This is part of a collection of black and white conversions of photographs I took in August while in Helsinki, Finland.  

_MG_0797B&Wv2 The Rotunda wing of the Finnish National Library, built 1902-1906, designed by architect and professor Gustaf Nyström.

_MG_0729 The remarkable timber panelled lift lobby in the Porthania building, University of Helsinki, designed by Aarne Ervi, completed  in 1957 and recently restored by Finnish architects NRT.  The next two photographs are also from this beautiful example of Finnish modernism. 

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Town planner, architect, furniture and homeware designer Alvar Aalto has perhaps done most to put Finnish design on the map.  The next three photos are from his famous Academic Bookshop (1962), right in the centre of Helsinki and still jam-packed with books and people buying them.  The first shows the sky lights, supposedly referencing the shape of open books, which allow natural light to flood the whole building.  

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Relaxing in the Alvar Aalto Cafe, Level 2, Academic Bookshop. Hopefully this gives a bit of an idea of how those skylights make this interior such a delightful place to be. 

Alvar Aalto Cafe, Level 2, Academic Bookshop, Helsinki (Alvar Aalto, 1962)

_MG_0815 Beauty and function combine in these door handles at the entrance to the Academic Bookshop - architecture for the high and the low...

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Finally, the cafe at Finlandia Hall (Alvar Aalto, 1971).  I want those chairs!