30.5.2025–31.8.2025
The Stop the Wrecking Ball! exhibition invites visitors to consider alternatives to demolishing buildings.
In Finland today, buildings are being demolished at the same pace as during the peak demolition years of the 1960s and 70s. Back then, early 20th-century Jugendstil buildings and entire wooden house districts were lost—losses that are difficult to comprehend from today’s perspective. In the 2020s, even younger buildings are increasingly under threat of demolition, especially those constructed in the 1960s and 70s.
The exhibition Stop the Wrecking Ball! challenges this trend by highlighting alternative approaches. It has been created in collaboration with a working group of architectural experts and forms part of a broader campaign. The campaign calls for an end to the current wave of demolitions and encourages people to draw attention to buildings under threat.
Exhibition materials are freely available to download from the campaign website, allowing anyone to set up their own mini-exhibition. At the Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design, the exhibition is complemented by materials selected from the museum’s collections.
Image: Juha Leiviskä’s Kirkkonummi Parish Centre. Photographer: Simo Rista
