Finnish Harvest by Henry Russell Walden (1934–2013) is a story of Walden’s encounter with the Otaniemi Chapel designed by Kaija and Heikki Siren in 1957. Walden was a New Zealand architect, scholar and educator who fell in love with Finnish architecture in the 1960s. The decisive moment was to see an image of the Otaniemi Chapel designed by Kaija and Heikki Siren in Peter Hammond’s book Liturgy and Architecture (1960). In the summer of 1988, Walden had the chance to travel to Finland and explore its architecture in more detail. His book Finnish Harvest is a story of his encounter with this remarkable, small building, its architects and the Finnish architectural landscape in general.
Walden writes about the birth of Finnish design, with its close connections to nature, opening perspectives on Finland’s cultural history and cultural figures from Alvar Aalto to Eino Leino. The Foreword has been written by Professor Mark Burry.
Finland is a country in which modern architecture flourishes within a tradition of clear-cut forms, logical use of natural materials, and meticulous attention to detail. These characteristics are all combined with careful construction and a sypathetic approach to the landscape(…) The Student Chapel in the Technical University campus of Otaniemi is one such poetically discreet example(…) It is no mere accident that creative artists capable of extending poetic sensitivities all speak the language of the heart, as they grasp the underlying meaning of identity.
— Henry Russell Walden, Preface “Soul of Finland”, p. 13-14.
Our current copy in stock is in very good condition, almost as good as new. The dust jacket and the pages are clean and tidy. The binding is faultless as well.
