The first week of February is a celebration of Finnish architecture and design

On the 3rd of February, Finnish flags are hoisted in celebration of Alvar and Aino Aalto and Finnish architecture and design. The festival organised around the flag-flying day highlights the significance of architecture and design in our daily lives.

The 2025 Finnish Architecture and Design Days will be celebrated from 31 January to 7 February under the theme ‘Traces of use’. Now in its fifth year, the national festival will focus on celebrating the use, maintenance and repair of buildings and objects.

The theme explores our relationship with tolerating patina and imperfections, and highlights our appreciation of our built and designed heritage. The layers of different eras tie us into the continuum of history and help us to orient ourselves towards a sustainable future.

ArcDesign 2025 events

On 3 February the Finnish flags are hoisted for architecture and design

The national flag-flying day celebrates the key role architecture and design have played in developing the Finnish welfare state and its identity. Since 2022, the Finnish Ministry of the Interior has recommended to hoist the Finnish flag on Alvar Aalto‘s birthday, 3 February, in celebration of Alvar and Aino Aalto and Finnish architecture and design.

Finnish Architecture and Design Days are organised by the eleven organisations who put forward the motion to establish the flag-flying day: Archinfo, Finnish Design Info, Alvar Aalto Foundation, Finnish Architecture and Design Museum, Ornamo, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Association of Finnish Architects’ Offices ATL, Finnish Association of Architects SAFA, The Building Information Foundation RTS, Finnish Association of Landscape Architects MARK and Finnish Association of Interior Architects SIO. The festival is included in the European Heritage Days programme.