The building of Tapiola began 50-years ago in 1953, under the direction of the Housing Foundation and Heikki von Herzen, in the rural municipality of Espoo, west of Helsinki. The aim was to create a garden city which would be a Finnish society in miniature. All social classes would live in Tapiola; there would be different types of buildings from detached houses to terraced houses and blocks of flats. The best architects of the time, such as Aulis Blomstedt, Aarne Ervi, Viljo Revell, Markus Tavio and Reima Pietilä, were hired to design the area. Was the garden city idea realised in accordance with the plans? How have social changes, motorization and technical developments changed Tapiola? The articles in Tapiola - Life and Architecture delve into the history, present situation and expectations for the future of Tapiola in a varied way. The urban structure, architecture and green areas are looked at from the point of view of both history and practical implementation. Finally, we hear what it's like to live in the garden city. An extensive selection of pictures, many previously unpublished, brings life to the different stages of Tapiola, from the early plans to the present day. From its initial stages Tapiola gained both a national and an international reputation for its high-class architecture and as an ideologically interesting phenomenon. Despite changes in urban planning principles, it has over the decades kept its central position. Book available in finnish "Tapiola - elämää ja arkkitehtuuria" and in swedish "Hagalund - liv och arkitektur".
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