Design
The aim is to strengthen design expertise and harness it more effectively.
To support national design organisations, the Ministry of Education and Culture awards discretionary government grants for activities that are important in terms of cultural policy. The largest recipients are the Ornamo Art and Design Finland and Grafia Association of Visual Communication Designers in Finland. Central government transfers and discretionary government grants awarded to design museums also help fund Finnish design (Finnish Heritage Agency).
The National Council for Architecture and Design acts as the expert body for design.
Architecture
The objective of architectural policy is to help create and preserve a good built environment and to promote a culture of high-quality architecture and construction. Both public and private construction aim to reserve some of their building costs funds to cover art procurement in line with the Percent for Art principle.
The Ministry of Education and Culture supports national architectural organisations by granting discretionary government grants for activities that are important in terms of cultural policy. Central government transfers and discretionary government grants are awarded to architectural museums (Finnish Heritage Agency) to subsidise architecture.
Archinfo is an organisation that brings together the field of architecture. It produces, disseminates and compiles information on architecture. It serves as an expert in architectural policy and architectural education and promotes international awareness of the values and expertise of Finnish architecture.
The National Council for Architecture and Design acts as the expert body for architecture.
Finnish architectural policy programme Apoli
The publication titled ‘Towards Sustainable Architecture: Finland’s Architectural Policy Programme 2022–2035’ was published in January 2022. The aim of the programme is to strengthen cooperation between stakeholders that influence our built environment. The ecological, social, economic and cultural sustainability of the built environment is at the heart of the new architectural policy programme.
A coordination group has been appointed to support the implementation of the programme. The group consists of the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the Finnish Heritage Agency, and Archinfo.
The Architectural Policy Programme is the second of its kind. Finland’s first architectural policy programme was published in 1998.
The programme ties in with international initiatives and activities in architecture, such as the New European Bauhaus initiative and the Davos Declaration. Archinfo is the New European Bauhaus contact point in Finland.
Architecture competitions
The Ministry of Education and Culture represents the state in major architecture competitions. Construction projects related to national culture that have been implemented through architectural competitions include Helsinki Music Centre and Helsinki Central Library Oodi.
