Riitta Kuusikko | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

As old industrial facilities are no more suited to their original purposes, they are often converted into cultural buildings. It was by no means self-evident that the old post bus depot was spared from destruction during the Second World War in Rovaniemi, Finland. The Germans burnt down almost the whole market town before withdrawing to the north towards the Arctic Ocean. In the midst of the worst rush, the bus post depot luckily remained unexploded. The rarer an old building is in a city, the more purposeful it becomes for present residents. An inestimable amount of past life is hidden inside Korundi’s silent walls. People who know nothing about these stories visit or work in the building, which has been converted into a cultural house. A piece of an old brick wall, a worn window architrave or a decorative handrail of a staircase left unmodified during renovation work – small details like these raise questions: What was this building used for earlier? Who were the people who lived or worked here?