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We went to the Olympic stadium on the last Friday of the 2005 World athletics championships. The Venue of Helsinki and the stadium was a last minute venue after London pulled out, and although they lost money they also didn’t do much in the away of upgrading the stadium beforehand. I was reminded about this when I read a piece about it in axis of aevil so I thought I’d post something about it. Most people going there must have noticed the flaking paint round the windows and worn away veneer on the timber cladding. I thought that it was a refreshing change to acknowledge the age of the facility and not bankrupt the country for the sake of the national image (see this article on the greek olympic debacle).The stadium also is really nice and the style for me recalls an earlier less professional sporting age now sadly long gome. After the games there have been some calls to build a new stadium or upgrade this one which seems a bit of an odd choice of where to spend the money if it may not be used properly. See also the original Hesingin Sanomat article.

Photo above by me (I got three before the batteries went)of 1952 Olympic stadium designed by Yrjö Lindgren & Toivo Jäntti renovated by Markku Aalto 1994.

Update

bbc article also found re greek stadium

A good place to start if you are unfamiliar with Current Finnish Architecture is Jussi Tiainen’s photography.
He has photographed almost all of the best current architecture around in finland. Some more of his work is posted here.
You can look at his books here.

photo by Jussi Tiainen of Metla House

In Helsinki’s Korkeasaari zoo by Ville Hara is a really beautiful viewing tower.
It was written up in the March 2005 Techniques & Architecture, and when I went there last I took a few photos. I love it because it creates a sense of place from a view and is a marker for the zoo although it is really small. 1541 took a great photo of it too.