Ian Macready, a former design studio partner turned architectural tour leader, recently guided a weeklong exploration of Finland’s rich architectural heritage, focusing notably on the work of modernist master Alvar Aalto. The UK-based Macready, whose company Architourian specializes in culturally immersive architectural tours, led a group from late July on a journey beginning in Stockholm and crossing the Baltic Sea to Finland’s south-west coast, before traveling northward to Jyväskylä and concluding in Helsinki.
The itinerary included visits to private homes, government buildings, churches, museums, and saunas, many designed by Aalto, whose legacy was recently highlighted when UNESCO designated 13 of his Finnish projects as World Heritage Sites on July 26. Seven of these sites were featured during the tour. Despite the focus on Aalto’s iconic modernist work, Macready emphasized a broader perspective on Finnish architecture, acknowledging both the brilliance and occasional missteps of the architect. For example, the tour included the Church of Muurame, completed in 1929 and described by Macready as a lesser work inspired by Aalto’s admiration for Italy.
The journey also showcased other significant contributors to Finnish architecture, such as Elsi Borg, whose Taulumäki Church in Jyväskylä, dating from 1929, is believed to be one of the first religious buildings commissioned from a woman. The group explored sites beyond Aalto, including an exhibition featuring Anish Kapoor’s sculpture at the Serlachius Manor Museum in Mänttä and the 18th-century Petäjävesi wooden church, remarkable for its nail-free construction.
The tour examined the legacy of Eliel Saarinen, a Finnish National Romanticism figure who emigrated to the United States in 1923 and earned second place in the Chicago Tribune tower competition. Macready shared personal anecdotes about Saarinen’s life while visiting a small house he designed near Helsinki. The start of the tour featured a visit to Turku Castle, Finland’s oldest standing structure, dating back to the late 13th century. The castle’s long restoration, led in part by architect Erik Bryggman and later his daughter Carin, highlighted their contributions, particularly Carin’s interior designs featuring distinctive lamps.
Highlighting Bryggman’s work further, the tour included the 1930s chapel in Turku’s Vasaramäki cemetery, notable for its concrete exterior adorned with gold-metal vines and a celestial-themed interior. One architectural flaw—the side door too narrow for coffins—was pointed out as a quirk requiring funerals to use the main entrance.
The group then visited one of Finland’s early modernist buildings, the 1929 Turun Sanomat newspaper building, followed by the 1933 Paimio tuberculosis sanatorium, an Aalto-designed complex recognized for its innovative design tailored for patient healing. This sanatorium, a forested site near Turku, remained in use well beyond the decline of tuberculosis due to antibiotics and is currently earmarked for redevelopment as a wellness retreat by the Snøhetta studio.
Visitors experienced many of the sanatorium’s design details, including a canary-yellow lobby with a curving glass reception desk modeled after Aalto’s Savoy vase and soothing dark-green operating room paint chosen both for its calming qualities and practical purposes. Patient rooms featured thoughtful innovations such as noiseless sink basins and ergonomically curved doorknobs, reflecting the Aaltos’ attention to function and comfort. The original Paimio chair, a bentwood lounge designed for patients to enjoy the pine-scented air on long terraces, remains in production by Artek, a furniture company co-founded by the Aaltos in 1935.
Another key stop was Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, commissioned in 1936 by industrialist Maire Gullichsen and her husband Harry. The house, designed by Alvar and Aino Aalto, is widely regarded as one of the most important examples of gesamtkunstwerk—where architecture, interior design, and art are integrated into a unified work. This tour thus offered participants a comprehensive view of Finland’s architectural evolution, encompassing modernist innovation, historical preservation, and influential cultural figures.