Campus Guide

In its early years, the Teacher Seminary operated in rented premises in the area surrounding the present Cygnaeus Park. Uno Cygnaeus, the founder of the Teacher Seminary, had the vision of building a separate Seminary building complex after the German model in the rural setting of the Tourujoki valley. Ultimately, the project was realised closer to the centre, in what was known as the Harjupelto area, in the late 1870s. The buildings were designed by architect Constantin Kiseleff from the Board of Public Buildings.

Erected along the ridge landscape from 1879 to 1883, the relatively high brick buildings of the Seminary were a visual landmark. The buildings have influences of the Neo-Renaissance and German brick architecture that were popular styles in school construction at the time. The Seminary area and its park resembled a landscape garden and it came to serve as a model for further teacher seminary buildings in Finland. At the turn of the 1900s, Seminaarinmäki Campus was further expanded with the addition of the Ryhtilä gym building and the drawing and woodworking building Villa Rana. During wartime, the Seminary buildings served as equipment storehouses, temporary housing facilities for the armed forces, an office of the main headquarters, and the rehabilitation and convalescent wards of a military hospital.

The college building complex designed by architect Alvar Aalto was constructed in Seminaarinmäki and its adjacent field between 1954 and 1959. The campus designed by Aalto comprises a horseshoe-shaped area opening to the south-west, surrounded by red brick buildings that harmonise with the old Seminaarinmäki Campus buildings. The red brick structures in the area are complemented by the white plastered building of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences built in 1971. In the middle of this campus, there is a sports ground. It is surrounded by Aalto Park, whose design and flora represent the ideals of park planning at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s.

Alvar Aalto’s plan won the architectural competition organised in 1951 to develop facility solutions for the growing College of Education. Through his trips and teaching activities, Aalto had familiarised himself with American and English university campuses. His plan was based on an Anglo-American campus idea in which a building complex comprising different functions has been positioned around an open field. We can say that the Finnish term kampus was first used in Jyväskylä. 

The Aalto Campus also displays features of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance architecture. Themes recurring in the buildings include red brick and large, linearly arranged windows complemented by wooden details. The buildings are adapted to the landscape, and nature has been ‘brought indoors’ through the use of large windows and details that are in harmony with the environment.

In the 1970s, the old area of Seminaarinmäki Campus was complemented by four new buildings by architect Arto Sipinen. The University Library and the Administrative Building were completed in 1974 at the entrance to the campus area, on the side of the city centre. In 1976, among the old Teacher Seminary buildings, two new buildings were created for humanities departments: the Musica building for music and Athenaeum for literature, art studies, and speech sciences. 

With Sipinen’s designs, the University moved from the individual and sculptural expression of the buildings on the Aalto Campus to a constructivist building style. In constructivism, structural solutions were also demonstrated on building exteriors, an approach which is visible as grid systems on façades. The compact, boxlike form expresses the ideals of the 1970s and, in particular, those of architect Mies van der Rohe: systemic architecture, general validity, the anonymity of the designer, and adaptability. The building ideals were industrial, but manual labour has also been used in Sipinen’s buildings, with the façade bricks being laid by hand.

The positioning of Sipinen’s buildings in the overall milieu has been regarded as successful. They were situated on the same coordinates as the older building stock, and their dimensions merge with the older buildings: the roof levels do not rise above the Teacher Seminary buildings. The brick lining of the buildings and the blue details on the façades link them to the tradition of the area. The blue of the new buildings’ metal sheeting was chosen based on the ornamental friezes in the eaves of the Teacher Seminary buildings. However, the infill development led to fragmentation of the old Seminary Park area.

At the beginning of the 2000s, Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects designed the new Primary School of the Jyväskylä Teacher Training School as well as Opinkivi, the extension of the Student Union building, ensuring that the new structures fit in with the existing building stock.

Historica was originally built to serve as the main building of the Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary female section, in which most of the instruction for female students was arranged. The design of the building also included a day nursery on the first floor. The gym and assembly hall in the upstairs hosted the spring and Christmas parties of the female section as well as daily morning devotions.

The teacher training school (a primary school for girls) established for the Seminary’s supervised teaching practice, and later the training school of the College of Education, operated also partly in these premises. High up in the gable of the building, there is still a clock that was used during the time of the Teacher Seminary for calling pupils to class. After that, the building has served as teaching and working facilities and, for a long time now, has been known as the Department of History. Historica is the first of the area’s brick buildings from which the modern 1960s interior was dismantled during renovations in 1997 to 1998.

Educa was originally a residence hall for the Teacher Seminary’s female students. The building also housed a day nursery, the living quarters of the director of the Seminary’s female section and accommodation for teachers. It also had a separate sanatorium wing. Educa served as a residence hall until the 1950s when the college buildings by Alvar Aalto, including student residences, were completed. After that, the building has served as teaching facilities and workspace, and, for a long time, it was known as the Department of Education and Psychology. In the renovation of 2001, the aim was to revive the building’s look from the 1880s. The teaching and meeting premises have been named after the Teacher Seminary’s female teachers who lived and worked there.

The Oppio building was originally the official residence and office of the Teacher Seminary’s director, and it was placed in a central location in Seminaarinmäki Campus. The Seminary director was the highest-ranking government official in the region. This position was reflected in the residence itself and its grand interior, while the balcony provided a beautiful view of Lake Jyväsjärvi. Decorative wall paintings, which were partly restored in connection with a major renovation in 1998–1999, depict the building’s original purpose of use.

In the Seminary years, Oppio has hosted the office and library of the Seminary as well as accommodated male Seminary students. Since the time of the College of Education, the building has been used for teaching purposes and as working facilities of departments.

The Seminarium building is located on the highest point of Seminaarinmäki. It was constructed as the main building of the Teacher Seminary, hosting teaching premises for male students. The assembly hall and woodworking classroom were separated from the three-storey section containing classrooms. The assembly hall of Seminarium was the largest festival room in Jyväskylä until the Jyväskylä City Hall was completed in 1899. The Seminarium assembly hall can be regarded as the birthplace of the Finnish-language school and Christmas song tradition. Many of Finland’s all-time favourite songs – such as ‘Joulupukki, joulupukki’ (Father Christmas), composed and written by P. J. Hannikainen – have been performed there for the first time.

The University Museum has been situated in this building since 1961. The Soihtu Exhibition Centre of Jyväskylä University Museum was opened on the first floor of the building in 2013.

The restored assembly hall building

The restoration of the Seminarium building was carried out from 2007 to 2010. The building services equipment was renewed, horizontal structures were thoroughly repaired and the premises were altered to meet the users’ requirements. Research into the past of the cultural-historically significant building began in the early 2000s. The starting point for the repair and restoration work was to preserve the stylistic layers formed over the years and, based on the research findings, to restore the premises to the styles they had in the previous epochs.

The restoration turned the building into a sort of time machine spanning the University’s history. The first floor was restored to its original Neo-Renaissance style, excluding one room in the Art Nouveau style (room S110 housing the Tissari art collection). The second floor was also returned to its Neo-Renaissance look. The top floor retained the modern look it had received in the 1960s renovation. Each floor contains historical teaching tools and photos of student life in each epoch from the University Museum collections. The building showcases changes in learning environments as well as the practices of past Finnish building authorities and the University of Jyväskylä and its predecessors.

The aim has been to cherish the Neo-Renaissance look of the building’s outdoor architecture. The roof and the chimney were restored to their original appearance. The white plaster rosettes on the façades and details in the eaves were restored. The windows were renovated, and oak-graining was used to restore the outer doors’ original look.

Comprehensive colour studies were carried out for the interior. The marble-imitating wall panels as well as the corner decorations of classrooms were painted on the basis of these. The Neo-Renaissance graining, plant ornaments and other decorative motifs in the assembly hall were repainted based on the original models. At the top of the assembly hall wall, you can read the phrases Vaeltaja, sano Suomelle, että sen nuorison parasta tässä harrastetaan (literally meaning ‘Wanderer, tell Finland that we are doing this for the good of its young people’), Valoa kansallemme (‘Light for our people’) and Scientia est potentia (‘Knowledge is power’). The ceiling edge is decorated by references to sections from the Bible related to children and upbringing.

In the assembly hall, you can admire works from the University’s art collection, including portraits of the founder of the Seminary Uno Cygnaeus and other Seminary directors. The back wall features a painting by the renowned artist Maria Wiik, depicting Charlotta Lydecken, the director of the female section from 1867 to 1893.

Fennicum was built for the male section of the Teacher Seminary. It has hosted, for example, a residence hall for male students, natural sciences teaching premises, and the Seminary’s teacher training school (a primary school for boys). Natural science instruction at the Teacher Seminary lived on in the old name of the building: until the 1980s Fennicum was known as Kilistiikka, after science lecturer Ludvig ‘Kili’ Kiljander.

The extension built at the beginning of the 1900s was torn down in the 1950s during the construction of new buildings for the College of Education. For a long time, the building was under threat of demolition but avoided the modernisation of the 1960s and in 1976 it was partly restored. Indoors, the building looks almost as it did originally, and the building still has its original panel doors and heating stoves. The building has served as teaching and working facilities.

The gym building was constructed for the male students of the Teacher Seminary in 1895. Before its construction, the Seminarium assembly hall served as the gym for male students – even though it was not regarded as suitable for sports activities because of its dignified nature.

The building received an extension in 1908 based on the plans of A. W. Stenfors, an architect from the Vaasa provincial office of construction. The extension included a shower room with changing rooms and a teachers’ room. Ryhtilä has Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Gothic style features, and its extension shows Art Nouveau influences.

In the 1910s, the building was named Ryhtilä after the Seminary’s gymnastics lecturer Arvo ‘Ryhti’ (‘posture’ in Finnish) Vartia. Vartia was an important figure in the development of physical education teaching in Finland. The gym building was later used by sports clubs, associations and the Seminary White Guard. In addition, evening gatherings with popular round dances were organised here.

In the war years 1943–1944, Ryhtilä accommodated Ingrian refugees. After the sports halls designed by Alvar Aalto were completed in the 1950s, Ryhtilä continued to be used mainly by physical education until the building of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences was finished in 1971. As new buildings were built on the campus, Ryhtilä came under threat of demolition but the building was adopted for use by the Teacher Training School and, in the middle of the 1970s, it even served as a student restaurant.

In 1981, a major renovation was finished that aimed to restore the original look of the building. Since then, the building has again been used as a sports facility.

The Old Forge was designed as a workshop for metal crafts instruction in the male section of the Teacher Seminary. It was built simultaneously with the red brick buildings of the Teacher Seminary. It was located next to Seminarium, the main building of the male section. The forge was the outermost building of the male section area, with the female section starting on its other side. That is why it was also known ‘the border’ – female and male students were not allowed to go unsupervised to each other’s side.

The forge served as a metalwork instruction facility and workshop until 1905 when the new drawing and woodworking building, Villa Rana, was built. Thereafter, until the beginning of the 1990s, the forge was used by property maintenance staff. During the Continuation War from 1941 to 1944, it was converted into a shelter. The originally arched roof was reinforced with cast concrete and a new entrance room was made from bricks. The forge was refurbished as a sanctuary for the University of Jyväskylä staff and students in 1995. In 2023, the interior was renewed and the purpose of use extended to more free use by the university community. Spectrolite from Ylämaa in Southern Karelia has been used in the interior front wall of the sanctuary, and the floor is made of black granite from Viitasaari.

The wooden building standing next to Oppio, the residence of the Teacher Seminary director, first served as the baking and washing house of the director and simultaneously as the home of the director’s housekeeper. When the housekeeper’s position was terminated in 1900, the building was occupied by K. M. Ståhlberg, a gardener and gardening teacher at the Teacher Seminary. Since then the house has been known as the Gardener’s House: it has been the home of a total of seven gardeners and their families. Another room was added on in 1910–1911, creating an L-shaped floor plan. 

An extensive renovation was carried out in 1961 when the building became the home of Ensio Seies, who was in charge of finances at the College of Education. The Seies family were the last residents of the house, moving out in 1975. In 1995, the Gardener’s House was renovated to make visible the different periods of its history. At the time, the house was fitted up as a meeting and festivity facility. In the early 2020s, it was converted to office space. During the days of the Teacher Seminary, about ten wooden buildings were constructed in the campus area, but only two of them remain: the Gardener’s House and Ryhtilä.

The drawing and woodworking building of the Teacher Seminary was completed on the sunny southern hillside of the area around twenty years after the first Seminary buildings. It was designed in an Art Nouveau style by architect Yrjö Blomstedt, who worked at the Seminary as a lecturer in geography, drawing and woodworking. Unlike the former Seminary buildings, the façades of this building received a plastered surface and decorative ornamentation with National Romantic flourishes.

The drawing and woodworking building became a complete work of art. In addition to the exterior architecture, the interiors and furnishing were designed by Blomstedt. Blomstedt closely followed the latest ideas of art education of the time and was influenced by, among other things, the Arts & Crafts movement, a significant trend in applied arts of the early 1900s which had come from England.

The building crystallised the core idea of Yrjö Blomstedt’s philosophy of art education. The students needed to get familiar with nature, art and cultural heritage. The aim was to create a new kind of learning environment, in which there would be a model collection of visual arts and crafts, a reference library and an ethnological museum in the vicinity of the drawing classroom on the first floor. The collection of the museum was supplemented by students who collected objects from their home region. The woodworking classroom was located on the second floor. The building and the surrounding garden formed an excellent environment for teaching.

The drawing and woodworking classrooms later received the names Blomstedt and Paulaharju after Yrjö Blomstedt and his student Samuli Paulaharju, a significant collector of Finnish folklore. The current name of the building, Villa Rana, has its origins in the late 1960s and the frog-themed ornaments on the outer walls (rana is Latin for frog). The building faced the threat of demolition in the 1960s, but it was saved and renovated and thereafter served as teaching and research premises for ethnology and art history. Nowadays the building has a private owner and hosts the Villa Rana Cultural Centre. The University no longer has any activies in the building, but the beautiful slope garden next to the building is still in its use.

The barn is the oldest building in the centre of Jyväskylä. It has been part of either the Köyhälampi croft of the Mattila house or the Syrjälä farm of the Taavettila house. It was included for the first time in the town plan map of 1833, which was made for the establishment of the City of Jyväskylä (1837). However, the building is estimated to be older than this. Other old buildings in the area were demolished while building the Teacher Seminary.

In 1910, the Taavettila Barn was turned into museum. The alteration was led by lecturer and architect Yrjö Blomstedt, and the barn started to be called the Cygnaeus cabin in honour of the centenary of Uno Cygnaeus’ birth. The building was converted to the style of an Ostrobothnian farmhouse and decorated with relevant items, such as a longcase clock built by the Könni masters and a canopy bed. Taavettila is a reminder of the history of Jyväskylä and local agriculture. Today, it serves as an atmospheric venue for special events.

The Parviainen House was designed by an ex-student of Jyväskylä Lyceum, architect Wäinö Gustaf Palmqvist, who had designed industrial buildings in different parts of Finland. The building was named after Hanna Parviainen (1874–1938), who lived in the house from 1919 to 1935. She was the daughter of Johan Parviainen, the founder of the Säynätsalo plywood mill. Since then, the owners and users of this so-called urban palace have changed many times. At the beginning of the 2000s, the University’s Research Center for Contemporary Culture was housed there. The building is now privately owned.

The building complex of Pitkäkatu 1 is formed by three buildings located between the University and the Hippos area. Between 1903 and 1996, the buildings hosted a poorhouse and municipal care home as well as the Harju hospital and old people’s home. The buildings were used by the University of Jyväskylä from 1994 to 2014. They were occupied by, among others, the Departments of Teacher Education, Special Education, and Communication; and by University Communications and the Finnish Student Health Service.

The ‘middle house’ Pitkäkatu 1 B was originally designed as the main building of the poorhouse. The ‘back house’ Pitkäkatu 1 C housed the mental ward of the poorhouse. Pitkäkatu 1 B and 1 C (1902–1903) – designed by architect Hjalmar Åberg, Seminary lecturer and architect Yrjö Blomstedt and Inspector of Poor Relief and engineer G.A. Helsingius – represent early 1900s log building. The frontispieces added to the ‘back house’ in 1917 were designed by Seminary lecturer, architect Toivo Salervo. The plastered stone extension of the house was designed by Olavi Kivimaa in the 1950s.

Pitkäkatu 1 A was built in 1929 as the hospital ward of the municipal care home. The building represents plain 1920s classicism and was designed by architect Kerttu Tamminen, who had studied in Seminaarinmäki.

The yards of the properties are characterised by old, magnificent trees. The area has many conifers that are over a hundred years old. The big Douglas firs are also home to the Siberian flying squirrel, a protected species nesting in Seminaarinmäki Campus. The area represents the building construction of its time, in which the surrounding nature was seen as an important factor that promoted healing. The wide meadow behind the properties is stunning when the cranesbills bloom in midsummer. The yard also features a bear statue (1961) of grey granite by Kalle Keskinen.

The school building, a representative of 1920s classicism, was designed by architects Toivo Salervo and Hjalmar Åberg and built close to Seminaarinmäki Campus along the slope of the Harju ridge. Toivo Salervo worked as a drawing lecturer at the Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary in the 1910s.

As the school’s functions and number of pupils have changed, the building has been extended and modified. Today it is an impressive combination of historical layers, with architectural features from the 1920s, 1950s and 1980s in its façade and interiors.

The most impressive building on the Aalto Campus is the University of Jyväskylä Main Building. It is also the first of Aalto’s buildings that a visitor encounters when arriving on the campus from the city centre. The building’s elevated location highlights its central role at the University. It has been divided into two sections according to its different uses: a public part with an assembly hall and cafe, and an administrative wing intended for administration and instruction. Architecturally, the most important spaces are the entrance hall (lobby), the assembly hall (auditorium), and the passage hall. The main entrance leads directly to the lobby of the assembly hall, and to the stairs that lead to the assembly hall located somewhat higher.

Upon opening, the large assembly hall immediately became a popular venue for festivities. At the time, it was the only large concert hall in Jyväskylä, so it was frequently rented for external events. It can also be divided into two sections for lectures and examinations. The café is located at a slightly lower level than the rest of the space, which together with its enormous windows creates a sense that the café is directly connected to the forest surrounding the Main Building. The café’s original name is Belvedere, which means a structure with a pleasant view.

The free-form, fan-shaped assembly hall is connected to a rectangular administrative section. The passage hall, which is as high as the entire building, was originally intended to be the only passage between Aalto Park and the forecourt of the Main Building, that is, the present Alvari Square. The footpath next to the building was later added for practical reasons. A staircase leads from the passage hall to the administrative wing and the lecture halls on the second and third floors, in which, in a way typical of Aalto, the design has been thoroughly considered to the smallest detail. The fourth floor provides atelier-like premises for visual arts instruction, with light refracting through windows placed high up on the wall.

THE MAIN BUILDING - CAREFUL HOLISTIC DESIGN

Typical of Alvar Aalto’s architecture was a holistic approach to building design, whereby lighting, materials and other details are carefully thought out. A harmonious brick surface and large windows alternate in his outdoor architecture. Indoor materials include red brick, wood and marble.

The interior colour scheme is simple and clear. The lobby and café are dominated by white surfaces: the ceiling consists of painted wood strips, pillars with baton-shaped glazed tiles and the marble floor. The hardwood details, such as the vertical mahogany bars in the staircases leading to the assembly hall and the teak edging of the coat-check desks, add a warm and finished look to the cool colour scheme of the lobby. The dominant colours in the assembly hall and the spacious passage hall are white and brick red, and the hall benches are ink blue. The main staircase leads to the middle of the assembly hall, in order to highlight the academic processions entering the hall.

Carefully designed interior

Natural light, which plays a central role in Alvar Aalto’s architecture, enters both the assembly hall and passage hall through roof windows, creating an impression of outdoor space in the latter. The lighting design is supplemented with custom fixtures. The lights designed for the Main Building include the pendant lights hung at different heights in the assembly hall and the lighting on the brick wall and ceiling of the passage hall. Some of the light fittings are variations of the basic models by Artek, such as the matt, bluish black pendant lights in the cafe, resembling the Golden Bell by Aalto (1937).

Most of the original furniture in the Main Building was designed at Aalto’s office or by Artek, the company founded by Aino and Alvar Aalto. The colours and textiles for interior movables were designed by textile artist Kirsti Ilvessalo. The wooden parts of the furniture were made of birch and, in more prestigious facilities, hardwood, such as oak and elm. The metal decorations were made of brass and bronze. The furniture was upholstered with leather, synthetic leather and woollen fabrics designed by Ilvessalo.

The back wall of the passage hall holds Kain Tapper’s bronze relief Horisontti (‘Horizon’, 1967), which was a present from the City of Jyväskylä to the Jyväskylä College of Education on the inauguration of Alvar Aalto’s University buildings on 30 May 1959.

An L-formed library wing, partly below ground level, is located in connection with the Main Building. The library was not part of Alvar Aalto’s 1950 overall design, but in the final building plan it was added to the Main Building. The additional wing at the end of the Fennicum building was torn down to make room for the library, and the buildings are located very close to each other. Aalto had planned that the library would some day expand and take the place of Fennicum, but this never happened because there was a desire to preserve the older building.

The library is a version of what Aalto developed in his design for the library in Vyborg, in which the basic level is located lower and natural light arrives from above. Aalto situated the reading room, as a recess of its own, lower than the rest of the library. This made the reading room a peaceful space, which was also easy to supervise. The space below the ground level receives indirect, uniform natural light through roof windows – a theme that Aalto was to use in several of his library projects. The final realisation of the Aalto Library did not fully correspond to the architect’s original plans because it had to be altered to comply with the requirements of a college library.

The most recognisable feature in the library wing façade is the loggia supported by a white colonnade. This loggia forms a continuum with the Main Building, and the grassy turf roof on the loggia creates a connection to the surrounding nature. The façade of the library towards Alvari Square is a nearly windowless brick wall. The simple and modest outdoor architecture of the library wing highlights the value of the Main Building. In the renovation of the Main Building and the Aalto Library from 2015 to 2017, the back walls in the upper part of the reading room were opened up to better correspond to Aalto’s original ideas.

Teacher students completed their teaching practice in the teacher training school, which was built next to the Main Building. The building was used as a school until 2002.

The building makes a broad U form, and a schoolyard used during breaks remains in the middle, opening towards the sports ground. The large classroom windows offer a bright, pleasant view of the sports ground and the Mattilanpelto neighbourhood. The Teacher Training School differed from other school buildings of its time because it was intended for teacher education purposes. The principal’s office is visible in the façade as an extension supported by columns, and it had its own entrance from a slightly elevated plateau between the Teacher Training School and the Main Building. The office provided the principal with the opportunity to observe what was going on during breaks.

The building was considered progressive because it was organized into clusters of classrooms: each floor had sets of three classrooms, eliminating the long, noisy corridors that are typical of school buildings. There were also recesses in the side walls from which teacher trainees could observe instruction. Every group of classrooms also had its own stair hall and pupil’s clubroom. The classroom groups also had rooms for teachers and teacher trainees, materials rooms, and feedback rooms for assessing supervised teaching practices.

A red brick indoor corridor leads from the Main Building to the Teacher Training School, used by teacher trainees on the way to deliver classes and observe instruction. The exciting journey along the corridor to the supervised classes may have felt endless, so the students took to calling the corridor the Via Dolorosa.

The Philologica building originally housed the student residence hall Naatti of the College of Education. The three floors of the building provided a total of 80 double rooms for female students at one end and for male students at the other. The interiors of the 16-square-metre rooms were carefully designed. For the female section, furniture was ordered from Artek, for men it came from Helno. The aesthetically higher quality of Artek was mentioned as the reason for this choice; Artek was seen as suitable for women’s rooms despite its higher price.

The rules and regulations for students in the building were strict. In the first years, the supervisor living in the same building made unexpected inspection visits to students’ rooms and ensured that students stayed on their own side of the building. Even married couples had to ask for permission to visit each other. Visits by relatives were expected to take place in the social premises of the hall. Living in Naatti, the residents had a feeling of togetherness – the student community felt almost like a family. The residential use of Naatti ended in the 1970s when the first student buildings were built in the Kortepohja student village. After that, the rooms were changed to office and teaching facilities by changing the places of partition walls. Since then, the building has been home to, for example, various language departments.

The student restaurant Lozzi inherited its name from the student union cafeteria-restaurant that had started operation in 1937. The original Lozzi, named after the educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, had operated in the old canteen building of the Teacher Seminary’s female section. Lozzi was the first and only state-supported student restaurant before the founding of a student restaurant at the University of Helsinki in 1956. In addition to the restaurant, Lozzi provided facilities for the Student Union before Ilokivi was built.

The students of the Jyväskylä College of Education were supposed to have their meals mainly at Lozzi, so the adjacent residence hall had only a small shared kitchen for making coffee, for example. On Saturdays, students used to gather at Lozzi for meals and to listen to a popular music request programme on the radio. Festivities such as Christmas parties, May Day celebrations and dances were often organised at Lozzi; particularly impressive were the anniversary dances of the student associations. The festivities were organised in both the large restaurant hall and the two club rooms next to it. The restaurant hall was first regarded as too large, but demand soon exceeded supply, and the restaurant became overcrowded.

Lozzi is located in the same building chain with Lyhty and Philologica. Visitors enter the bright second-floor restaurant through a dimly lit entrance hall and a red brick staircase. Natural light enters the restaurant from its top windows and the window wall towards the terrace. The pinewood ceiling structures of the restaurant hall are among the most impressive details of the interior. Together with the brick walls they create a homely atmosphere.

Teachers received a restaurant building of their own next to Lozzi. Lyhty (Finnish for ‘lantern’), located on the Ceremony Square side of the Main Building, can be recognised by its resemblance to a Greek temple. In the dark, light shines, as if from a lantern, through the wide window surfaces divided by granite pillars. The exterior of the building has been accentuated by low terrace walls.

The lobby of Lyhty is dominated by red brick, and lighting is identical to Lozzi: after a dimly lit entrance hall, you enter a light and airy lunchroom. Several “Beehive” and “Golden Bell” pendant lights, designed by Alvar Aalto, hang from the ceiling of the dining hall. Lyhty was not used much in its original purpose as a teachers’ restaurant, and it became a distinguished venue for conferences and ceremonies.

The G building was a residential building for the staff of the Jyväskylä College of Education, built at the northern corner of the Seminaarinmäki Campus, in a peaceful setting on the edge of the lively campus. The modest-looking two-floor block of flats was designed carefully using high-quality materials. The rectangular building first consisted of eight flats, with three two-room flats and five studios, intended for the maintenance and cleaning staff of the college. The flats were equipped with modern facilities: a kitchen or a kitchenette and an indoor toilet. A sauna, washing and laundry facilities as well as storerooms were located in the basement.

The building has later been adapted and the flats have been combined into larger units. In the 1970s, the flats were converted into the University’s guest flats and in the renovation of 2006 they were converted into office spaces. The renovation, however, was preservative and restorative. For example, the materials and room division remained as close to original as possible.

The technical crafts facilities of the Department of Teacher Education were located in the E building, which was constructed behind the X building (the former Teacher Training School). The building was designed by the architecture office Alvar Aalto & Co, the firm which, after Aalto’s death in 1976, carried on under the leadership of Alvar’s wife, Elissa Aalto.

The heating station (from 1953) of the College of Education stood previously on the location of present the E building. The heating station differed from other campus buildings with its high chimney. Heat was transferred from the heating station through a pipe tunnel to the buildings in the area, which had previously been heated with wood-burning stoves. With the advent of district heating in the late 1960s, the heating station was no longer needed, and it was torn down in 1988.

The Teacher Training School was accompanied by its own gymnasium building (U1). Another sports hall (U2) was finished a couple of years later to be used as a gymnasium by the College of Education. A swimming hall was placed between these two buildings.

The two sports halls have identical space design. The hall built for the College differs from the one for the Teacher Training School because of its white concrete loggia. The gym building of the Teacher Training School with its stage and audience balcony also served the school as an assembly hall. The red brick of the exterior walls recurs in the indoor floor materials. In addition, wooden details and white painted surfaces have been used indoors. Functionally, the sports halls are simple and clear: dressing and shower rooms are located on the entrance floor, and the sports hall, which can be divided into two parts, is situated on the second floor. Natural light enters the halls through the windows that have been arranged linearly at the top and centre of the walls.

There had been plans to build a swimming hall in Jyväskylä already in the 1930s, but the building project became possible only in the 1950s when the College of Education was extended. Swimming was regarded as a skill that everyone should have, and graduated primary school teachers often arranged swimming schools for children in the summer. That is why it was also necessary to enhance the swimming skills of teacher students.

The swimming hall was part of the design competition proposal by Aalto, but it was built as a separate project. The Student Union ended up being the property developer and owner, and it cooperated closely with the College of Education and the City of Jyväskylä.

However, the brand-new swimming hall soon turned out to be too small to serve all the residents of Jyväskylä. The plans to extend the hall began at the end of the 1950s. At the same time, the Parliament was discussing a proposal to launch PE teacher education in Jyväskylä. More functions were needed in the swimming hall: a 50-metre pool, a gym, special pools, diving towers, and a trampoline room. The extension was finished in 1964. The original brick façades acquired a white surface, which made the building stand out between the red brick sports halls. The swimming hall has been further extended several times and its spa section was completed in 1991. Today the city-owned water sports centre is called AaltoAlvari.

Towards the end of the 1950s, the Student Union of the Jyväskylä College of Education began to strive for premises of its own. An extensive fundraising effort, including several campaigns, was organised, and the Student Union managed to collect approximately 10 million marks for the building project. The fundraising, under the auspices of President Urho Kekkonen, was justified particularly due to the growing demand for student accommodation. At the end – after several design phases – only the building presently known as Ilokivi was built, even though it was originally meant to be just a student association wing. In addition to different student associations, the Student Union with its various functions moved into the building.

The name Ilokivi (Finnish for ‘joy stone’) first referred only to the popular student cafeteria on the second (later first) floor of the building. The name came from an ice-age boulder in the adjacent forest. In the spring, students from the Teacher Seminary had a tradition to gather at the boulder and sing.

Of all the Aalto Campus buildings, the interior of Ilokivi has been changed the most: each generation of students has wanted to adapt the building to reflect its own time. During construction, the basement received the first bowling alley in Jyväskylä, but it was removed in the early 1990s renovation to make way for a multi-use cultural space, which came to be known as the ‘black box’. The first floor serves as a cinema, an auditorium and a venue for bands, and it also has a bar licensed to serve alcohol. An extensive, partly restorative renovation was carried out in the building from 2015 to 2016. In addition to a restaurant, Ilokivi continues to be the principal meeting place of the Student Union.

Sport science education began at the College of Education in 1963, and the University’s Faculty of Sport Sciences was founded in 1968. Consequently, the new faculty also received a building of its own at the turn of the decade. The faculty, currently called the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, continues to be the only faculty of sport sciences in Finland.

The L building, which is the furthermost building of the Seminaarinmäki Campus on its Keskussairaalantie side, is the last building created by Alvar Aalto’s architecture office for Seminaarinmäki during Aalto’s lifetime. Like the swimming hall, the white plaster of its exterior makes it stand out from the red brick buildings previously created by Aalto. Other special features of the façade are dark-framed, linear windows and the loggia supported by columns.

The facilities in the complex building are divided into different entities. The main staircase that begins from the spacious entrance hall leads to the café and the lecture halls and administrative facilities on the second and third floor. The lobby space contains various features typical of Aalto’s architecture, such as the columns and walls partly covered by baton-shaped, glazed tiles, the wooden staircase handrails and the coat rack ends made of oak strips. The sports halls, laboratory facilities and changing rooms were also placed on the first floor.

For physical activity, the building of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences is centrally located: in addition to the campus sports ground, it provides easy access to the swimming hall, sports halls, and Hippos Sports Park.

The University Main Library is the largest of the four buildings designed by Sipinen in Seminaarinmäki Campus. The design work was challenging due to the various special facilities and the extensive storage space needed in a library. The need for space was met by building two underground storage floors. Even though efficient use of space was a goal in the architecture of the 1970s, the University Library features a high and open central hall. The hall is covered by large skylights supported by a steel framework.

When grouping the facilities of the Library, the aim was to avoid the traditional division in library architecture in which reading rooms, staff premises and book storage are located apart from each other. The facilities were instead grouped as information spaces, reading spaces, open stacks, staff working spaces, and closed stacks. The aim was to get the users close to the books, and they were encouraged to search independently for information by locating the open stacks in connection with the reading rooms. Upon its completion, the library was the largest scientific library in the Nordic countries when measured by the number of reading room seats.

The refurbishment completed in 2021 was planned by Ari Sipinen, son of Arto Sipinen. The building’s facilities were adapted to meet the modern needs of the University, but the original colour scheme and the distinctive atmosphere of the entrance hall and the bright windows have been retained. The refurbishment, which respected the original architectural and interior design solutions, resulted in a bright, accessible and dynamic learning environment that supports the community spirit of its users. The refurbishment was awarded the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2022.

The Administrative Building (T, Tesaurus) was constructed at the same time as the Library. It originally contained the most central administrative functions of the University. The rector’s office was located on the fourth floor. The same floor housed a large meeting room in which, for example, the University Collegium met. Despite the administratively strategic use, the appearance of the building is no different from Sipinen’s other buildings in the area. The T building originally also included various premises used by students and staff, such as the registry office and student affairs office.

An underground gallery led from the basement to the Library, as it was thought at the time that the Library might expand into the neighbouring building in the future. However, this never happened. In the renovation of 2013, the outdoor staircase between the buildings was moved forwards and a passage was added on the ground level as well.

The Faculty of Humanities received the first buildings designed specifically for it – Athenaeum and Musica – two years after the University Library and the T building were erected. The arts building, Athenaeum, provided facilities for art studies, literature and speech sciences (nowadays known as speech communication).

Various special premises were designed for instruction in the building. For the purposes of art studies, high-ceilinged atelier spaces with large windows were built because instruction included methods courses in order to familiarise students with the techniques used by artists. The special needs of speech communication were taken into account by building a recording studio and an editing room in the basement.

The building was renovated in two phases: the basement in 2011 to 2012 and the rest of the building in 2017 to 2018. In the renovation, the facilities were converted into office space for staff, excluding the recording studio in the basement.

Musicology, music education and music therapy found a home under the same roof in the Musica building. The location at the edge of the Seminaarinmäki Campus was seen as favourable in that it would attract the public to attend, for example, concerts at the University. In designing the first-floor music lecture hall, the acoustic requirements for a chamber music hall were also considered. The sound reproduction equipment in the hall represented the latest technology at the time.

The Musica building provided various special facilities, such as a music therapy observation room, studio facilities, and music rehearsal facilities. Soundproofing was taken into account when building the rehearsal facilities to eliminate noise disturbance in the other premises. A music library was built on the third floor.

The first floor of Musica housed a popular café and restaurant until 2014, when it was converted into a multifunctional living room for students. 

In 2002 a new school building for the University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training School (Normaalikoulu) was finished on Pitkäkatu on a site beside the old Teacher Training School. The three-floor building connected to the Aalto Campus was implemented according to the plan by the design competition winner Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects. At first, locating the new school building in Seminaarinmäki Campus was by no means self-evident. However, proper planning enabled the building to be situated in the area so that children remained part of campus life.

In the new primary school, activities have been divided into units based on year levels. The centre of the building contains a library with glass walls, a natural science space and a canteen. The school serves as a training school for students in class teacher and subject teacher programmes at the University of Jyväskylä.

The extension of the Student Union’s building Ilokivi was part of Alvar Aalto’s original plan. However, this building project was repeatedly postponed. At the end of the 1980s, the extension plans were resumed in the hope of finally getting new premises as well as rental income. The project started at the beginning of the 2000s with an architectural competition, but the additional building was not completed until 2003 because of challenges in finances and land use planning.

The extension of Ilokivi ended up being larger than Aalto had planned because the entire building area of the challenging hillside plot could finally be used. The red brick walls integrate the building into the whole of the Seminaarinmäki Campus, but the large glass surfaces of the façades give it a look of the 2000s. Along with describing the use of the building, the name Opinkivi – ‘Learning stone’ – refers to the adjacent Ilokivi. The building included a long-awaited sauna, which students and student associations rent for meetings and parties. Most of the building’s premises were rented for the use of the University of Jyväskylä.

Älylä and Seminaarinrinne were built mainly in the 1910s and 1920s. The plots in these neighbourhoods were large and the gardens impressive. Typical of the era, the buildings were influenced by Art Nouveau,Classicism, and revival styles. The hillside terrain inspired architects to create unique solutions.

These areas became famous for their highly educated residents. The name Älylä (äly is Finnish for ‘intelligence’) referred to the people in the area. Seminaarinrinne became known as the ‘teacher colony’ because several lecturers and professors of the Teacher Seminary and College of Education built their homes there. Älylä became a close-knit social community, whose members engaged in a wide variety of cultural activities, organising parties and events.

Plots were also sold to other people in influential positions, such as officeholders, artists and architects, commemorated in in the street names of the area. Many renowned architects designed buildings for Älylä and Seminaarinrinne. Of these, Wivi Lönn, Alvar Aalto and Toivo Salervo have also lived in the area. Further designers of the villas in Älylä include Lars Sonck, W. G. Palmqvist and Kerttu Tamminen. The Seminaarinrinne buildings were designed by, for example, Yrjö Blomstedt, master builder M. F. Forselius, and Juho Jussila, who was a toy manufacturer and a teacher at the Teacher Training School.

Most of the Älylä area is presently protected in the city plan and as a nationally valuable built cultural environment. The area’s museum buildings, also designed by Alvar Aalto, are currently known as the Aalto2 Museum Centre.

In summer 2015, a new building was completed for the University of Jyväskylä in the vicinity of the Seminaarinmäki Campus, in the area called Ruusupuisto. The new building, named after the area, is designed for teaching and research facilities in the field of education.

The construction site, located in front of Alvar Aalto’s museum buildings, was architecturally challenging. Aalto’s architecture was taken into account especially in the building’s exterior architecture, so that the size and colour of the building would fit in with the cultural environment of the area. The spacious central hall provides an impressive entrance, auditorium and connection to the upper floors via an oak staircase.

The history of the area can be seen and lives on in the names of the Ruusupuisto building and its teaching facilities. From the late 19th century, Ruusupuisto served as a garden for useful plants and got its name from roses planted there in 1903. The house of the Kilpikoski family was located on the same site in the 1900s, and there also used to be a ski factory close to the house. The lecture halls in the Ruusupuisto building have been named after people who are part of the history of the University’s teacher education, and also after members of the Kilpikoski family.

The cultural life of Jyväskylä, and music in particular, was enlivened by the Teacher Seminary. The first park in the area of the present Lounaispuisto was established at the beginning of the 1860s. The first singing stage in Lounaispuisto was built in 1887 for the music festivals of the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation. The open-air stage can be regarded as the first cultural building in Jyväskylä. The most impressive of the singing stages was the one designed by lecturer and architect Yrjö Blomstedt for the 1899 festival. It was not torn down until the present stage, by Olavi Kivimaa, was built in 1955. The musical tradition of the park continues today in the park concerts held every summer. The park also features statues of composer and poet Martti Korpilahti and Jyväskylä Teacher Seminary music lecturers P. J. Hannikainen and E. A. Hagfors.

The aim was for the growing university to become a natural and integral part of the city and society. Equality, democracy and social wellbeing were important values in Sipinen’s plan. Education, research and free time meet here: Mattilanniemi is not intended only for the University community, as the buildings, the surrounding grounds and the lakeshore bring the University and the rest of the city together. Hotel Alba, also designed by Arto Sipinen, was built in the area at the same time as the University buildings. A bike and pedestrian route was built between the Mattilanniemi and Seminaarinmäki campuses, and it was later continued by building a bridge over the lake to the third campus area, Ylistönrinne.

The Mattilanniemi buildings integrate the functional and flexible solutions typical of Arto Sipinen’s architecture and of the era. The buildings erected on the University of Jyväskylä campuses in different eras, responding to changing needs, reflect the development of Sipinen’s architecture and display the architect’s entire design cycle. Sipinen’s identifiable style is visible in the area in both the 1980s red brick buildings and later white buildings. Each phase of construction increases the amount of white colour in the façades. At the beginning of the 2000s, the compact and low building complex of Mattilanniemi, connected with corridors, grew through the addition of a clearly larger University building, Agora.

Two parallel, nearly identical departmental buildings were constructed in the first phase of the Mattilanniemi Campus project. The three-floor buildings were completed for the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1980. With their rectangular and anonymous façades, the buildings represent flexibility, versatility, practicality and efficiency, typical of their time of construction. The oil crisis of the 1970s and the tighter financial situation resulting from the recession also affected the final design of the buildings: for example, the size of windows was reduced and some details were left out.

In these buildings, the different functions are laid out around a double corridor. Offices were mainly located on the side of the outer wall. The C building provided special facilities designed for the Department of Psychology and the B building has a two-storey-high lecture hall. The interiors feature a clear room layout, light walls and brick-red floors. The light interior with reddish and dark brown details was designed by interior designer Ritva-Liisa Yrjölä.

The second phase of construction added two more buildings to the Mattilanniemi Campus and with them the area began to form a whole. The MaA building hosted a canteen and a library, whereas the MaD building provided facilities for IT services and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The pedestrian route passing under the glass and steel corridor that connects the two buildings serves as the main route for pedestrians and cyclists between the three campuses.

In the 1980s, the form language of the buildings became more diversified and open than in the first phase. The overall impression of the buildings were enlivened with recesses and varying building heights. There is more window surface area and the lobby and common facilities were highlighted with large glass surfaces. The grouping of the windows varies and the window frames are white.

Both of the buildings have functions typical for Sipinen’s style and an entrance hall that gathers people. In particular, the entrance hall of MaA is a central meeting place, emphasised by high walls of windows and high ceilings. A view to the lake opens up from the canteen windows. The interior is dominated by red brick and white steel-framed windows.

The MaE building was erected originally for the School of Business and Economics in the third phase of the Mattilanniemi building project. Its positioning and low design continues the clear grouping of the original building plan.

White has become the dominant colour of the façade, which is a concrete expression of the change from red to white in Sipinen’s style. Some red bricks are still visible under the rows of windows. Variations in architectural masses make both the façade and the floor plan versatile. In contrast to the first two phases, the high staircase is set back and is part of the main entrance.

Agora was built to serve as a centre for multidisciplinary research and human technology, a place where high-level research could provide innovations for the needs of society and economic life. At the same time, the University and the business world increased their cooperation. Agora became the home of the Agora Center research unit, the Faculty of Information Technology, the Information Technology Research Institute, and various enterprises.

Agora is the last building designed by Arto Sipinen in Mattilanniemi. It is very different in size and shape from the red brick buildings on this campus. The large glass surfaces, columns and white colour in the façade of Agora, as well as the material choices and solemnity of the interior, make the building look powerful and dominant. In connection with the entrance, there is a three-storey glass wall and white columns. On the side of the lake, the arched glass wall of the restaurant stands out against the tall white mass of the building.

Efficiency and adaptability are also highlighted in Agora. The building has large lecture halls, seminar and meeting facilities and offices. The spacious entrance hall serves as a meeting point, a kind of a pedestrian street brought indoors. The wall and floor are covered with dark Amadeus granite from Sulkava, giving the entrance hall an impressive air as well as a contrast with the white overall look. In the interior colour scheme, white, silver and black alternate and are combined with warm wooden structures and details.

With Ylistönrinne, Sipinen continued his user-oriented and multipurpose design approach. The buildings were designed considering the special needs of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science and constructed in several phases. The construction was concentrated on the hillside in order to preserve the herb-rich forest vegetation on the lake shore. The steep slope by Lake Jyväsjärvi was in a natural state and posed challenges for the building project. To reduce the differences in elevation and to compensate for the compact building, piazzas and patios have been placed between the buildings. The buildings are situated on progressive levels on the hillside, and the main entrances face open piazzas. Hillside construction, large glass surfaces and skylights invite light indoors and create impressive views over the lake toward the city and the other campuses.

Sipinen chose to cover the walls on this campus with white, brushed quartz sand brick. As a result, the Ylistönrinne campus is a totally white building complex that impressively stands out from the surrounding forest. Sipinen’s design is said to have been inspired by the flat-roofed, whitewashed building style of Greek villages. Sipinen was granted an architectural prize by the City of Jyväskylä in 2004 for the dynamic and sustainable form language and elegant simplicity of the Ylistönrinne buildings.

The Ylistö pedestrian bridge is a continuation of the University’s main pedestrian route, which leads from Seminaarinmäki via Mattilanniemi to Ylistönrinne, where it also proceeds on stairs through the Ylistönrinne campus. The bridge, designed by Kortes AEK Oy, is 208 metres long, and its pylons are 26 metres high. The pedestrian and cyclist route (Rantaraitti) around all of Lake Jyväsjärvi runs along the bottom of the hillside.