railway design in 1998. As the city imposes a 30-kilometre-per-hour limit in order to fight pollution, the Euskotren metro and buses are the perfect solution.

César Pelli has designed the Iberdrola Tower, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. It is the tallest skyscraper in the Basque Country – 165 metres high – (visitors are admitted only when exhibitions are organised) and is the symbol of the redevelopment process of Abandoibarra, a former industrial district, which has long been closed to urban use.

Rafel Moneo has designed the University of Deusto’s library. Made of glass, the building has 10 floors, 5 of which are underground, with almost one million volumes (the largest library in the region). At night, the glass bricks covering the building reflect the greenery it is set in. Nearby is the Paraninfo de la Universidad del País Vasco designed in the shape of an L by Álvaro Siza.

The Alhóndiga, the Art Nouveau wine warehouse designed by Ricardo Bastida and listed by the Basque government in 1999, has changed its name, appearance and use thanks to Philippe Starck. Today it is called Azkuna Zentroa. It rests on 43 artistic columns, and is a centre for cultural (here is the programme of events https://www.azkunazentroa.eus/en/activities/) and sporting activities. On the roof there is a swimming pool with a transparent floor, which allows the swimmers to be seen from below (you can get in with a day pass: €7.05 for the pool, €10.60 for pool+gym).

The new architecture has also changed the city’s skyline for sports. The Bilbao Arena, designed by Javier Pérez Uribarri and Nicolás Espinosa, partners in IDOM, rests on Miribilla hill, integrating into the landscape thanks to its green brick roof recalling the foliage of a tree. On the upper floor there is the Bilbao Basketball team area, while on the lower floor there are offices and a swimming pool and gym for the entire neighbourhood.

César Azcárate’s San Mamés Stadium (Ensanche neighbourhood) is one of the revolutionary signs of the new Bilbao as well. Built to replace the previous structure, which failed to meet Uefa requirements, it has a double-life façade: the EFTE plastic panels are white in sunlight, but turn red thanks to the 42,000 LEDs that light up in the evening (in short, the official colours of Athletic Bilbao).

More than a museum, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum is a sculpture. Its 33,000 titanium flakes that change colour according to the time of day have become the symbol of the city. Costing $100 million and built over four years – from October 1993 to October 1997 – the contemporary art centre occupies an area of 24,000 square metres, 11,000 metres of which are exhibition space. Outside, in addition to Jeff Koons’ Puppy, there are Koons’ Tulips and Louise Bourgeois’ Maman.