architecture + design

URDSGJALLAR

Typology: Building Documentation + Representation
Location: Espoo, Finland
Course: Cultural Immersion Studio
Instructors: Scott Wall, Tuomas Klaus
Semester: Summer 2025

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Urdsgjallar is the student union building of Teknologföreningen (TF), the Swedish-speaking student society at Aalto University. Completed in 1966 and designed by architect Kurt Moberg, Urdsgjallar is an iconic work of Finnish concrete brutalism and was conceived as a gathering space for Swedish-speaking engineering students. Inspired by the form of a traditional drinking horn, the building is unique for its unconventional geometry (containing no 90-degree corners), and continues to serve as a bustling gathering space for student life today.

This building documentation project was completed during an international study program hosted by Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, and focused on the rigorous documentation of a significant yet under-documented building on the university’s campus. The primary goal of the project was to record the building’s existing condition prior to redevelopment through precise architectural documentation. Working collaboratively, the team employed hand measurement, field sketching, digital scanning, and archival research to reconstruct the building with a high degree of accuracy. Original construction documents were sourced from the campus architect, student organizations, and the firm leading the renovations, requiring careful coordination, information management, and cross-cultural collaboration across languages, metric systems, and professional standards.

Final deliverables included museum-quality drawings and large-scale physical models supported by digital workflows using Rhinoceros and the Adobe Creative Suite. Through hand drafting and model-making, the project examined Finnish design thinking, materiality, and craft as embedded within the building’s form and construction. The work strengthened technical skills in documentation, modeling, and representation while reinforcing the value of architecture as a cultural artifact. The project is as much of a celebration of Urdsgjallar as it is a professional-level record intended for exhibition and long-term academic use.