Dipoli
Reima Pietilä + Raili Pietilä · Espoo, Finland · 1966
Reima and Raili Pietilä’s Dipoli rejects the regular geometries of much post-war modernism in favor of a building that seems to grow from its rocky forest site. Completed in 1966 for the student union of Helsinki University of Technology, its irregular plan, varied roof forms and rugged material palette create a deliberately landscape-like interior. Circulation expands and contracts through complex communal spaces rather than following a simple corridor system. Dipoli is a major work of Finnish organic modernism and an important precursor to later architecture centered on topography and experiential form.