00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:19.120
Architecture has an ulterior motive:
the idea of creating paradise.

00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:21.560
It is the only purpose of our houses.

00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.120
If we don't carry this idea with us,

00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:26.880
all our homes would be
simpler and more trivial,

00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:28.720
and life wouldn't be worth living.

00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:30.080
Alvar Aalto, architect.

00:00:52.120 --> 00:00:55.640
We wanted to go on
a different type of trip,

00:00:56.120 --> 00:00:59.360
so we asked sculptors for artwork,

00:00:59.440 --> 00:01:02.480
architects, and world-renowned artists.

00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:05.040
Joan Miró, Manolo Millares...

00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.120
Also Gropius.

00:01:11.440 --> 00:01:13.960
That's how we financed the trip.

00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.520
HIGHER TECHNICAL SCHOOL
OF ARCHITECTURE OF BARCELONA

00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:19.480
END OF COURSE TRIP
CLASS OF 1985

00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:23.480
We wanted to hold an auction of sorts,

00:01:23.560 --> 00:01:26.240
and, surprisingly, we started receiving

00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.040
artwork we would have never imagined.

00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:31.280
Except Picasso,

00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:35.160
everyone else we'd asked
sent us something.

00:01:35.360 --> 00:01:36.680
But in the end we said:

00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:39.760
"How can we auction off
such important pieces of art?"

00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:41.160
And we were lucky

00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:43.840
because the Barcelona Association
of Architects,

00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.360
when they saw everything we had,
they bought it.

00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.520
Vicente Saavedra, a young architect

00:01:57.600 --> 00:02:00.040
about to graduate
from the School of Barcelona

00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:02.280
in the summer of 1960,

00:02:02.800 --> 00:02:04.160
persuades his classmates

00:02:04.138 --> 00:02:06.080
to travel to the north of Europe.

00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:10.722
His goal is to reach
Alvar Aalto's studios in Helsinki

00:02:10.802 --> 00:02:14.440
and present the journey as a catalogue
on the latest architecture.

00:02:15.755 --> 00:02:18.722
As Spain consolidates
the Stabilisation Plan,

00:02:18.803 --> 00:02:20.693
an experiment in liberal fascism,

00:02:21.228 --> 00:02:25.360
Europe completes its rebuilding efforts
just ten years after the war.

00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.720
It's the height of development
for the welfare state,

00:02:30.277 --> 00:02:32.200
the last achievable utopia.

00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:34.480
In architecture,

00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.840
this idea translates to the search
for new ways of interpreting housing.

00:02:37.788 --> 00:02:41.160
The poetry of homes
and living together is reshaped.

00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.527
Back in the Canary Islands,

00:02:45.608 --> 00:02:48.280
Saavedra himself,
together with Javier Díaz-Llanos,

00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.920
begins construction of a tourist resort,

00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:52.560
Ten-Bel,

00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:56.040
to which he adds many of the ideas taken

00:02:56.040 --> 00:02:59.360
designed by Alvar Aalto
for the neighbourhoods of Helsinki.

00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:26.560
CREATING PARADISE

00:04:26.832 --> 00:04:30.720
The summer reveries
of whole generations took place there.

00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:35.080
In early 2020,
I went back to Ten-Bel with Saavedra.

00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.640
It had been over two decades
since he last stepped foot.

00:04:38.760 --> 00:04:40.800
The urbanisation had become

00:04:40.880 --> 00:04:43.680
an insular metaphor for disintegration.

00:04:43.880 --> 00:04:47.480
Part of the dream for a welfare state
in the Canary Islands

00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:49.320
seemed to end there,

00:04:49.663 --> 00:04:51.183
among the ruins,

00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.200
the final relinquishment
of building a paradise.

00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.440
Dear Vicente,

00:05:21.760 --> 00:05:24.680
now that you're not here
is when the journey begins.

00:05:39.440 --> 00:05:41.640
How I would have loved your company,

00:05:42.280 --> 00:05:44.710
the chance to share our fascination,

00:05:44.790 --> 00:05:47.280
not just for houses and buildings,

00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.160
but for how we humans inhabit them
and make them ours.

00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:54.160
The ancient magnet
that is living together,

00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.200
which becomes an obligation
on the islands.

00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.440
Many times, we talk about
the hardship of living on the islands,

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.040
"On our islands", you'd say,

00:06:09.520 --> 00:06:12.720
"inhabiting means
solving human problems,

00:06:12.880 --> 00:06:17.120
to make living together possible
beyond survival.

00:06:46.320 --> 00:06:49.000
Now, I must admit,
I feel somewhat lonely,

00:06:49.080 --> 00:06:50.440
somewhat of an outsider.

00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:52.840
I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:55.280
Helsinki, Sunday.

00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:57.760
There's barely anyone in the streets.

00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.400
I drive past shopping areas
and residential developments.

00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:05.000
I follow the instructions
given by the monotone voice

00:07:05.080 --> 00:07:06.640
that guides me to the house.

00:07:37.640 --> 00:07:39.200
The trip we dreamt of,

00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:41.840
60 years after your trip across Europe

00:07:42.088 --> 00:07:43.800
intended to cross a labyrinth,

00:07:44.410 --> 00:07:46.815
the one that goes
from the kitchen to the patio,

00:07:46.955 --> 00:07:49.080
the one that pauses in bedrooms,

00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:52.120
the one that enters the garden,
our private life,

00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:54.040
our birthday parties,

00:07:54.228 --> 00:07:55.680
our sickbeds,

00:07:55.923 --> 00:07:58.000
a newborn's crib.

00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.440
The place where we imagine the world

00:08:00.573 --> 00:08:02.280
and the world imagines us.

00:08:02.640 --> 00:08:03.680
Right there.

00:08:03.760 --> 00:08:05.880
Where we are how we live.

00:08:06.577 --> 00:08:08.955
We often forget that a home's centre

00:08:09.037 --> 00:08:12.760
is also our own centre
and the centre of the world.

00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:16.520
We're thrown out into the world
from within a home.

00:08:33.800 --> 00:08:36.240
I enter the labyrinth
practically at the end.

00:08:36.988 --> 00:08:39.800
Your travel journal says that,
one day near the end of June,

00:08:39.880 --> 00:08:43.080
the young architects visit
Alvar Aalto's studio.

00:08:43.878 --> 00:08:47.120
Then, the coach starts to return south.

00:08:48.640 --> 00:08:52.720
ALVAR AALTO'S WORKSHOP STUDIO
IN MUNKKINIEMI

00:08:55.280 --> 00:08:58.800
This pilgrimage of architects
to that place

00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:00.160
continues to this day.

00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.520
They continue the search,

00:09:02.920 --> 00:09:04.800
that longing for paradise.

00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.520
Since that visit,
you once emphatically told me

00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.120
a permanent role model for you.

00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:49.480
- Hello.
- Hello.

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.080
Welcome to Studio Aalto.

00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:53.960
- Thanks.
- This is the headquarters

00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.760
of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

00:09:56.520 --> 00:09:59.720
You can wait in the meeting room
behind you.

00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.600
- OK, I wait for the interview.
- Yes.

00:10:15.800 --> 00:10:20.400
Time gathers on the objects
like a memory of coexistence.

00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:26.040
It also occurs with
the materials used in construction.

00:10:26.542 --> 00:10:30.400
The houses the Aalto build
always display a human touch.

00:10:31.275 --> 00:10:35.200
In a paradise-home, textures commune
with your skin and your senses.

00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:40.680
They preserve our footsteps,
our contact, scars, and caresses.

00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:42.880
A memory-material.

00:10:44.598 --> 00:10:46.480
Materials, as Bachelard says,

00:10:47.053 --> 00:10:49.040
are the unconscious part of shapes.

00:10:49.822 --> 00:10:53.560
Thus, we define things
through their shape.

00:10:54.993 --> 00:10:59.280
However, it is through the materials
that those things acquire meaning.

00:11:01.640 --> 00:11:06.480
Due to people's need for housing

00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.760
and the lack of building materials

00:11:09.880 --> 00:11:13.120
somehow we managed to squeeze out

00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.840
a really high standard of
architecture,

00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:21.440
what was later seen
as something really special.

00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:24.600
Aalto saw possibilities

00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.480
where others
saw difficulties and challenges.

00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:32.880
For example, we are now
here in Munkkiniemi,

00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:36.000
and the place
where this house is located,

00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:41.480
was empty for a long time
because nobody wanted this plot.

00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:44.600
Building here was very difficult
because there is a steep hill.

00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.000
Aalto saw this as an opportunity

00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:53.480
and managed to catch
the natural shapes of the terrain

00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.960
and mould them
on the different levels of the building,

00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:00.840
on the stairs and so on.

00:12:01.880 --> 00:12:05.120
Virtually everything Aalto designed

00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.120
starts from the human perspective,

00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:10.080
from the size of a human.

00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.600
In fact,
this is something that changes to the point of

00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:17.600
that if Aalto designs
a school for children,

00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.640
does so on the basis of
on a child, not an adult, scale.

00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:25.960
As the Modern Movement
progressed and developed

00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:29.120
in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,

00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.000
the scale increased everywhere,

00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:33.240
but not for Aalto.

00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:38.760
In fact, Aalto was
a great critic of this efficiency.

00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:51.360
Dear Vicente,

00:12:52.203 --> 00:12:54.360
these letters are a type of diary.

00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:58.520
Not a cage to contain time,
but a memory taking flight.

00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:03.320
We walk down the corridors
of a house that moves forward.

00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:07.680
We leave a few words
and images along the way.

00:13:08.943 --> 00:13:09.943
Not for us.

00:13:10.920 --> 00:13:12.200
For those who may come.

00:13:13.183 --> 00:13:14.278
At the same time,

00:13:14.760 --> 00:13:18.480
we collect the words and images
that others left behind.

00:13:55.465 --> 00:13:58.320
I want to look in a memory
that knows not of nostalgia,

00:13:58.400 --> 00:13:59.840
a memory made of presence.

00:14:00.920 --> 00:14:03.400
If it's true that we inhabit
the way we are,

00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.120
let's see what these rooms
have to tell us.

00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:09.600
Let's look for how to search.

00:14:10.040 --> 00:14:11.440
What to search for.

00:14:26.335 --> 00:14:29.680
Do you remember 'Letter to
an architect friend' by Juan Gopar?

00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:34.240
We talked about it
in one of our recent encounters.

00:14:37.680 --> 00:14:40.800
The painter,
a kindred soul, as you said,

00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:45.360
describes several ideas in it
on how to find paradise.

00:14:49.760 --> 00:14:52.240
Architecture designed for people,

00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:53.560
like a beach,

00:14:53.640 --> 00:14:55.480
belonging to everyone and no one

00:14:55.560 --> 00:14:58.960
one that explains what's happening,
that asks questions.

00:14:59.800 --> 00:15:03.800
An unrestrained architecture,
spontaneous, joyful,

00:15:04.880 --> 00:15:06.920
that in return grants us some time.

00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:18.360
A gentle architecture,
carefree and playful,

00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:21.320
polluted by the closeness of others,

00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.600
populated by ambiguous relationships
and vulnerable.

00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:28.440
One that does not speak for others,

00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:30.400
that creates the conditions

00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.400
in order to hear
the voice of the vanquished."

00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.640
The building was built
to meet the needs of

00:16:01.640 --> 00:16:04.320
the Communist Party of Finland

00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.240
and for other activities
and labour associations,

00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:13.760
to provide office space,
but also as a meeting place.

00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.720
In fact, it was the first
concert hall in Helsinki.

00:16:45.520 --> 00:16:50.320
It is an unusual design,

00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.640
which I think will surely
to all visitors...

00:16:58.520 --> 00:17:01.600
everyone tends to like it.

00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.480
It is quite impressive,

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.280
but also very practical,

00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.440
so it is made
for ordinary people.

00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.760
The main channel is
as a collector.

00:17:22.080 --> 00:17:24.960
for smaller tunnels

00:17:25.080 --> 00:17:27.960
coming from the stage.

00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:31.080
And now we are facing...

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.960
the back wall of the auditorium.

00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:44.800
On top of the main
concrete structure

00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.960
the stone appears.

00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:56.640
We are on the location of
the front projectors,

00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:59.960
also called bridge.

00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:21.320
Joni, the researcher
at the Alvar Aalto Foundation, told me:

00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:23.480
"Go to Kulttuuritalo."

00:18:24.645 --> 00:18:27.395
The building, commissioned
by the Communist Party,

00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.520
is a good example
of workmanship that never expires,

00:18:30.600 --> 00:18:32.200
and that is also able to age.

00:18:33.373 --> 00:18:35.640
Here is a simple exercise in beauty.

00:19:33.503 --> 00:19:36.920
I gradually make the place mine
and assimilate it.

00:19:38.120 --> 00:19:39.560
The path is narrow.

00:19:40.040 --> 00:19:42.760
There are wooden cottages,
pine trees, and snow.

00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:45.160
The windows overlook the forest.

00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:48.160
I let the afternoon pass by.

00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:52.280
The house gives off its light
and makes the scene pleasant,

00:19:52.360 --> 00:19:56.840
and the forest, with its presence,
creates its reveries of a haven.

00:19:58.383 --> 00:20:01.057
When the house protects
while also opening up,

00:20:01.520 --> 00:20:03.960
the dwelling apparatus
approaches paradise.

00:20:50.120 --> 00:20:51.360
Spring arrives.

00:20:52.053 --> 00:20:56.720
Without having planned to, I attend
preparations for the May 1 holiday.

00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:02.480
Tradition states that
it's time to celebrate living together.

00:21:03.993 --> 00:21:07.120
The entire community prepares
to receive the youths.

00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:10.840
Adorned with their graduate caps,

00:21:10.968 --> 00:21:13.920
the citizens display
the gift of community life.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:18.520
The faculty buildings at Otaniemi

00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:20.520
seem to join in welcoming them.

00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:26.080
Living together
is an act of mutual trust

00:21:26.175 --> 00:21:27.455
that must be renewed.

00:21:28.040 --> 00:21:30.480
Every year, society tells young people:

00:21:31.120 --> 00:21:32.640
"We expect the best.

00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:33.720
Here we are.

00:21:34.188 --> 00:21:35.760
Let's inhabit this place.

00:21:35.842 --> 00:21:37.840
You are needed."

00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:46.920
Unamuno said Spain had
young people but not youth

00:21:47.320 --> 00:21:49.440
because it's so difficult
to reach the end

00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:52.840
that we tend to mistake
the start with the goal.

00:21:54.040 --> 00:21:55.163
When we start,

00:21:55.245 --> 00:21:58.080
everyone already feels exhausted
from the effort.

00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:00.600
You told me, Vicente,

00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:05.240
that our country produced
50 architects in 1960.

00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:06.880
Now,

00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:09.600
over five thousand start every year.

00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:12.480
Making room for newcomers,

00:22:12.560 --> 00:22:13.640
living together.

00:22:26.415 --> 00:22:29.200
In the late 1950s,

00:22:29.280 --> 00:22:30.440
Aalto writes:

00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:34.800
"Materials have a purpose: to unite."

00:22:36.080 --> 00:22:38.800
Materials, indeed,
things that are united.

00:22:39.738 --> 00:22:43.000
At Ten-Bel, you and Javier Díaz-Llanos
write a treatise

00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:46.280
on architecture as a gathering place.

00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:39.480
120 years ago... and nowadays...

00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:42.880
Many years have passed
and it is still the same.

00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:47.680
Many areas of Kallio

00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:51.240
were built
before Finnish independence.

00:23:51.560 --> 00:23:54.480
These were working class areas.

00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.240
Not only Kallio, but also Vallila,

00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:01.920
Alppiharju, Toukula

00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:02.960
and many others.

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:10.000
It was the last
working-class area in Helsinki.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.520
and perhaps even the whole of Finland.

00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:16.800
In the 1950s there were only

00:24:16.800 --> 00:24:21.040
cold water in houses, for example.

00:24:24.280 --> 00:24:28.800
There was
a whole process of change at Kallio.

00:24:28.800 --> 00:24:31.800
The old wooden houses of 1900

00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:34.080
it can be said that they have been...

00:24:34.080 --> 00:24:36.280
- Demolished.
- …demolished.

00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.400
I think the houses,

00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:49.240
because it is a special area,

00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:52.640
were still the same after 30 years.

00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:00.320
There are some offices and other buildings
that are likely to be demolished.

00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:03.280
in a few decades.

00:25:04.040 --> 00:25:07.720
I think this is
what is going to happen here.

00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:14.040
At least, from the point of view
of the urban landscape...

00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.280
Or at least
is what they are already trying here,

00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:26.480
putting up too many shops
and things like that

00:25:28.280 --> 00:25:30.560
in very strange places

00:25:30.760 --> 00:25:34.000
just to have more flats
and more people.

00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:38.400
And they are not the typical ones,
but one of those bigger, single-space

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:46.160
for families or for wealthier people,

00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:51.920
as a residential area
close to the centre.

00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:54.800
Yes, there are some loft houses

00:25:55.320 --> 00:25:58.240
that have very large rooms.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.680
The building we are looking at
is a school for primary school children.

00:26:05.320 --> 00:26:08.640
It was built at the end of the 19th century

00:26:09.520 --> 00:26:12.320
and the students lived here.

00:26:12.320 --> 00:26:15.160
It was like a boarding school.

00:26:16.320 --> 00:26:18.480
Here you see the rocks.

00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.280
That's what Kallio means.

00:26:22.080 --> 00:26:25.480
In other words, they are rocky hills,

00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:28.400
the stone is visible to the naked eye.

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:32.720
This is one of the oldest houses,
or even the oldest,

00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:35.000
of the entire Kallio area.

00:26:36.080 --> 00:26:37.640
It is an area quite different from others

00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:39.240
It is an area quite different from others

00:26:39.320 --> 00:26:42.400
because it is surrounded
by all these houses

00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.240
which you see here,
and which are mostly made of wood,

00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:51.720
and has this huge railway
running through the middle of it.

00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:55.800
What you see now on camera
is the centre of Helsinki.

00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:07.240
I think this area is one of the
most beautiful places in Helsinki

00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:12.880
It is next to Töölönlahti Bay

00:27:13.520 --> 00:27:16.720
and it's very quiet, very nice.

00:27:37.863 --> 00:27:39.960
I was once a rider of joy.

00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:44.428
Back then, descending into
the sweet waters of childhood oblivion

00:27:44.520 --> 00:27:46.960
was descending
into the memory of the world.

00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:49.840
A reverie of living together.

00:27:51.760 --> 00:27:54.200
I go back downtown,
taking a long detour.

00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:58.560
I wonder how to use these encounters
to reach the core,

00:27:59.073 --> 00:28:00.800
the childhood home.

00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.200
My childhood home
was accessed through the street.

00:28:49.520 --> 00:28:51.440
There was no pavement or asphalt.

00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.360
The house rose from the ground,

00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:57.040
from the sand
the wind always moved to and fro.

00:28:59.800 --> 00:29:02.320
There was a narrow open stairway.

00:29:03.080 --> 00:29:07.720
It wasn't a contiguous house,
but two bodies built upon a terrace.

00:29:08.500 --> 00:29:11.160
On one side, the kitchen and bathroom.

00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:13.600
On the other,
the bedrooms and living room.

00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:17.680
To go from one side to the other,
you had to step outside.

00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:20.600
Come night,
the entire celestial sphere would sway

00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:22.200
across that broad viewpoint.

00:29:23.120 --> 00:29:25.920
My childhood home was
almost entirely made of air.

00:30:05.280 --> 00:30:08.200
Yesterday Mikka explained,
during our visit to Kallio,

00:30:08.280 --> 00:30:11.400
that the neighbourhood was like
the outcrops of rocks on the hill.

00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:14.360
Tough, hardy, anchored to the earth.

00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.520
He also told me about
the new neighbourhoods and Hannu,

00:30:18.600 --> 00:30:20.680
an architect who for years has focused

00:30:20.760 --> 00:30:23.840
on the climate efficiency
of the houses he builds.

00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:31.360
The one in front of us here belongs
to the Helsinki Housing Company.

00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:35.120
This is social housing

00:30:36.760 --> 00:30:42.360
which has an income limit
for its residents.

00:30:43.040 --> 00:30:46.760
For example, this project
was originally intended to be

00:30:47.560 --> 00:30:53.400
all wood in terms of
material and construction

00:30:55.120 --> 00:30:59.360
We were selected as architects
specialising in wood

00:31:00.760 --> 00:31:02.520
to carry out the project.

00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:08.400
But one of the curious things
about Finland

00:31:09.040 --> 00:31:10.880
is that we live in
the middle of the forest

00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:17.120
and it is not easy
to build modern houses

00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:19.600
and that they are economical.

00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:27.120
So, what is happening with this house
in terms of construction

00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:33.360
is that we had to limit ourselves
to a concrete frame

00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.400
inside the house.

00:31:38.080 --> 00:31:42.320
But the rest
is like a wooden pullover.

00:31:45.080 --> 00:31:50.120
However, this was also of great help
in terms of energy savings,

00:31:50.280 --> 00:31:54.320
because the concrete frame
is like a battery

00:31:54.360 --> 00:31:57.880
which conserves heat
from the heating system.

00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:02.520
That is, it is surrounded by an insulator,

00:32:02.560 --> 00:32:03.880
so it is also a very good system.

00:32:07.800 --> 00:32:10.560
Right now we are
early Saturday morning

00:32:11.560 --> 00:32:14.040
and it's still a bit cold.

00:32:15.760 --> 00:32:17.880
People have not yet come out.

00:32:18.760 --> 00:32:23.040
Common spaces should be
accessible to everyone.

00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:29.960
and each neighbourhood should have
some kind of focal point

00:32:30.280 --> 00:32:32.280
where you can meet a friend

00:32:32.280 --> 00:32:33.880
and sit and wait for him.

00:32:36.280 --> 00:32:39.600
It is a somewhat theatrical system,

00:32:39.600 --> 00:32:42.440
where you can see
how people come and go.

00:33:07.560 --> 00:33:10.880
Kontula is perhaps ...

00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:14.600
the most dangerous place, I think.

00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:18.080
It is where most of the youth...

00:33:20.560 --> 00:33:22.360
where they come to...

00:33:23.280 --> 00:33:28.040
But it is dangerous at night,

00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:30.800
not during the day.

00:33:35.800 --> 00:33:39.360
I arrived here in 2008

00:33:41.560 --> 00:33:42.680
and it has changed a lot.

00:33:43.320 --> 00:33:47.120
I remember one time
was asking for an address.

00:33:48.080 --> 00:33:49.800
I stopped a woman.

00:33:50.320 --> 00:33:54.360
It was a lady and I asked her:
"Could you help me?

00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.760
Her answer was:
"No, I can't help you".

00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:00.880
I was just asking
for an address.

00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:05.880
She said no and left.

00:34:08.200 --> 00:34:10.320
At least today,

00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:14.160
if you ask five people,
three will answer,

00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:19.360
although I bet in the end
everyone will say no.

00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:26.400
I have stayed in many places.

00:34:27.240 --> 00:34:29.160
First I think I stayed at Malmi.

00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:35.360
I think I spent three years
and then I moved to Laajasalo,

00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:37.880
which is near Herttoniemi,

00:34:38.160 --> 00:34:42.800
and lived there for another four years
before moving to Vantaa.

00:34:43.720 --> 00:34:44.920
Vantaa, in Hakunila.

00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:51.360
I spent a year
and moved to Toukola.

00:34:51.680 --> 00:34:55.160
- ¿Toukola?
- Yes, the same as Vantaa.

00:34:56.840 --> 00:34:59.200
I was there for another year

00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:02.880
and I went to Korso.

00:35:03.640 --> 00:35:05.280
So I keep moving.

00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:12.080
I have been here for 12 years
applying for government housing

00:35:12.200 --> 00:35:13.560
and I have never got it.

00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:16.080
- ¿Never?
- Never.

00:35:19.200 --> 00:35:22.160
So normally
I stay in private homes.

00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:26.880
But it's expensive.

00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:34.240
The last space
I was living in was almost 21m²

00:35:34.920 --> 00:35:36.480
and the price...

00:35:37.640 --> 00:35:41.360
the rent was almost 1100 €.

00:35:42.160 --> 00:35:43.760
- Really?
- Yes.

00:35:59.560 --> 00:36:01.720
The architect Hannu's words

00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:03.320
with Mohammed's laughter

00:36:03.400 --> 00:36:06.720
as he describes his journey
through the neighbourhoods of Helsinki,

00:36:06.800 --> 00:36:08.400
looking for a place to live.

00:36:13.200 --> 00:36:15.120
Entry to paradise is closed.

00:36:16.240 --> 00:36:20.320
The work permits, housing,
hinder the possibility of inhabiting.

00:36:21.520 --> 00:36:24.040
Without them,
living together is impossible.

00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:26.570
Over Mohammed's taxi

00:36:26.650 --> 00:36:29.207
a thick mobile barrier stretches out,

00:36:29.287 --> 00:36:31.000
from which escape is difficult.

00:36:33.200 --> 00:36:37.200
The public space criteria
proposed by Jan Gehl come to mind.

00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:39.280
the ideologist of modern Copenhagen:

00:36:39.785 --> 00:36:42.320
offer safety, avoid noise,

00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:43.880
the elements,

00:36:44.598 --> 00:36:48.080
it must offer places to walk,
spaces where one can linger,

00:36:48.243 --> 00:36:49.440
things to observe,

00:36:49.853 --> 00:36:52.040
spaces where we can talk.

00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:55.760
How many of our neighbourhoods
would pass this test?

00:36:56.600 --> 00:36:58.680
Gehl says: "There must be shade."

00:37:04.680 --> 00:37:08.280
Every time I look at
the Aalto house from the street,

00:37:08.560 --> 00:37:12.400
always surprises me
with its closed appearance.

00:37:12.640 --> 00:37:16.280
It is as if the building had
its rear façade facing the street

00:37:16.520 --> 00:37:18.360
instead of its front façade.

00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.720
However, as soon as I enter

00:37:22.080 --> 00:37:25.200
and walk through the main hall,

00:37:25.520 --> 00:37:31.520
I immediately see a flash of natural light
shining from the living room.

00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:36.240
The few steps from
from the entrance to the living room

00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:40.440
open up a new idea of space,

00:37:41.080 --> 00:37:44.880
the beautiful living room
of the Aalto family,

00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:47.960
overlooking the working room

00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:50.320
and that it is very connected

00:37:50.720 --> 00:37:54.520
also with an adjoining dining room.

00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:59.360
This house used to be the home
for a family of four:

00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:03.560
architects Alvar and Aino Aalto

00:38:03.560 --> 00:38:05.040
and their two children.

00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:08.560
They moved here in 1936.

00:38:08.560 --> 00:38:12.000
At that time
Alvar Aalto was 38 years old.

00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:14.960
The workroom,
which I am now focusing on,

00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:18.960
used to be the office
of Alvar Aalto's architects

00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:23.360
From 1936 until 1955.

00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:26.760
That is, this was neither his first
nor his last location.

00:38:28.560 --> 00:38:32.720
What is quite striking about
in the working room is its verticality

00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:36.360
and, thanks to the height of the room,

00:38:36.560 --> 00:38:39.680
there are also
some height differences

00:38:39.680 --> 00:38:41.200
within the space itself.

00:38:41.680 --> 00:38:44.720
What I love about this studio

00:38:44.720 --> 00:38:47.280
is its materiality and texture.

00:38:47.360 --> 00:38:52.040
Aalto chose a wide variety
of interesting materials in his home.

00:38:52.360 --> 00:38:54.760
It's almost like a kind of collage.

00:38:55.640 --> 00:38:59.280
For example, up there,
the balcony walls

00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:01.240
are made of plant fibres,

00:39:01.240 --> 00:39:03.360
which gives a very nice effect.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:08.560
This is one of Aalto's lamps
from the 1950s.

00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:12.560
Here we move from the dining room

00:39:12.760 --> 00:39:17.320
to the corridor that separates
it and the kitchen.

00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:23.720
The kitchen is an exclusive area
for staff nowadays.

00:39:58.360 --> 00:40:01.040
I enter the Tapiola Garden hotel
with my suitcase

00:40:01.120 --> 00:40:04.000
and holding my camera askew
in my left hand.

00:40:04.160 --> 00:40:05.920
I stop at the front desk.

00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:10.080
I imagine how the shot must look
and I don't like it,

00:40:10.360 --> 00:40:12.840
so I turn off the camera
and go back outside.

00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:16.720
The receptionist watches me,
enveloped in eloquent silence.

00:40:18.120 --> 00:40:20.120
A British couple asks me

00:40:20.200 --> 00:40:22.840
to take their picture
in front of the hotel.

00:40:24.720 --> 00:40:26.800
"We lived in Tapiola for a few years.

00:40:27.320 --> 00:40:28.600
It was our first place.

00:40:28.680 --> 00:40:32.240
And now, after over 30 years,
we've come back for the first time.

00:40:32.760 --> 00:40:34.600
It's an unforgettable place."

00:40:59.520 --> 00:41:03.040
It's difficult to know if the ulterior motive
of Nordic housing,

00:41:03.120 --> 00:41:05.000
that idea of creating paradise,

00:41:05.080 --> 00:41:06.480
will persist.

00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:11.280
The tension that housing markets
seek and encourage

00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:12.440
gain momentum.

00:41:12.560 --> 00:41:14.080
NEW URBAN CENTRES

00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:16.040
Helsinki is under siege.

00:41:17.080 --> 00:41:18.640
The one who dominates housing,

00:41:18.720 --> 00:41:20.400
how it is built,

00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:23.360
how it is sold, how it is rented,

00:41:23.685 --> 00:41:25.040
dominates society.

00:41:30.600 --> 00:41:33.520
I remember the words
spoken by Hannu, the architect:

00:41:33.800 --> 00:41:36.560
"After the war,
the goal was not to build houses,

00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:38.520
but to build a country."

00:41:42.080 --> 00:41:45.680
The way buildings are constructed
is the same way people coexist.

00:41:46.720 --> 00:41:50.440
I feel that this trip grants me,
at the very least, that certainty.

00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:09.080
This is the kitchen.

00:42:10.680 --> 00:42:12.080
They are my domain.

00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:19.960
My wife tells me what to cook
and I do it.

00:42:27.320 --> 00:42:29.960
My son's room
also works

00:42:30.320 --> 00:42:32.840
as a guest room
for grandparents.

00:42:35.240 --> 00:42:36.880
He doesn't normally sleep here.

00:42:37.920 --> 00:42:42.560
Sometimes we sit on the sofa
or do our homework together

00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:44.440
or we build something.

00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:50.400
He really enjoys being here.

00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:59.280
My favourite room is my studio.

00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:06.240
This is where I do
most of my work.

00:43:07.680 --> 00:43:08.880
It is very bright.

00:43:09.080 --> 00:43:12.200
We usually have breakfast here too.

00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:17.440
Most of the time
he sleeps here.

00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:19.360
There he is.

00:43:20.080 --> 00:43:23.280
He has had a little look at
and is not interested at all.

00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:26.440
If he wanted to,
he would be very photogenic.

00:43:28.680 --> 00:43:32.680
We spent a lot of time here,
in the living room.

00:43:36.160 --> 00:43:37.440
And here is the balcony.

00:43:38.040 --> 00:43:42.160
Right now it’s a bit messy,
but that’s what happens after winter.

00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:43.480
it needs cleaning,

00:43:43.560 --> 00:43:46.560
but good weather is coming,
and we can sit outside.

00:43:46.920 --> 00:43:49.960
We also enjoy being here
in the living room.

00:43:51.040 --> 00:43:54.240
The thing is, when you arrive

00:43:55.880 --> 00:43:57.760
at a Finnish house,

00:44:00.560 --> 00:44:03.680
you tend to notice
what’s around the house.

00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:08.200
I get the feeling

00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:12.080
that whatever
you’re going to find inside the house

00:44:12.680 --> 00:44:16.000
is somehow already reflected
by what you see outside.

00:44:16.080 --> 00:44:20.760
That is, when you pass by a yard,
whether it’s an apartment or a cottage,

00:44:23.640 --> 00:44:26.280
you can kind of tell

00:44:26.840 --> 00:44:29.840
what the architect's intention was,

00:44:29.880 --> 00:44:33.640
because this connection is created,
this duality,

00:44:33.720 --> 00:44:37.080
where both parts work together.

00:44:37.680 --> 00:44:40.880
In our home

00:44:42.440 --> 00:44:44.280
that’s something
that’s also very visible.

00:44:44.840 --> 00:44:47.800
In our family
we’re always very excited

00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:49.800
about the different seasons,

00:44:50.280 --> 00:44:53.360
seeing how the world changes
on the other side of the window,

00:44:53.520 --> 00:44:57.760
because that’s part of why we live here,

00:44:59.720 --> 00:45:02.160
part of what’s so lovely
about living here:

00:45:02.240 --> 00:45:03.760
that nature

00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:07.240
and the house

00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:11.360
are not separate entities,
but are one and the same.

00:46:00.360 --> 00:46:04.840
Obviously, here in Finland
we don’t have anything left from 5000 years ago.

00:46:05.400 --> 00:46:07.720
They didn’t build with stone here,

00:46:07.880 --> 00:46:11.880
and when you build with wood,
things don’t last 5000 years.

00:46:12.640 --> 00:46:16.920
So we don’t really know
how they lived thousands of years ago,

00:46:17.320 --> 00:46:20.320
but through archaeological excavations
we can find

00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:23.160
a possible version
of how life was.

00:46:23.760 --> 00:46:26.720
Obviously, society
was still hunter-gatherer.

00:46:26.720 --> 00:46:31.960
That is, they chased prey
across large areas.

00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:36.920
There were no fixed houses
to live in year-round,

00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:42.880
and people had to carry
their tools for hunting.

00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:45.240
In Espoo and in Finland,

00:46:45.640 --> 00:46:50.680
the historical era starts quite late
because we have writings

00:46:51.080 --> 00:46:53.840
from the 13th and 14th centuries.

00:46:54.040 --> 00:46:57.400
These were people
who moved from Sweden

00:46:57.400 --> 00:47:00.880
into a normally sized village.

00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:03.960
In Espoo there were three families
living in each village,

00:47:04.040 --> 00:47:05.240
so they were very small villages.

00:47:05.480 --> 00:47:10.440
You had your house,
maybe a place for your animals,

00:47:10.680 --> 00:47:12.360
and another building for your things,

00:47:12.360 --> 00:47:15.360
and then there was
a sauna that everyone used.

00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:18.360
There was a sauna
in the old Finnish villages

00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:21.360
that was far from the other buildings,

00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:23.680
because it burned down more often.

00:47:24.560 --> 00:47:28.840
And well, land boundaries
were very specific,

00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:33.680
and in general, I think they were marked
by the roof boundaries.

00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:35.480
That was your property.

00:47:35.720 --> 00:47:38.760
And it was protected
by what we call “home peace.”

00:47:38.840 --> 00:47:43.080
That is, if someone
commits a crime against you

00:47:43.480 --> 00:47:46.360
the penalty is greater
if it happens inside your home,

00:47:46.720 --> 00:47:49.960
but if it happens outside,
the penalty is less.

00:48:01.720 --> 00:48:04.240
World War II devastated Finland.

00:48:04.840 --> 00:48:07.600
The Karelia region ended up
under Soviet rule.

00:48:08.560 --> 00:48:12.080
There was large-scale emigration
to Helsinki and housing was needed.

00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:14.200
In that context,

00:48:14.640 --> 00:48:18.040
the Finnish built their society
as a common space.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:23.960
Meanwhile, in Spain,
the Opus Dei's Stabilisation Plan

00:48:24.040 --> 00:48:27.560
founds an ultra-liberal state
in the framework of a dictatorship.

00:48:28.600 --> 00:48:32.280
We are the result of
"May your word to me be fulfilled".

00:48:33.200 --> 00:48:37.320
Your trip, Vicente,
thought another Spain was possible,

00:48:37.720 --> 00:48:39.440
but that Spain never happened.

00:48:40.200 --> 00:48:41.480
From then on,

00:48:41.560 --> 00:48:44.480
the plan began to model the country
under its premise:

00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:47.720
Recurring crises, industrial dependency,

00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:50.480
chronic unemployment,
systemic instability.

00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:37.480
Here is where the house ends,

00:49:37.560 --> 00:49:41.360
so I have a spectacular view

00:49:41.760 --> 00:49:43.200
of the whole park.

00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:46.360
It’s like a panoramic view.

00:49:46.800 --> 00:49:50.400
And now, during spring,

00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.040
as you can see, we have some flowers.

00:49:55.280 --> 00:49:57.640
I love these blue flowers.

00:49:57.640 --> 00:50:00.320
Blue is my favorite color.

00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:06.000
This is my living room,

00:50:06.160 --> 00:50:08.880
and actually, this is nowadays

00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:12.920
my favorite spot to sit

00:50:13.840 --> 00:50:17.880
and look at the furniture, the room,

00:50:18.520 --> 00:50:20.240
and also the view.

00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:26.240
We have some Alvar Aalto chairs,

00:50:26.240 --> 00:50:30.400
and also an Alvar Aalto table.

00:50:31.720 --> 00:50:38.200
It’s a special apartment
because it was built in 1954

00:50:39.520 --> 00:50:42.000
and is also of modern design.

00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:46.320
That’s why I think
Alvar Aalto’s modern furniture

00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:49.920
and his modern decor fit perfectly.

00:50:51.400 --> 00:50:52.880
Hello, doggies.

00:50:54.360 --> 00:50:58.000
So yes, I also love the bedroom,

00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:03.040
because it’s quite big,

00:51:03.200 --> 00:51:06.080
at least
for a typical Finnish bedroom.

00:51:06.080 --> 00:51:08.960
There’s a lot of space
and storage here.

00:51:10.040 --> 00:51:13.200
The staircase
is also very beautiful,

00:51:14.880 --> 00:51:17.400
and very light, in my opinion.

00:51:18.920 --> 00:51:21.880
Let’s go downstairs.

00:51:23.080 --> 00:51:26.720
And if we go this way,

00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:29.640
we can see
the back garden of the house.

00:51:31.720 --> 00:51:32.760
Hello.

00:51:32.760 --> 00:51:33.720
There’s a mirror.

00:51:56.760 --> 00:51:58.760
What was the purpose of this trip?

00:51:59.680 --> 00:52:01.585
To look back at what happened?

00:52:02.280 --> 00:52:04.948
Your trip, Vicente,
inhabits that precise moment

00:52:05.030 --> 00:52:07.920
when the country and our islands
are forever changed.

00:52:08.265 --> 00:52:12.000
That precise interval
in which everything seemed possible.

00:52:13.520 --> 00:52:17.440
The purpose of my trip was to understand
what happened on the islands,

00:52:17.850 --> 00:52:20.040
why paradise was not possible.

00:52:23.960 --> 00:52:26.400
I board a ship
to the island of Suomenlinna,

00:52:26.438 --> 00:52:29.180
now that my own journey
is coming to an end.

00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:30.920
I feel that, right now,

00:52:31.200 --> 00:52:34.040
this trip over the water's threshold
makes sense.

00:53:29.240 --> 00:53:30.520
Inhabiting the islands.

00:53:31.240 --> 00:53:35.920
Managing the territory,
the resources, waste, mobility,

00:53:36.912 --> 00:53:37.912
the coexistence.

00:53:39.443 --> 00:53:42.520
Are we islanders
something like eternal castaways?

00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:44.600
Do we dream of being rescued?

00:53:45.848 --> 00:53:47.320
We inhabit precariousness.

00:53:47.760 --> 00:53:51.720
Perhaps that's why single-crop farming
has always prospered among us:

00:53:51.995 --> 00:53:56.840
grapevines, cochineal,
tomatoes, bananas, tourism.

00:54:01.200 --> 00:54:03.480
We islanders live
between two boundaries:

00:54:03.747 --> 00:54:05.400
a real one, the coast,

00:54:05.747 --> 00:54:07.840
and a metaphysical one, the horizon.

00:54:09.480 --> 00:54:12.560
And it's between them,
in that inexistent space we see,

00:54:12.908 --> 00:54:16.240
where we build our existence,
not as a form of isolation,

00:54:16.577 --> 00:54:18.480
but as an awareness of the limits.

00:54:18.840 --> 00:54:21.560
No one knows their limits
as well as an islander.

00:54:32.738 --> 00:54:34.920
Are we the outcome of a shipwreck?

00:54:35.763 --> 00:54:39.080
I wonder, Vicente,
if in our island reveries,

00:54:39.320 --> 00:54:41.600
nestled between
the appearance of a paradise

00:54:41.680 --> 00:54:43.520
and the awareness of hell,

00:54:43.720 --> 00:54:45.720
glimmering like a great hope,

00:54:46.120 --> 00:54:48.000
there is, deep down,

00:54:48.080 --> 00:54:49.440
the desire to be rescued.

00:54:50.722 --> 00:54:54.120
If that were so,
the act of building a shack,

00:54:54.520 --> 00:54:56.000
a place where we can wait,

00:54:56.720 --> 00:54:58.840
represents the most glorious challenge.

00:54:59.320 --> 00:55:02.800
To contrapose the idea of abandonment
to the idea of a paradise.

00:55:03.080 --> 00:55:05.000
The metaphysics of action.

00:55:44.800 --> 00:55:48.320
I remember the nature.

00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:51.280
We moved here
from Helsinki, from the city,

00:55:52.800 --> 00:55:55.440
so there were
and still are parks,

00:55:55.520 --> 00:55:59.880
lots of parks and many things for kids,

00:56:00.240 --> 00:56:02.880
like swings and playgrounds...

00:56:05.400 --> 00:56:08.520
In summer, if we wanted to swim,

00:56:08.640 --> 00:56:11.320
we took our bikes
and went to the sea,

00:56:11.400 --> 00:56:13.400
which isn’t far from here.

00:56:14.720 --> 00:56:17.360
The story starts in 1951,

00:56:17.920 --> 00:56:20.760
when the first city planners
came to the area.

00:56:21.000 --> 00:56:24.040
Many important planning decisions
were discussed

00:56:24.160 --> 00:56:25.960
and made on the ground,

00:56:26.640 --> 00:56:28.080
not at a desk.

00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:35.520
The first part
of Tapiola Garden City,

00:56:35.640 --> 00:56:38.040
a center for 16,000 residents,

00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:40.040
is almost completed.

00:56:40.720 --> 00:56:43.960
Once fully built,
it will house 80,000 people,

00:56:44.800 --> 00:56:46.440
and Tapiola Center

00:56:46.520 --> 00:56:49.800
will be the administrative, commercial,
and cultural hub

00:56:49.920 --> 00:56:52.160
for these 80,000 citizens.

00:56:52.880 --> 00:56:56.040
It’s not difficult
to build a modern city for the wealthy,

00:56:56.520 --> 00:57:00.000
but it is difficult,
yet inspiring,

00:57:00.480 --> 00:57:03.000
to build a beautiful city
for everyone.

00:57:03.960 --> 00:57:05.480
To achieve this goal,

00:57:05.560 --> 00:57:08.160
almost 80%
of all construction sites

00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:10.480
have been sold for social housing.

00:57:31.480 --> 00:57:34.560
Maybe I’m
a bit old-fashioned

00:57:34.760 --> 00:57:36.160
or nostalgic,

00:57:36.280 --> 00:57:40.880
but I never liked
that there were too many changes

00:57:41.080 --> 00:57:43.160
in the original Tapiola.

00:57:44.360 --> 00:57:46.360
We had to accept the hotel,

00:57:46.360 --> 00:57:50.040
but I’d rather not have the hotel.

00:57:56.280 --> 00:57:59.040
A really special feature
of Tapiola

00:57:59.280 --> 00:58:01.440
are the green areas,

00:58:01.720 --> 00:58:05.560
the large open spaces
where it’s just greenery.

00:58:06.360 --> 00:58:11.920
I think that had an impact on me,

00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:14.640
and actually, when I travel,
wherever I go,

00:58:14.720 --> 00:58:18.080
I love visiting places
with lots of green.

00:58:38.640 --> 00:58:41.040
A few ducks fly over the lake.

00:58:41.800 --> 00:58:43.760
They seem to call out to all birds

00:58:44.200 --> 00:58:46.160
to spread the news
that spring is coming,

00:58:46.242 --> 00:58:47.620
that the waters are rising,

00:58:47.960 --> 00:58:50.680
that time flows
and the wind is swelling.

00:58:52.160 --> 00:58:54.360
Despite us, human beings,

00:58:54.440 --> 00:58:57.160
who are exactly the same
as how we dwell.

00:59:13.200 --> 00:59:15.440
Make a key, even if it's small.

00:59:16.200 --> 00:59:17.680
Enter the home.

00:59:18.000 --> 00:59:19.440
Accept the gentleness,

00:59:20.360 --> 00:59:23.800
take pity on the materials,
the dreams, and the birds.

00:59:24.240 --> 00:59:27.880
Invoke the fire, the clarity,
the music of the rooms.

00:59:29.200 --> 00:59:31.200
Do not say "stone", say "window".

00:59:31.760 --> 00:59:33.240
Don't be like the shadow.

00:59:33.560 --> 00:59:35.920
Say "man", say "child", say "star".

00:59:36.280 --> 00:59:39.960
Repeat the syllables
where light is happy and lingers.

00:59:41.312 --> 00:59:45.160
Repeat "man", "woman", "child",

00:59:45.960 --> 00:59:48.320
where it is young and beauty is born.

00:59:50.800 --> 00:59:54.332
FOR VICENTE SAAVEDRA
(1937-2021)