Finland

In the quiet of Helsinki’s harbor, where international ferries arrive from afar, and the Old Town stands as a silent witness of history, a new conception of architecture takes shape – one that does not merely construct spaces, but weaves thoughts, memories, and meanings. The TCA team pursued this vision not with the haste of technology or the rush of the market, but with a meditative patience, emerging only from observing nature itself. Caption One might say that Finland’s natural heritage – the largest forested area in the world – serves not merely as inspiration, but as an intellectual connection between human and landscape. The tree, the massive timber, the stillness of nature, transform into a built... More

Lamminrahka Education Centre is a key public building of the new Lamminrahka area between Kangasala and Tampere. The centre consists of three building volumes connected by a central heart space. The heart space serves as the school canteen and the main gathering space, bringing together all users of the building. It also connects to the main public square of the new residential area. Many facilities, such as the gyms and workshops are used by the residents of the area in the evening.  Niclas Mäkelä The sloping rooflines of the centre make it an instantly recognizable focal point of the area. The division of the building into smaller volumes brings down the perceived scale of the large centre and connects it to the granu... More

The Kari Campus in Rauma gathers several important public institutions and amenities under one roof. It consists of swimming and sports halls, a comprehensive school, a music school, an adult education centre and a youth centre. Being together creates significant synergy and savings. Mika Huisman Mika Huisman Sami Saastamoinen Sami Saastamoinen Rauma is a particular town in Finland. Its centre is listed UNESCO World Heritage because of its cherished and well-preserved traditional wooden townscape. The campus sits by the old town, with which the small-scale massing and wooden facades of the new campus blend. Sami Saastamoinen Sami Saastamoinen Sami Saastamoinen Sami Saastamoinen At the heart of the e... More

Lapland Central hospital extension turns the 1980’s hospital into a patient-centered campus that supports active rehabilitation and healing. The new humanely efficient hospital is a public building integrated into the living city, moving away from the concept of an isolated institution. Niclas Mäkelä Niclas Mäkelä Niclas Mäkelä Originally completed in the 1980s, the Lapland Central Hospital was designed by one of Finland’s most renowned hospital architects, Reino Koivula. The extensions double the current premises of the hospital, including e.g. emergency outpatient clinic, observation ward, operation rooms, psychiatric wards and facilities for several supporting functions. The exten... More

In the historic town of Tammisaari on the southern coast of Finland, a new contemporary art house by the sea has made a smart addition to Tammisaari’s cultural scene. Designed by JKMM Architects, a Helsinki-based architecture and design studio, the three-storey timber-clad Chappe Art House pays homage to traditional Finnish wooden architecture while presenting a modern architectural form. The design of Chappe Art House reflects JKMM’s holistic approach to sustainability, rooted in material responsibility, energy efficiency, and sensitivity to place. Tuomas Uusheimo Caption   A modern cultural hub in Tammisaari’s museum quarter Founded in 1546, Tammisaari is known for its well-preserved timber architecture... More

A four-story museum building is a combination of large, inverse, intersecting cylindrical shapes, forming a singular object-type structure reminiscent of sea waves frozen in motion. The building balances structural integrity, functionality, aesthetics, and cost to arrive at a design that meets all the necessary criteria, following the best traditions of finished architecture. It is made of high-performance insulation composite stainless-steel panelling with low environmental impact. The building's opaque envelope has significant thermal mass, which helps absorb, store, and release heat—important passive elements in the building's thermal management. The panels are made of a Glulam "basket" double grid-shell fixed to a steel tube netw... More

Finnish Design Shop is the world’s largest online store of Nordic design. The company’s fast growth accelerated during the pandemic, as physical stores needed to close their doors. The new building, headquarters of the company, comprises a logistics center delivering products to over one hundred countries, a showroom, and a restaurant. Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy The design task was challenging. The large-scale building was mainly formed according to the requirements of the automated robot warehouse inside, and there was no possibility to articulate the building with massing or roof form. Even though the location right next to the Turku city ring road and near the airport allowed for a simple structure, the user wished for the b... More

House J is situated on top of a high hill, on the edge of a single-family housing area. The architectural concept is based on the site: the building has a closed rear towards the North and East where the neighboring houses are, and it opens to the South and West, towards a natural forest. The house curves around an old pine tree, forming a lap with a sunny and sheltered courtyard. The free form and lush garden create a contrast to the rectangular building. Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy The height of the building is carefully fitted to the elevation of the adjacent buildings. The floors are not situated on top of each other. The cantilevered first floor creates a canopy for the entrance on the ground floor, whereas t... More

proposed project in Tampere, Finland More

Architecturestudio NOAN has won the international open competition to design anew city district in Tampere Finland. Located on the southern edge of current citycentre, this old industrial and water treatment area will become a new part of the citycenter.Viinikanlahti will create a new neighbourhood in the city of Tampere with its ownshoreline city identity. At the same time, the area defines the new Southern edge ofthe city center and connects the shattered urban structure around it. The role as aconnector is significant for the area. It connects the southern recreational arboretumshoreline parks to the city center and stretches the housing and services of the citycenter towards south.The design is based on the three central elements of the... More

Base Street Trio is a three-apartment row house situated in Tammisalo neighborhood of eastern Helsinki, Finland. Tammisalo is an old residential area with mostly single family homes and row houses built after 1950’s, but the history goes beyond that as the area was a part of 19th century mansion grounds. Being an island Tammisalo is surrounded by water and small forests. Nature is present everywhere as characteristic old and tall pine trees grow on many yards of many homes.   As the city grows and needs more space for it’s recidents, properties in the loosely built residential areas are being coped with denser land to building ratio which allowed building three apartments to a small lot instead of two. On the steep site, approach was for ho... More

Multiuse residential and business district Kalasatama in Helsinki consists of several towers on the waterfront, and is one of the largest development projects in Helsinki.Geotub  is used for the construction of an underground car park, carved into the rock. It will be situated at 30 meters below the road surface and will be integrated to Kalasatama subway station line.Our formwork for round columns Geotub was used in building large underground car-park, a 30m high underground construction.Geotub was used because of:- Quick and easy installation,- Modularity and ease of use,- Reusability.LEARN MOREKalasatama Redi Towers in Helsinki, FinlandGeotub for the building of the underground car park in the new Kalasatama district in Fi... More

Notski is the winning competition entry for a 4660m2 upper-secondary school in Heinola by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects. Aside from its core focus of learning the school also is to become a social hub for the community – housing civic activities, youth culture and community sports. Flexible learning and activity spaces pivot outwards from a core social space that links all the programmes together. The classrooms themselves, designed with pedagogic experts, are optimised to cater for the different learning situations that the students would find themselves in throughout their school career. Notski sits in the heart of Heinola, a secluded Finnish town of around 20,000 inhabitants, surrounded by a patchwork of islands, lakes and forests... More