Georg Hilding Ekelund (18 November 1893 in

Kangasniemi Kangasniemi is a municipality in the Southern Savonia regions of Finland, region, Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Kangasniemi is located on the Highways in ...

– 30 January 1984 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) was a Finnish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, from 1950 to 1958 a professor of housing design at Helsinki University of Technology and from 1931 to 1934 editor-in-chief of the Finnish architects' journal Arkkitehti (Finnish Architectural Review). His career as an architect spans the change in styles in Finland from the

Nordic Classicism Nordic Classicism was a Architectural style, style of architecture that briefly blossomed in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) between 1910 and 1930. The style was also known as Swedish Grace architecture in Sweden. Until ...

of the 1920s to the

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

of the 1970s.

Career

Ekeleund studied architecture at

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...

, qualifying as an architect in 1916. His wide career in architecture spanned from the design of public housing areas and town planning to public buildings, factories and churches. Following a classical education in architecture, where the predominant style was Nordic Classicism, Ekelund like others Finnish architects of his generation, such as

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

, made the switch to Modernism – known in Finland as "Functionalism" – partly in response to the greater urbanisation of the country during the 1920s and 1930s. Ekelund designed a significant number of buildings in the town of

Karis Karis (; ) is a town and former municipality in Finland. On January 1, 2009, it was consolidated with Ekenäs and Pohja to form the new municipality of Raseborg (). It is located in the Finnish province of Southern Finland and is part of U ...

, already during the 1930s. The town plan for Karis, drawn up in the 1930s by architect Carolus Lindberg was soon regarded as over-dimensioned, and Ekelund was given the task of redesigning it. His "modern" design was influenced by ideas from the

Garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

, as interpreted in Finland by Otto-Iivari Meurman and its modern interpretation by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

, with a particular emphasis on open spaces and parks. In the town Ekelund designed a

dispensing chemist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in order to dispense them safely to the pub ...

, the town hall, cemetery chapel, water tower, trade college and several schools and old-people's homes. Architectural competitions have been a common method in Finland for choosing designs for key public buildings, and Ekelund entered several of them over the length of his career. For instance, he won the competition for the choice of the site of the Finnish Parliament building - though the final site was later changed and J.S. Sirén was chosen as the final architect of the building, following a second competition. Among Ekelund's more notable buildings are the Taidehalli Art Gallery (together with Jarl Eklund) in Helsinki, Töölö Church in Helsinki, the Finnish Embassy in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and a number of buildings for the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

held in Helsinki, including the Olympic Rowing Stadium, the Olympic Velodrome, and the Olympic Games village.Docomomo Suomi Finland
/ref> Hilding Ekelund's brother was the author and painter Ragnar Ekelund. His wife, Eva Kuhlefelt-Ekelund, was also an architect, and they formed a joint office in 1927.

Major works by Hilding Ekelund

Kunsthalle Helsinki Kunsthalle Helsinki (, ) is a non-profit exhibition space founded by various Finnish artist and art associations in 1928. Presenting annually 5–7 major exhibitions and special events, the main focus of the exhibition programme lies in contemporar ...

(1928), Helsinki *

Töölö Church Töölö Church (, ) is a Lutheran church in the Taka-Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland. The building represents Nordic Classicism and was designed by Hilding Ekelund following an architectural competition. Completed in 1930, it originally s ...

(1930), Helsinki *Lutheran Church (1931), Helsinki * Finnish Embassy in the Soviet Union (1938),

* Olympic Velodrome (1938–40), Helsinki *Olympic Village (1939–40), Helsinki *Helsinki street kiosks (1940s–50s), Helsinki *Karis water tower (1949–1951),

*Maunula social housing: terraced housing and apartment blocks (1953), Helsinki *Salmisaari power station (1951), Helsinki *Swedish-speaking Finnish teachers’ house, Roihuvuori (c. 1957), Helsinki *Nelimarkka Museum (1964),

Alajärvi Alajärvi (; ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The town is unilingually Finnish. The mu ...

*Sahanmäki area regional planning, Maunula, Helsinki Punahilkantie12

References

* (In Italian and English) * *

Notes

External links

Hilding Ekelund at the Museum of Finnish Architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekelund, Hilding 1893 births 1984 deaths People from Kangasniemi People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish architects Modernist architects International style architects Aalto University alumni