Courtesy of LRA

Located in the Finnish city of Turku, the Calamari Union project by LRA (Lapo Ruffi Architetto) is designed around the theme, “European urbanity | Resonance between territories and ways of life. What architectures for sustainable cities?”. The project responds to a new demand of making a city outside of the city. How must we design places to live in contexts not yet settled? Limen in Latin means limit, but also threshold, entrance. It is therefore in the etymology of this word that the premises are found for what can become a place of boundary, not to be intended as a barrier, but as an opportunity of connection. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of JKMM Architects

Over the years we’ve been featuring amazing projects from Finland. So we decided to gather 5 projects from 2008-2009 that you may have missed into this special Round Up. We have a great library from JKMM Architects, a great house in Hanko designed by brazilian architects, the METLA Forest Research Centre, the beautiful WISA Hotel in the southern harbour of Helsinki and a lakeside house with a bear in it. Don’t miss them!

© Tiia Ettala

Architects: Anna & Eugeni Bach
Location: Pälölä farm, Nummi Pusula, Finland
Collaborators: Uma and Rufus Bach
Project Dates: July 20 -  July 21, 2011
Work Site Dates: August 10 – August 24, 2011
Built Surface: 13,50 m2
Budget: 800 €
Promoter/Owner: Uma and Rufus Bach
Constructor: Self built (Anna & Eugeni Bach)
Photographs: Tiia Ettala

Last summer, architects Anna & Eugeni Bach found themselves in a situation that many parents who are architects with children might be able to relate. Their children, after realizing their parents were architects, wondered why they hadn’t made a house for them. So they promised them they would build a house for them on their grandparents farm in Finland. And, of course, at the kids insistence, they fulfilled their promise. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

© Nico Saieh

After entering a general planning competition at the end of May 1951 for the Jyvaskyla Institute of Pedagogics, Alvar Aalto was immediately commissioned to begin working on the plans of each of the individual buildings that were to be added amidst existing complex. He was awarded first prize with his entry ‘Urbs’, which is reminiscent of some of his previous projects. The U pattern formed by the buildings frames the open center space, where a sports field is accessible by foot.

More on Jyvaskyla University by Alvar Aalto after the break.

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Courtesy of Macyauski Research & Design

This Helsinki’s new South Harbor proposal, designed by Macyauski Research & Design, is envisioned as the iconic gateway into the heart of the city that serves its tourists and travelers aesthetically and effectively. Its strong urban connection between the waterfront and the city has been simplified to efficiently activate Helsinki’s South Harbor. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of BIG

BIG wins an invited competition for a 47,000 sqm ski resort and recreational area in Levi, Finland. The future Ski Village will transform the existing Levi ski resort into a world class destination, offering top quality accommodation and leisure services for skiers of all levels and demands. More images and complete press release after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Cembrit

Endorsed by Icsid and part of World Design Capital2012 Helsinki, the Bullhorn – Cembrit Design Competition challenges participants to design and develop Malmi Station, one of Helsinki’s biggest suburban transit areas, into an outstanding and experimental landmark that will improve the quality of life for thousands of urban commuters each day. Participants will do so through the innovative use of fibre-cement.

As a global responsibility, stations and transit hubs are important both functionally and as identity-building elements in urban environments. The city dwellers spent a significant part of their day connected to various transit hubs. These areas are often worn out and unappealing non-places.The deadline for entries is January 15th with a deadline for questions November 1st. For more details on the competition, visit their official website.

Courtesy of Aalto University Wood Program

Architects: Aalto University Wood Program
Location: Espoo, Finland
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Aalto University Wood Program

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© Andreas Meichsner

Architects: Verstas Architects
Location: Lauttasaari, Finland
Project Area: 14 sqm
Photographs: Andreas Meichsner

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View from Lasipalatsi

Architects: K2S Architects Ltd
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Client: Helsinki Parish Union and the City of Helsinki
Structural engineering: Insinööritoimisto Vahanen Oy Matti Kivinen, Ulla Harju
Project Year: 2012
Project Area: 300 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of K2S Architects

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© Tuomas Uusheimo

Architects: Verstas Architects
Location: Espoo, Finland
Client: City of Espoo
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 10,280 sqm
Photographs: Rauno Träskelin, Tuomas Uusheimo

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© Carlos Zimbrón

Dellekamp Arquitectos + Periférica shared with us their proposal for the Gosta Museum Extension competition. The project aims to preserve the historical value and prominence of the original building by smoothly integrating it to the new museum. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

plaza

The architectural studio MX_SI based in Barcelona, was recently announced as the winner of the competition for the extension of the Gösta Contemporary Art Museum in Mänttä, Finland. Organized by the Serlachius Foundation and supported by the Architecture Chamber of Finland SAFA, the aim of the competition was to extend the main building that originally was not planned as a museum. This new building will enhance their facilities in order to host large scale contemporary art travelling exhibitions as well as define an appropriate space for their own collection.

This competition has been the largest architectural tender in Finish history with 579 participants from 42 countries. Construction work on the extension will begin in early 2012 and the new spaces will be opened to the public in spring 2014. More images and project description after the break. read more »

rendering

The task of the competition for the Serlachius Museum Gösta was to design an extension containing five times the area of the existing museum. The current museum is a solitaire exposed on the top of a hill at a lake in a dramatic landscape. magma architecture proposes to preserve the beauty of the natural surroundings and integrate them into the visitor experience of the museum.

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Courtesy of MACA Estudio

Young architecture office, MACA Estudio, based in Madrid, Spain, shared with us their proposal for the Serlachius Museum Gösta Extension design competition. Their proposal plans to solve all the functional requirements of a museum, making the most of the circulations, the sustainability and integration of the building in its environment and at the same time creating a recognizable icon, a representative building worthy of the importance of this museum located in Mäntäa, Finland. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

rendering

DATA [Architectes] proposal for the extension of the Serlachius Museum Gösta consists of a building characterized by its sober and quiet aesthetics compatible with its unique cultural environment, a peaceful and preserved bank of a lake. This new construction with the tonality associating the wood lights fairness with glass and the white concrete thus offers a serene architecture which proposes sights tallied on the 360 degrees of the horizon. Installed tangentially with the northern frontage of the manor, it is relatively low and without salient angles. The effort is related to the construction of a unit architectural object in dialogue with its close environment.

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Courtesy of studioBÄNG

Young German design team, studioBÄNG, shared with us their wooden piled up proposal for the Serlachius Museum Gösta extension competition in Finland on a small island adjacent to the site. More images and architects‘ description after the break.

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Courtesy of XML Architecture Research Urbanism

This proposal for the Serlachius Museum Extension in Mänttä, Finland was submitted by XML. The omnipresent landscape provoked the architects to develop a scheme that became a median between the external world of nature and the internal world of art.

More information and images on this project after the break. read more »

rendering

Can the experience of art be enhanced through architecture?

White walls + Isolated Rooms = Good museum? Eero Lunden Studio’s design of the Serlauchius Museum extension seeks to deviate from that mantra by developing an architecture that directly facilitates human interaction with art. It is Eero Lunden Studio’s belief that the experience of art can be enhanced through innovative architecture and new spatial experiences. The design of the Maison Promino seeks to achieve two main goals: to create an inspiring piece of architecture that will enhance the image of Serlachius Art Museum globally and to provide a truly unique museum experience by connecting visitors with the art like never before.

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Courtesy of Office Jarrik Ouburg

Since 1945 the residential palace of Gösta Serlachius in the Joenniemi Manor area in Männtä, Finland has been home to the Gösta Serlachius Art Collection, one of the Nordic countries’ most significant private collections.  This proposal for the extension of Serlachius Museum by the Office Jarrik Ouburg will expand the capacity of the museum by five times, creating an ensemble of buildings that enhance the quality of the natural landscape.

Read on for more on this project after the break. read more »