HILLS

12.5.2012
A visit to the Suurpelto Hills site… and had a light lunch in the living room of House 1 enjoying the super-wide (4:1?) vista. Open spaces alternate with more intimate and compressed spaces, here, a corridor on the lower level.

KIUAS

8.5.2012
Went to Kotka to meet with REFRAK, experts in all things fire-resistant and high temperature. Aarno showed us around their factory, and we had an intense kiuas design meeting. Here are some of the precision cast ceramic elements for the core of the stove …hot!

HANDS

7.5.2012
Ornamo Centennial exhibition in Helsinki Kunsthalle in the works.

NY

26.4.2012
I was in New York for the opening of Newly Drawn – Emerging Finnish Architects at AIA Centre for Architecture and a roundtable session with NY architects on setting up your own practice: Philipp von Dalwig from Manifold Architecture Studio, Taryn Christoff and Martin Finio from Christoff:Finio Architecture and David Benjamin from The Living plus Marc Clemenceau Bailly from Gage-Clemenceau Architects. I also had a lecture as part of the Architecture League series at Cooper Union and talked about Elias Lönnrot, Tom of Finland, Hotel Torni, Kulttuurisauna and the metropolis as a site for utopia.

NYC / Empire State (1931), HEL / Hotel Torni (1931) and MOS / Stalinskie Vysotki (1947-1952)

LAKESIDE VISIT

30.3.2012
We went to visit the Lakeside house with some friends who took really nice photos of the place. This is Justin inspecting the freshly repainted white floor and the spring ice expanse beyond the pines:

We also picked some trees from the woods that will become the pillars for the colonnade of the Sauna, but more about that later…

THE HELSINKI HOUSING FAIR 2020

27.3.2012

“Stadin Asuntomessut 2020″ is an exhibition we developed with the Helsinki Urban Planning Department. It is an imaginary housing fair, set in the upcoming neighbourhoods of Helsinki, investigating the possibilities of the apartment from the point of view of an individual’s needs and dreams. After interviewing 8 people, we designed tailored apartments for them, and built the future homes in 1:12 scale…

DRAFTING A NORDIC BUILT DNA

4.2.2012
Last week in Copenhagen I took part in a 30-hour strategic Nordic Built-session together with 60 professionals and leaders of the nordic building and real estate industry. Through policy work, common projects and collaboration, the program continues until 2014, aiming to accelerate Nordic competitive concepts for a sustainable built environment. Our team worked on urban living experiences, drafting an ambition, actions and a proposal of Future Zones to pilot and showcase best practices and nordic collaboration in each country.

HANDS THAT DRAW THE FUTURE

21.1.2012
I am curating an exhibion called Tulevan Perinne that opens June 15th at Taidehalli for the centennial of Ornamo, the Finnish Association of Designers.

A HOUSE, AN ATELIER

17.1.2012
We submitted the permit set for a house with a painter’s atelier in Myllypuro, construction will start later this spring.

THE CITY GAME

17.1.2012
Together with Martti Kalliala and Hedwig Heinsmann we made a proposal called “The City Game” for the Sibbesborg sustainable city competition and were awarded a Honorable Mention. See our proposal here.

ON-SITE DIALOGUE

15.12.2011
Earlier this autumn, together with Nene, we went to the site of Kulttuurisauna with filmmaker Antti Seppänen to record some thoughts and ideas on the upcoming building.

MANIFESTOS & NATIONAL PROJECTS

15.12.2011
I had a performance at the opening ceremony of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Architecture and Urbanism Biennale. It was nice, as the organisers (City of Shenzhen) had built an impressive skyline behind the stage during the last years. The setting infused the texts with some added flavour, as “Masterplans don’t work, this city is never finished” echoed from the skyscrapers under construction…

(photo by Hanne Granberg)

Also Solution Finland: The Welfare Game was presented at the biennale exhibition. Both the book and the wall graphics here are designed by the enigmatic Zak Kyes. The word in the equation eclipsed by the exhibition visitor is “people”, so it accidentally almost makes sense…

KULTTUURISAUNA

2.11.2011
Together with Nene Tsuboi, we are designing and constructing a new public sauna that we will run ourselves in Hakaniemenranta waterfront, Helsinki. You can follow this project at kulttuurisauna.fi. The sauna will open in autumn 2012.

DELTAMARIN HQ

2.11.2011
A triangular, 4500 m2 headquarters office building for Deltamarin, a naval architecture and engineering firm in Turku. The open floorplan allows for interconnected teamwork and constant proximity of the surrounding nature. Each of the facades is perforated with openings of different scale, to enhance daylight conditions and create shade from direct sunlight. In the center, a triangular courtyard with a collection of volumes that house the vertical connections and support spaces. The scheme was designed in collaboration with architect Petri Herrala.

SOLUTION FINLAND: THE WELFARE GAME

28.10.2011
Finally off to the printers!
“To be published in December 2011 the title Solution Finland: The Welfare Game by architect Martti Kalliala with writer and curator Jenna Sutela and architect Tuomas Toivonen, addresses the Nordic country’s numerous predicaments. The three authors propose eight and a half solutions to their native country’s quandaries, ranging from the practical (rescuing ailing public space through climatization and the introduction of the Winter Garden City), to the absurd (dividing the country into two interlocking sub-nations: City and Wilderness) and the earnest, if far-reaching (the repurposing of the country to host the world’s nuclear waste). Solution Finland elucidates the northern country’s modern history as a nation under construction, proposing that its identity remain a malleable myth, in which designing a more tenable future is the conduit for crucial adaptation.”

GLOBAL WORKPLACE

1.11.2011
A workplace concept for a global company designed in collaboration with Lauri Johansson. The office floor as urbanism, a terrain of different spaces and moods suitable for different kinds of work. Policy recommendations for office locations, layouts, furnishings, materials, lighting, work culture…

renderings by Studio Lumart

HILLS CONSTRUCTION

2.11.2011
Suurpelto Hills comprises of 17 atrium houses tailor-designed and built for their inhabitants, who finance the construction of their own homes. Phase I site work has begun, and the first houses will be completed in spring ’12.


Suurpelto Hills rakennusvaihe I on alkanut. Rakennusvaiheen II rakennuspaikkojen myynti on käynnissä. Lisätietoja projektista:
suurpeltohills( )nowoffice.org, Marko Morelius (044-757-7575, klo 18:00-20:00) tai Samu Ilmarinen (0400-446-346).

LECTURE FORMAT AT AA

6.7.2011
As part of the FORMAT series, I was invited by Shumon Basar to participate in Lecture Format at the Architectural Association, together with Mark Cousins and Victoria Camblin. You can watch the entire session here.

STORA ENSO HQ

11.3.2011
The new office spaces for Stora Enso designed by NOW in collaboration with Lauri Johansson are ready. Special attention and sensitivity were necessary, as the offices are located in the HQ building designed by Alvar Aalto in 1961. While respecting the original parts, spatial logic and identity of the building, our task was to re-introduce an open office layout, yet create a contemporary atmosphere and working environment. There are still a few finishing touches to add next week, such as a wooden Dymaxion World map showing the company’s locations around the world.