Marina Yurieva

In 2021 I did a graduation project for the interior of the rarest wooden buildings in Sortavala – Town Hall (Sortavalan Raatihuone). It was designed by Frans Anatolius Sjöström and constructed in 1885. The building was in bad condition therefore two funds: Vnimanie and the Kronid Gogolev Foundation organized a fundraiser to repair the roof in order to preserve the building for the further restoration and later creation of the Museum of History and Architecture there. I suggested to the current owners of the building my view on a project of the museum interior.

I did a huge research through the archives and decided to highlight work of the great architects like Eliel Saarinen, Wivi Lönn, Uno Ulberg, Herman Gesellius, Jac Ahrenberg, who created beautiful buildings in my home town. My point was to encourage society to preserve the heritage instead of ruin it.

The project was made to draw attention to the crumbling monument of wooden architecture and to highlight the works of talented architects and significant people of the city. The building has retained its original layout and many beautiful wooden details. Fragments of the original wall paint were found in two rooms, I used them as a palette.

While I was working on this project I used materials from the archives of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, National Archives of Finland and the Kronid Gogolev Foundation.

Lobby. View of the entrance to the main hall.
Lobby. Architect Eliel Saarinen with family. View of the entrance to the cloakroom, museum shop and the right wing hall.
Cloakroom and museum shop. Eero Saarinen’s Womb chair, where you can sit down and read the local almanac Serdobol or buy books about design and architecture, which are on the bookstand I designed for this room.
Cloakroom and museum shop. Eliel Saarinen’s son Eero.
Right wing hall. Preserved parts of the original wall painting. The exposition here is dedicated to the wooden architecture of Sortavala. Most of these buildings were designed by the town-planners Leanders.
Right wing hall. Sketches of the Leander’s house by Eliel Saarinen.
Museum archive. Old map of the Sortavala.
Museum archive. Portrait of the architect Frans Anatolius Sjöström and the map of the Sortavala.
In the left wing of the building there are Kronid Gogolev Foundation and the storage of the museum. Preserved part of original wall painting.
On the wall is the logo of the Kronid Gogolev Foundation – bird, the fragment of one of the masters work.
Doctor Gustav Winter is sitting at the table. The first district hospital was built in the city on his initiative. In 1909 Eliel Saarinen designed a country house for Dr. Winter.
Main hall. Permanent exposition.
Main hall. Drawing of the Town Hall by Frans Anatolius Sjöström.
Chamber concerts are held several times a year in the main hall. Capacity for 100 people: 90 seats are located in the hall, and 10 on the balcony, where the architects are gathered: Wivi Lönn, Elsi Borg, Uno Ullberg, Herman Gesellius, Eliel Saarinen, Jac Ahrenberg.