Postcard from... Hvitträsk

Hvitträsk is a house near Helsinki, built by the three Finish architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen in the first years of the 20th century. It is always fascinating to explore the utopias people manage to create for themselves, and these architects realised their vision of a house on the hill, surrounded by landscaped gardens, forests and a lake, down to the smallest detail.

Planned as a studio for their architecture firm as well as a living space, they designed it all, including the furniture, lamps and rugs. And not only did they use the house to impress clients and entertain guests, but they worked on their personal relationships as well: while living there, Eliel divorced his wife and married Gesellius' sister, and Gesellius married Eliel's ex-wife…