JKMM Architects - The New City Library in Turku, Finland

The new city library in Turku is located at the historical centre of the city. The building is the latest addition to a block with the old library and several other historically valuable buildings. The historical and cultural value of the site presented a great challenge for the planning of the new building. The objective of the project was to create a new construct, which would harmonize with the historically invaluable setting while also manifesting an architecture of its own age.
In terms of urban planning the goal was to fill out the open and unstructured street corner by following the edges of the existing urban grid. By constructing the building on the outer perimeter, we were able to provide an open space in the middle of the lot, which was designed to serve as a courtyard for recreation and a stage for cultural events. The interior of the new building is annexed with the existing 100-year old library building and the chancellery of the governor built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, now restored and transformed to facilitate a café and meeting rooms.
The new library has a functionally clear design. The public spaces are situated mainly on two floors surrounding the opening to the courtyard. The staff premises are located systematically on one side of the building facing the street. The new main entrance opens onto the corner of two main streets.
The first floor has a reception and lounge area, a children’s and youth section, and a modernized version of a periodicals reading room called the news market, which functions simultaneously as the link between the new library and the old buildings.
The main room of the new building is reached through a main stairway, which opens to a monumental space containing the non-fiction stacks and reading areas. The guiding principle in the space planning was flexibility; the functions of the library may change radically in the future with the introduction of new media. The rooms are open, and the functions are limited only by the transformability of the easy-to-move furniture.
The materials of the building were chosen to accommodate the environment. The facades are mainly plastered, which is the predominant material of the old buildings in the block. Initially we considered using red brick, but gave up the idea to allow the old library building to remain the only brick building on the block thus emphasizing its primary position in the neighbourhood.
Natural stone was also used extensively on the facades, the stairway and the grounds surrounding the building. In the interior we used mostly European Oak in the wall furnishing and furniture. The structure of the building was made from concrete cast on site, which was left exposed as an important part of the interior design.
The fair-faced concrete was formed with vertical boards to achieve the rough feeling characteristic of the material.
The basis of the planning was to create a new library to meet up with the challenges of the future. At the same time, the library has a long and rich history, which the architecture should also take into account. The architectonic whole is formed from the union of these two oppositions, the past and the future.
Project Details and Credits:
Project: City library in Turku
Address: Linnankatu 2, 20100 Turku, Finland
Year of completion: 2007
Floor area: 6 900 m2
Client: Turku City
User: Turku City Library
Designers:
Architect: JKMM Architects. Main designer: Asmo Jaaksi architect SAFA. Design team: Teemu Kurkela, Samuli Miettinen, Juha Mäki-Jyllilä, Mikko Rossi, Katja Savolainen architects SAFA, Päivi Meuronen interior architect SIO

Jeremy LIPKING

JEREMY LIPKING
Interview by Das Bork

Das Bork: To get started, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your influences.
Jeremy Lipking: Well, I really liked the naturalist painters, like Jules Bastien-Lepage, Emile Friant, and [Pascal-Adolphe-Jean] Dagnan-Bouveret. What I liked about naturalist painters is that a lot of them were amazing draftsman, and that they really wanted to capture what was really happening and what was really out there. And also their ability to create some huge paintings, and most of the time they painted outdoors.

DB: That was the movement where they started painting what they saw.
JL: Yes. And a lot of them built these glass studios so they could have some protection from the elements in order to make it as close to painting outdoors as possible. And in painting what they saw they still had plenty of work. They still had to have some elements of design and composition. So the problem they had was to make a naturalistic painting, but still incorporate good design and composition.

DB: So is that what got you interested in plein air work?
JL: Well, no, not really. I didn’t really get to know about those painters until later on. As far as painting outdoors, I liked Edgar Payne and William Wendt, and a lot of the California impressionists.

DB: As far as subject matter, what has influenced you to paint the subjects that you paint?
JL: Well, [John Singer] Sargent is a big one for me, as well as Anders Zorn and [Joaquin] Sorolla. They all painted figures. That is probably where it started for me, as far as artists that I liked who were figurative painters.

DB: In terms of training, I’ve seen a lot of great artwork coming from the school [California Art Institute] you went to. What was it about that place that made that happen?
JL: A lot of good things have come from that school, but I’m not really sure what it was. Because when I was there, I felt like I was missing out on something.

DB: Because it was a small school?
JL: Yeah, it was a small school. But I always felt that I needed a more academic type of training.

DB: Why is that?
JL: Well, we didn’t really have any long drawing poses or long painting poses-- maybe six hours was about the longest. I wanted to be able to paint and draw figures for as much time as I needed to then.

DB: How long does it take you to do a studio painting?
JL: On average, about two to three weeks for an average-sized painting. Then, for some reason, I’ll do a painting that will take twice as long, but usually around that time.

DB: Your paintings have a cool color palette. I was wondering if you could talk a bit about how that works or how you achieve that sort of look.
JL: For me, the palette or the key of my paintings actually became cooler when I moved into my studio, where the walls were painted blue. At first, I didn’t really like it, and I was going to paint over the walls. But I did a couple of paintings in there with a blue background and I just started to get used to it. I started to like it.

DB: So it branched out from there?
JL: As far as I can remember it, yes.

DB: Color harmony is a mysterious thing. How do you achieve it in your work?
JL: You really have to try not to lose sight of it in the big picture. When you're working on a section of a painting it's easy to forget about the rest of it and how it relates. So every piece of color, every shape and brushstroke is a part of the bigger picture.

DB: As far as drawing goes, how do you go about it, or what's your thought process?
JL: As far as drawing in my painting goes, I don’t do much drawing at all during the lay-in stage in the beginning. I just block in big shapes and lines with my brush to get the placement of the subject. I never do any drawing with a pencil, even in my charcoal drawings. As far as drawing on paper, I’ve been trying out a lot of different types of paper in charcoal. Lately I’ve been using Strathmore 400 paper.

DB: Why do you approach drawing that way? Is it to keep the painting looking fresh?
JL: If it was all drawn out first it would feel a bit boring, because it would end up looking like I was just filling in shapes. Also, I like to use my whole arm and body when I’m painting. It helps me to feel less restricted, and it allows me to paint more freely.

DB: I’ve read on your site that after school you trained on your own.
JL: Well, I took classes for about a year and a half at the Art Institute. I was mostly doing drawing classes, and I started to do a little bit of painting. After about a year and half I started teaching a drawing class there. Eventually, I taught a few classes a week. I still considered that a part of my schooling or training.

DB: So what would you say you got out of your training?
JL: Well, the one teacher I studied with the most was an illustrator, Glen Orbik. He does comic book covers. His style of drawing was really tonal-- it was like painting in black and white. In other words, it was drawing in charcoal, but it wasn’t linear. It was really tonal.

DB: So did you then take that into your painting?
JL: Yes. Because you are basically using the same elements that you need to have in painting, such as values, edges, and shapes. The only thing missing is color.

DB: Your artwork now has such a cool mood to it. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I was wondering how you achieve that.
JL: I’m not really sure if there is one thing that does it. It’s probably a combination of things, such as the subject and the colors. But I would say it's mostly because of the light.

DB: What do you paint with in the studio? Do you use windows, or do you have a setup of lights?
JL: I light the model with natural light from a window. I like it so much better than fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. I don’t really have a north-lit studio, but I’d like to, just for the consistency in the light. However, I don’t like the quality of the light as much compared to light just coming from a window.

DB: The models you use, who are they?
JL: A lot of them are professional models, but a lot of times it’s somebody that was recommended by another artist, or somebody that has offered to model for me. Sometimes I’ll see somebody that I think would be a great subject to paint, so I’ll ask them. Like the model in my Bedside painting... I met her at a party where they had a naked catering company. They were all painted in body paint. It was for somebody's birthday party. So she was there, and she had a nice look and a nice figure.

DB: So you just asked her to be in a painting?
JL: Yep. That’s how it happened. Most of the models I have had lately aren’t professional art models. I always like to paint new people or different people, because you just get a whole new set of ideas for painting.

DB: What do you look for in a good painting?
JL: It can be about that one thing that you notice first, whether it’s the color harmony, a nice design, or even just the lighting. It’s different for every painting. But being able to capture that theme is what really can make it special.

DB: I’ve heard people say that everything has already been done in painting. What do you think about that statement?
JL: Well, I’ve heard that a lot, too. However, I don’t really think it’s hard to do something new. I mean, people have been writing stories for a long time and it’s all in the same language, but they all manage to say something new. It’s the same for painting. We all paint in the same language, but we manage to say something new.

DB: That’s very true. I’ve got one last question for you. I have to ask you this because we try and ask this question to everyone we interview: in your opinion, do dogs have lips?
JL: Boy... that's a good question.

DB: Do you have dogs?
JL: I have one dog, but I don’t know.

DB: It’s the debate here, and we haven’t really come to a conclusion yet.
JL: Well, I would say... (pauses) no.

DB: Alright. Thanks for doing this, Jeremy.
JL: Thank you,

Das Bork.

Serge Marshennikov

Serge Marshennikov was born in 1971 in Ufa (Bashkiria, USSR). His grandfather was the general manager of a horse breeding company, his father, an electrical engineer and his mother was in pre-school education. Freom the earliest of times, Serge was always drawing, painting and sculpting from any material he could land his hands on. His Mother encouraged Serge to study and from early childhood and he had a succession of private teachers and art studies he attended. After receiving a number of awards for his children’s watercolor and pastel paintings, Serge decided to become a professional painter.
In 1995 he finished the Ufa Art College and then continued education at one of the most prestigious art academies in the world, The Repin Academy of Fine Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. As one of the most talented graduates of the academy, Serge was offered to stay for post-graduate studies at the studio of the Academician, Rector of the Academy, Professor Milnikov.
Serge’s first solo exhibition was in the gallery “Sangat” of his native UFA in 1995, the year of his graduation from the college. The show was a success and Serge was invited to exhibit at the Artists’ Union gallery. Since that time Serge has exhibited on a semi-annual basis, showing his works to his collectors and piers in both St Petersburg and Ufa. Serge’s graduation work caught the eye of a Brownwood University faculty member as well as Hardin-Simmons University. Serge, during his post-graduate years, also exhibited in the prestigious art departments of those Universities.
More recently, Serge’s paintings have been sold through important art auctions, including famous Christie’s of London and Bonham's in Knightsbridge. His work is in much demand and his prices are constantly rising. Serge’s paintings are held in the Museum of Modern Art (El Paso), in The Grace Museum (Abilene), and in many important private collections in Russia, England, Denmark, France and Japan.
Serge’s biggest influences are Andrew Wyeth & Lucian Freud. From more contemporary times, he likes works of Jeremy Lipking. Serge is married and has a 7 year old daughter.
Russian artist Serge Marshennikov's delicate original female oil portraits capture the hearts of collectors all over the globe. Serge Marshennikov's sensuous oil paintings are available through Hallmark Fine Art Gallery La Jolla in San Diego, 858-551-8108.

Jia LU

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Dancing in the Light
Metrosource (Los Angeles: October 2006)

Tom Kieliszewski

Jia Lu's life story sounds like the sort of sweeping modern epic Hollywood goes gaga over. Beijing, China: 1954: In the wake of the communist revolution, Jia Lu, a young girl from a creative family, dreams of becoming an artist. She comes of age during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Around her, artists and intellectuals - her heroes and mentors - are vilified, murdered and driven out.
Her artistic ambitions stymied, Lu joins the Navy when she finishes school, working as an O.R. nurse. Then, unexpectedly, inspired by the sketches of one of her patients, she begins to draw again. At the same time, for political reasons, her Navy career stalls.
Lu accepts a job for a state oceanography journal. This reignites her artistic ambitions and opens the way for her to join the Central Academy of Art and Craft. Several serendipitous plot twists later and we find Lu in Canada studying painting. A stranger in a strange land, she struggles to reconcile East and West in her art.
Lu's great artistic step forward comes after her first visit to Europe in 1996. She embraces the Western tradition of light and shadow, mass and texture. "I was blown away by the incredibly sexy, monumental paintings of saints and goddesses," Lu recalls, "I didn't understand the Bible stories and the classical myths, but I completely understood the power of the nude figure."
Lu soon moves to California and begins to paint male and female nudes and semi-nudes, accompanied by Asian motifs. These early oil paintings juxtapose Eastern and Western figures and cultural objects, but soon Lu becomes more interested in fusing the carnal and the spiritual. The resulting paintings are hauntingly beautiful but never outwardly sexual or base.
"Sex is human nature, but the sexual power that flows through every animal or blade of grass is divine," Lu says. "It is the engine that drives life. The men and women in my paintings are aware of that power. Designers talk about good design, thrilling design, as 'sexy'. It describes a perfection that seems not to belong to this world."
For years Lu painted the female figure exclusively, but many of her most recent works are intimate, tightly cropped depictions of the male form. Lu's models are professional dancers, caught in motion. "I try to capture movement, light and shadow. Physical beauty is transient. It perishes in an instant. I think the job of an artist is to capture that movement."
Jia Lu exhibits her work throughout North America. Lately she has been turning heads in Provincetown, where she exhibits her work every summer. Lu is also designing a Las Vegas show entitled "Transcendance," a 100-minute live musical performance that combines Asian theater, dance, martial arts and acrobatics with state-of-the-art lighting and special effects.
Learn more about Jia Lu at www.jialu.com.

Francesco SESSA