This year’s Spirit of Paimio conference will centre on the theme of Reimagining Community, highlighting the power communities and togetherness. Building on the foundation laid at last year’s inaugural conference, the event will explore how Alvar and Aino Aalto’s architectural principles – empathy, community and scientific inquiry – could be used to improve modern societies.
As keynote speakers, internationally known profiles from different creative and scientific fields, including Bjarke Ingels, Beatriz Colomina, Carlo Ratti, Ersilia Vaudo, Octave Perrault, Spencer Bailey and Studio Swine, have already been confirmed, and more names will be unveiled soon.
Held at the sanatorium on October 9-10, the second annual Spirit of Paimio Conference expects to welcome around 20 inspiring speakers and 300 guests. Curator Joseph Grima and Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of the Paimio Sanatorium Foundation, have crafted a program that takes as its starting point the following statement by Alvar Aalto:
“Building art is a synthesis of life in materialised form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together.”
This idea of togetherness underpins the Aaltos’ work, especially evident at the Paimio Sanatorium, which serves as the basis for this year’s discussions.
Last year’s conference focused on the future of the sanatorium beyond its position as a functionalist architectural landmark. This year, we take a step further, expanding our scope.
The event will be an opportunity to look to new visions of community and their relevance in an increasingly complex era. Now that the togetherness the Aaltos advocated is no longer dependent on spatial proximity, what will the consequences be for the human experience? What can be learnt from the tangible architecture of the Aaltos’ masterpiece, and how could it be incorporated into the community-building practices of the years to come?
Join us for insightful keynotes, talks and workshops aimed at fostering dialogue on the future of architecture, cities, societies and wellbeing.
The tickets for the two-day conference are now available.