Sami Rintala
Encyclopedia
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. He studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology
Helsinki University of Technology
Aalto University School of Science and Technology , was the temporary name for Helsinki University of Technology during the process of forming the Aalto University...
, completing his studies in 1999. Rintala’s own work is based on narrative and conceptualism. The resulting work is a layered interpretation of the physical, mental and poetic resources of the site.
Casagrande & Rintala
Rintala first came to public and critical attention with the joint projects he made with Marco CasagrandeMarco Casagrande
Marco Casagrande, , is a Finnish architect, environmental artist, architectural theorist, writer and professor of architecture. He graduated from Helsinki University of Technology department of architecture .- Early life :...
, under their partnetrship, Casagrande & Rintala, from 1998 to 2003, when their partnership dissolved. Casagrande & Rintala produced a series of critically acknowledged architectural installations around the world, often at art biennales, including the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. These works combined architecture with a critical thinking towards society, nature and the real tasks of an architect, all within a cross-over art practice using space, light, materials and the human body as tools of expression.
Casagrande & Rintala had their first wider recognition in 1999 with the award-winning project 'Land(e)scape:' Three abandoned wooden barns were raised on 10 metres (32.8 ft) high legs to follow their farmers to the cities as a critical comment on the deserting process of the countryside. The barns were then set on fire.
In the Venice Biennale 2000 their project was 'Sixty Minute Man:' A ship sailed to Arsenal with a garden inside. The park was planted on sixty minutes of human waste from the city of Venice, becoming together with the old boat a three-dimensional collage of society waste, commenting on the Biennale theme ‘less aesthetics, more ethics’.
Rintala Eggertsson Architects
In 2007, Rintala started a new architect's office with Icelandic architect Dagur Eggertsson, called Rintala Eggertsson Architects. The office is based in both OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
in southern Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and Bodø
Bodø
is a city and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region.The city of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Bodin was merged with Bodø on 1 January 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø on 1 January 2005...
in northern Norway.
Workshops
An important part of Rintala’s work is teaching and lecturing, which he has done in various university departments of art and architecture. His teaching takes place usually in the form of workshops where the students often are challenged to participate in the shaping of the human environment in a realistic 1:1 situation. Rintala’s own work is based on narrative and conceptualism. The resulting work is a layered interpretation of the physical, mental and poetic resources of the site.In 2009, at the request of the Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
Academy, Rintala was invited to choose the theme for the 2009 international "Alvar Aalto Symposium" held every four years in the city of Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...
: Rintala selected the conference theme of "Paracentric Architecture".
Works by Casagrande & Rintala
- Land(e)scape, installation artInstallation artInstallation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, SavonlinnaSavonlinnaSavonlinna is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region. The Finnish name of the town means "Castle of Savonia" and the Swedish name means "Newcastle".- History :...
, Finland, 1999. - 1000 White Flags landscape installation: 1000 white flags of sheets from mental hospitals on ironing bars on a mountain, Koli National Park, Finland, 2000.
- Convoy landscape installation on water: three abandoned rowing boats mounted vertically on the surface of Lake Saimaa, RantasalmiRantasalmiRantasalmi is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
, Finland, 2000. - Quatzalcoatlus, architectonic installation to the Havana Biennale, HavanaHavanaHavana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, 2000. - Architectonic installation of 15,000 books in Piazza Della Republica, Biennale Dell´Arte Contemporanea di Firenze 2001, FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy, 2001. - Architectonic installation in Anchorage, facing the Federal Building and Museum of History and Art, temple structure of used railroad oil tanks and oyster shells; Alaska Design Forum, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 2003.
Works by Rintala
- Hotel Kirkenes, Barents Art Triennale, 2005.
- Element House, Bisan Urban Natural Park, Anyang Resort, South Korea, 2006.
Works by Rintala and Eggertsson
- Amanogawa bridge, Tokaichi Millennium Forest, Hokkaido, Japan, 2007.
- Boxhome: A 19 m2 house,containing basic dwelling functions. Prototype built for Gallery ROM, Oslo, Norway, 2007.
- Kaluga Floating Sauna, Archstoyanie 08 - Festival of Landscape Art, Ugra National Park, Russia, 2008.
- Safe Haven Orphanage Library, Ban Tha Song Yang Village, Thailand, 2009.